Department of Neurology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
Department of Psychology, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
Cortex. 2019 Jun;115:280-293. doi: 10.1016/j.cortex.2018.12.024. Epub 2019 Feb 7.
Work with non-human animals and human navigation experts (London taxi drivers) suggests that the size of the hippocampus, particularly the right posterior hippocampus in humans, relates to navigation expertise. Similar observations, sometimes implicating other sections of the hippocampus, have been made for aging populations and for people with neurodegenerative diseases that affect the hippocampus. These data support the hypothesis that hippocampal volume relates to navigation ability. However, the support for this hypothesis is mixed in healthy, young adults, who range widely in their navigation ability. Here, we administered a naturalistic navigation task that measures cognitive map accuracy to a sample of 90 healthy, young adults who also had MRI scans. Using a sequential analysis design with a registered analysis plan, we did not find that navigation ability related to hippocampal volume (total, right only, right posterior only). We conclude that navigation ability in a typical population does not correlate with variations in hippocampal size, and consider possible explanations for this null result.
与非人类动物和人类导航专家（伦敦出租车司机）合作的研究表明，海马体的大小，特别是人类右侧后海马体的大小，与导航专业知识有关。对于老年人群体和受影响海马体的神经退行性疾病患者，也有类似的观察结果，有时涉及到海马体的其他部分。这些数据支持了海马体体积与导航能力有关的假设。然而，在健康的年轻成年人中，这种假设的支持并不一致，他们的导航能力差异很大。在这里，我们对 90 名健康的年轻成年人进行了一项自然导航任务的测试，该任务测量认知地图的准确性，他们还进行了 MRI 扫描。使用具有注册分析计划的顺序分析设计，我们没有发现导航能力与海马体体积（总体、仅右侧、仅右侧后部）相关。我们的结论是，在典型人群中，导航能力与海马体大小的变化无关，并考虑了这一零结果的可能解释。
