NEURAL CORRELATES OF SPATIAL LEARNING IN BIRDS

鸟类空间学习的神经关联

• 批准号: 2248488
• 负责人: TIMOTHY J DEVOOGD
• 金额: $ 7.62万
• 依托单位: CORNELL UNIVERSITY
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 1992
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 1992-04-01 至 1995-03-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/2248488
• 关键词: Aves; behavior; ethology; hippocampus; learning; memory; neural information processing; neural plasticity; neuroanatomy; neurobiology; neurons; space perception; synapses

Learning and remembering spatial relations is an important human capacity. Many lines of evidence suggest that the hippocampus is essential for this form of learning. However, much less is known of how spatial relations are encoded in the hippocampus or of how the hippocampus changes as learning of spatial relations occurs. This application will study the substrate for spatial learning using a novel animal model: seed storage in birds. Several species of birds hide large numbers of seeds and are able to retrieve them reliably weeks or months later. Several studies suggest that the hippocampus is necessary for the learning--it is larger in species that store than in related ones that do not, and birds that store are unable to retrieve if the hippocampus is lesioned. Experiments are proposed that will investigate the anatomical basis for the enhanced volume in species that store. This will suggest which aspects of the hippocampus have been augmented to permit this exceptional spatial ability. Other experiments will determine whether hippocampal anatomy in birds that store changes seasonally in phase with seasonal variation in the incidence of storage. If this were found, it would emphasize the extent to which the structure of complex neural networks can be modified in adulthood to allow for (or to encode) enduring changes in behavioral expression. Another experiment will determine whether short-term practice at storing and retrieving results in structural changes in the hippocampus. This experiment is designed so that storage and retrieval use one hemisphere, permitting within-animal comparisons of the consequences of learning. Differences in anatomy found in this experiment could point to sites and mechanisms used in spatial learning. It will be especially interesting to see whether any such changes are general or are focussed, perhaps in regions of the hippocampus that are enhanced in the birds that show the behavior. Together, these experiments assess this form of spatial learning at several levels. They search for network features related to the behavior, for long term structural change in the system related to changes in the frequency of the behavior, and for short term changes related to use. Each of these issues can be related to human spatial learning, its substrate and its capacity for change. The studies in this proposal will generate data that will be used to design a more complete program for investigating the neural substrate of spatial learning in this system.

学习和记忆空间关系是人类的一项重要能力。 许多证据表明，海马体对此至关重要。 学习的形式。然而，人们对空间关系是如何变化的知之甚少 在海马体中编码，或海马体如何随着学习 空间关系就会发生。这个应用程序将研究衬底以 使用一种新的动物模型进行空间学习：在鸟类中储存种子。 有几种鸟类隐藏了大量的种子，并能够 在几周或几个月后可靠地取回它们。几项研究表明， 海马体是学习所必需的--它在 储存的鸟类比没有储存的相关鸟类更多，而储存的鸟类无法 如果海马体受损，则进行检索。有人建议进行实验， 将研究物种体积增加的解剖学基础 那家店。这将提示海马体的哪些方面已经 增强了这种特殊的空间能力。其他实验 将决定储存变化的鸟类的海马体解剖结构 季节性地与储存发生率的季节性变化相一致。 如果这一点被发现，它将强调结构的程度 复杂的神经网络可以在成年后进行修改，以允许(或 编码)行为表达的持久变化。另一项实验将会 确定短期的存储和检索练习是否会在 海马体的结构变化。这个实验是这样设计的： 存储和提取使用一个半球，允许在动物内部进行 比较学习的结果。发现解剖学上的差异 在这个实验中可以指向空间中使用的站点和机制 学习。特别有趣的是，看看是否有这样的 变化是一般性的或集中的，可能是在海马区。 这在表现出这种行为的鸟类身上得到了增强。加在一起，这些 实验在几个层面上评估了这种形式的空间学习。他们 长期搜索与行为相关的网络功能 系统的结构变化与频率变化有关 行为，以及与使用相关的短期变化。这些问题中的每一个 可以与人类的空间学习有关，它的底物和能力 找回零钱。该提案中的研究将生成以下数据 用来设计一个更完整的程序来研究神经 在这个系统中空间学习的基础。