Associative Mechanisms of Spatial Cognition

描述(由申请人提供)：本研究的最终目标是了解获取空间和时间信息的机制，以及在神经系统中存储和检索结果表征的机制。空间表征可以被概念化为认知地图，它是两个或多个外部事件之间的空间关系的内部表征，既保持事件之间的度量距离，又保持事件之间的方向。这项提议的重点是调查获得简单的两项空间地图的机制，以及如何将独立获得的地图整合到更大、更复杂的功能地图中，使生物体能够推断超出其直接经验的空间关系。一个指导性的假设是，巴甫洛夫条件反射是获得和表达认知地图的主要机制。这项工作建立在研究人员建立的初步证据基础上，即动物在巴甫洛夫条件反射过程中在成对事件之间构建简单的时间和空间地图，并能够通过每个地图的共同元素在记忆中叠加两个地图，将在不同训练经历中获得的简单地图组合成一个统一的、更高阶的地图。由此得到的高阶映射可以用来推断从未在一起直接经历过的事件之间的新的时间和空间关系。整合单独获取的信息是一个重要的适应性过程，它允许对现实世界的情况做出灵活和动态的行为反应。这些实验将有助于更全面地了解空间领域的习得过程，这将对发展更准确的空间行为认知模型具有重要的指导意义，并有助于更好地理解空间、时间和条件化过程的相关神经机制。最近，海马体被提出在关联空间和时间上不连续的事件方面发挥重要作用，这表明了认知地图获得的重要神经机制，这将在未来的项目中得到更直接的探索，因为它建立了对时空信息获取和处理的心理机制的更清晰的理解。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The ultimate goal of this research is to understand the mechanisms by which spatial and temporal information is acquired and by which the resulting representations are stored in and retrieved from the nervous system. Spatial representations can be conceptualized as a cognitive map, which is an internal representation of the spatial relationships between two or more external events that preserves both the metric distance and direction between the events. The focus of this proposal is to investigate the mechanisms by which simple, two-item spatial maps are acquired and how independently acquired maps may be integrated into larger, more complex functional maps that allow organisms to extrapolate spatial relationships beyond their direct experiences. A guiding assumption is that Pavlovian conditioning serves as the primary mechanism by which cognitive maps are acquired and expressed. This work builds on preliminary evidence established by the investigator that animals construct simple temporal and spatial maps between paired events during Pavlovian conditioning, and are able to combine simple maps acquired during separate training experiences into a unified, higher-order map by superimposing the two maps in memory via common elements of each map. The resulting higher-order map can be used to deduce new temporal and spatial relationships between events that had never been directly experienced together. The integration of separately acquired information is an important adaptive process that allows for flexible and dynamic behavioral responses to real-world situations. The proposed experiments will contribute to a fuller understanding of acquisition processes in the spatial domain which will importantly direct the development of more accurate cognitive models of spatial behavior and advance a better understanding of the related neural mechanisms of spatial, temporal, and conditioning processes. Recently, the hippocampus has been proposed to play an important role in associating spatially and temporally noncontiguous events, suggesting an important neural mechanism for the acquisition of cognitive maps, which will be explored more directly in future projects, after establishing a clearer understanding of the psychological mechanisms by which spatial and temporal information is acquired and processed.