Time-place learning

这项研究计划使用一种被称为时间-地点学习(TPL)的范式来调查空间和时间信息在动物记忆组织中的作用。在第三方物流中，食物的可获得性取决于时间(例如，自研究开始以来的分钟时间或一天中的时间)和地点(例如，放射状手臂迷宫上的位置)。关于动物如何在记忆中存储这些信息，一直存在一些争论。Gallistel(1990)建议动物将这些信息编码成包含时间、地点和事件的三方代码。我提出了另一种假设，即动物将信息编码成两个两部分代码--一个包含时间和事件，另一个包含地点和事件。我提出的研究计划的主要目标是确定两方假说和三方假说中哪一个更有可能反映老鼠如何编码时空信息。然后，我将确认该研究的结果也适用于第三方物流任务中的其他动物。最终目标是确定时空信息的两部分(或三部分)编码是否可以用来解释TPL领域之外的记忆。有人认为，动物可以根据它们的空间和时间特征对所有生物重要信息进行编码(Gallistel，1990)。最近，Brown和McCormack(2006)发表了一章，提出人类的记忆可能是在时间上(也可能是在空间上)组织的，这表明这与所提出的研究是自然吻合的。

This research program investigates the role of spatial and temporal information in the organization of animal memory, using a paradigm known as time-place learning (TPL). In TPL the availability of food varies depending on the time (e.g., the time in minutes since the study session began or the time of day) and the place (e.g., location on a radial arm maze). There has been some debate about how animals store this information in memory. Gallistel (1990) proposes that animals encode this information into a tripartite code that contains the time, place and event. I have proposed an alternative hypothesis that says that animals encode the information into two bipartite codes - one containing time and event and the other place and event. The primary goal of my proposed program of research is to determine whether the bipartite or tripartite hypothesis is more likely to reflect how rats encode the spatiotemporal information. I will then confirm that the findings of that research is also applicable to other animals in TPL tasks. The ultimate goal is to determine if bipartite (or tripartite) encoding of spatiotemporal information can be used to explain memory outside the realm of TPL. It has been suggested that animals may encode all biologically important information in terms of their spatial and temporal characteristics (Gallistel, 1990). Recently Brown and McCormack (2006) published a chapter suggesting that human memory may be organized temporally (and possibly spatially), suggesting a natural fit with the proposed research.