Comparative cognition of spatial orientation

空间方位的比较认知

• 批准号: 312379-2009
• 负责人: Kelly, Debbie
• 金额: $ 2.19万
• 依托单位: University of Manitoba
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2016
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2016-01-01 至 2017-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=595088
• 关键词: Comparative; cognition; spatial; orientation

All mobile species must orient, yet we know surprisingly little about how this process is achieved. My general objective is to study how animals orient within their environments. Spatial information can be classified as features or geometry. Features are objects (e.g., trees or rocks); whereas geometry is the metric relationship between objects or surfaces, (e.g., distances or directions). The relative reliance on these cues may be influenced by development. One testable hypothesis is that with maturity, cue encoding shifts from local cues to include more distant cues. To examine this hypothesis, I will rear birds in my laboratory and through tests which systematically alter their environment, examine how spatial cue use changes with development. Ecological pressures may also influence how spatial cues are used. In this case, the testable hypothesis is that animals which rely on their spatial memories for survival will encode stable cues that are robust to environmental change - i.e., geometry, whereas animals which rely on their spatial memory for short time periods will use cues that are very distinctive but not as stable - i.e., features. To test this hypothesis, I will investigate spatial cue use in three species of related birds. Two of these species are food-storing birds, each relying on their ability to store food to differing degrees, whereas the third species does not store food at all. By examining how these birds use spatial cues I can determine whether the ecological pressure of food-storing influences which spatial cues are encoded. Finally, birds allow for a unique opportunity to examine how each brain hemisphere encodes spatial cues. Birds lack a corpus callosum, the major source of interhemispheric connections in humans. This results in a "natural split-brain" like situation; visual information coming into the right eye is processed by the left hemisphere and vice versa for the left eye. Using a non-invasive eye capping technique, I will investigate how each hemisphere works independently, as well as how the two hemispheres work together to encode spatial cues. The novelty of my research program will take the field of spatial cognition in new directions, with implications for basic science, clinical neuropsychology and neuroscience.

所有移动的物种都必须定向，然而我们对这一过程是如何实现的却知之甚少。我的总体目标是研究动物如何在它们的环境中定位。空间信息可以分为要素或几何。特征是对象（例如，树或岩石）;而几何形状是对象或表面之间的度量关系，（例如，距离或方向）。对这些线索的相对依赖可能会受到发展的影响。一个可验证的假设是，随着成熟，线索编码从本地线索转移到包括更远的线索。为了验证这一假设，我将在实验室里饲养鸟类，并通过系统地改变它们的环境的测试，研究空间线索使用如何随着发育而变化。生态压力也可能影响空间线索的使用。在这种情况下，可验证的假设是，依赖空间记忆生存的动物将编码对环境变化具有鲁棒性的稳定线索-即，几何学，而短时间内依赖空间记忆的动物将使用非常独特但不稳定的线索-即，功能.为了验证这一假设，我将调查三种相关鸟类的空间线索使用。其中两种是食物储存鸟类，每种都依赖于它们在不同程度上储存食物的能力，而第三种根本不储存食物。通过研究这些鸟类如何使用空间线索，我可以确定食物储存的生态压力是否会影响空间线索的编码。最后，鸟类提供了一个独特的机会来研究每个大脑半球如何编码空间线索。鸟类缺少胼胝体，而人类大脑半球间连接的主要来源。这导致了一种类似“自然裂脑”的情况;进入右眼的视觉信息由左半球处理，反之亦然。使用非侵入性的眼帽技术，我将研究每个半球是如何独立工作的，以及两个半球如何共同编码空间线索。我的研究计划的新奇将在新的方向空间认知领域，与基础科学，临床神经心理学和神经科学的影响。