SEVERITY OF SPATIAL-LEARNING IMPAIRMENT IN AGING - DEVELOPMENT OF A LEARNING INDEX FOR PERFORMANCE IN THE MORRIS WATER MAZE
SEVERITY OF SPATIAL-LEARNING IMPAIRMENT IN AGING - DEVELOPMENT OF A LEARNING INDEX FOR PERFORMANCE IN THE MORRIS WATER MAZE
复制标题
DOI：
10.1037/0735-7044.107.4.618
复制
发表时间：
1993-08-01
影响因子：
1.9
通讯作者：
BURCHINAL, M
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
GALLAGHER, M;BURWELL, RD;BURCHINAL, M
Morris水迷宫任务最初是为了评估大鼠在相对较大的空间环境中学习导航到特定位置的能力而设计的。本文描述了新的测量方法，这些测量方法提供了有关大鼠在训练和探索试验过程中搜索空间分布的信息。基本的新措施优化了计算机跟踪的使用，以识别大鼠相对于目标位置的位置。在对年轻和老年雄性 Long-Evans 大鼠的评估中，发现这种接近度测量对与年龄相关的损伤高度敏感。还描述了学习指数的开发，该指数提供了任务中与年龄相关的损伤严重程度的连续、分级测量。这种类型的指数应该有助于与其他神经生物学或行为测量进行相关分析，以研究衰老过程中功能/生物学衰退的个体差异。
The Morris water maze task was originally designed to assess the rat's ability to learn to navigate to a specific location in a relatively large spatial environment. This article describes new measures that provide information about the spatial distribution of the rat's search during both training and probe trial performance. The basic new measure optimizes the use of computer tracking to identify the rat's position with respect to the target location. This proximity measure was found to be highly sensitive to age-related impairment in an assessment of young and aged male Long-Evans rats. Also described is the development of a learning index that provides a continuous, graded measure of the severity of age-related impairment in the task. An index of this type should be useful in correlational analyses with other neurobiological or behavioral measures for the study of individual differences in functional/biological decline in aging.