Biegler R, Morris R G
Department of Pharmacology, University of Edinburgh Medical School, UK.
Nature. 1993 Feb 18;361(6413):631-3. doi: 10.1038/361631a0.
Neurons sensitive to both place and direction from distinct regions of the hippocampal formation, allometric relationships between spatial learning and hippocampal structure and pronounced impairments in spatial learning after lesions in this area, indicate that the hippocampal formation subserves allocentric spatial learning. To learn more about the process of spatial representation, we have developed a task that provides independent control of both landmark and directional cues. On the basis of physiological and behavioural work, this task also makes it possible to investigate the relevance of associative learning principles, such as predictability, to the spatial domain. We report here that although rats learn to discriminate between landmarks on the basis of their proximity to a reliably predicted food reward, they will only learn to use them to represent its location if they maintain stable locations within a geometric frame of reference.
来自海马结构不同区域的对位置和方向都敏感的神经元、空间学习与海马结构之间的异速生长关系以及该区域损伤后空间学习的明显受损，表明海马结构支持以自我为中心的空间学习。为了更多地了解空间表征过程，我们开发了一项任务，该任务能够独立控制地标和方向线索。基于生理学和行为学研究，这项任务还能够研究诸如可预测性等联想学习原则与空间领域的相关性。我们在此报告，尽管大鼠能够根据地标与可靠预测的食物奖励的接近程度学会区分地标，但只有当地标在几何参照系内保持稳定位置时，它们才会学会利用地标来表示奖励的位置。
