Aadland J, Beatty W W, Maki R H
Dev Psychobiol. 1985 Mar;18(2):163-72. doi: 10.1002/dev.420180208.
To assess the development of accurate spatial memory and its relationship to organized search strategies, children (18-71 months old) and college students searched for rewards hidden at the ends of the arms of an eight-arm radial maze. Subjects made their first four choices in random order selected by the experimenter (forced choice) or in whatever order they wished (free choice). In some conditions, a retention interval was imposed between arm choices 4 and 5, followed by a resumption of the task. With free choice, accuracy of spatial memory increased linearly with age, and the proportion of tests on which the child entered four adjacent arms in sequence during the first four choices, a measure of organized searching, also increased linearly with age. Disrupting this sequential search strategy (forced choice) reduced accuracy for both children and college students, although the reduction with college students was small. Delays had minimal effects for children who met criterion at 0-delay and for college students. Although response patterns seem unimportant in accurate spatial memory in rats, systematic search strategies mature together with, and probably contribute to, the improvement of spatial memory with age in humans.
为了评估精确空间记忆的发展及其与有组织搜索策略的关系，儿童（18至71个月大）和大学生在一个八臂辐射状迷宫的各臂末端寻找隐藏的奖励。受试者的前四次选择是按照实验者随机选择的顺序（强制选择），或者按照他们希望的任何顺序（自由选择）进行。在某些条件下，在第四次和第五次手臂选择之间设置一个延迟间隔，然后继续任务。在自由选择的情况下，空间记忆的准确性随年龄呈线性增长，并且在最初的四次选择中，儿童依次进入四个相邻臂的测试比例（一种有组织搜索的度量）也随年龄呈线性增长。打乱这种顺序搜索策略（强制选择）会降低儿童和大学生的准确性，尽管大学生的降低幅度较小。延迟对在0延迟时达到标准的儿童和大学生影响最小。虽然反应模式在大鼠的精确空间记忆中似乎不重要，但系统搜索策略与人类空间记忆随年龄的改善一起成熟，并且可能对此有促进作用。
