Department of Psychology, Maynooth University, Maynooth, Co. Kildare, Ireland.
Systems Biology Ireland Conway Institute, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland.
Sci Rep. 2019 Feb 14;9(1):2026. doi: 10.1038/s41598-019-38525-7.
Navigation and spatial memory relies on the ability to use and recall environmental landmarks relative to important locations. Such learning is thought to result from the strengthening of associations between the goal location and environmental cues. Factors that contribute to the strength of this association include cue stability, saliency and cue location. Here we combine an autoregressive random walk model, that describes goal-directed swimming behaviour, with an associative learning model to provide an integrated model of landmark learning, using the water maze task. The model allows for the contribution of each cue, the salience and the vector information provided (both distance and directional) to be separately analysed. The model suggests that direction and distance information are independent components and can influence searching patterns. Importantly, the model can also be used to simulate various experimental scenarios to understand what has been learnt in relation to the cues, thereby offering new insights into how animals navigate.
导航和空间记忆依赖于使用和回忆相对于重要位置的环境地标能力。这种学习被认为是由于目标位置和环境线索之间的关联得到加强而产生的。有助于增强这种关联的因素包括线索的稳定性、显著性和线索位置。在这里，我们结合了一个自回归随机游走模型，该模型描述了目标导向的游泳行为，以及一个联想学习模型，以使用水迷宫任务提供地标学习的综合模型。该模型允许分别分析每个线索、显著性和提供的向量信息（距离和方向）的贡献。该模型表明，方向和距离信息是独立的成分，并且可以影响搜索模式。重要的是，该模型还可以用于模拟各种实验场景，以了解与线索相关的学习内容，从而为动物如何导航提供新的见解。
