Time-Place Learning, Circadian Rhythms, and Memory

动物往往会把一天中的时间和地点联系起来：狗在我们通常下班前几分钟在我们家门口迎接我们;孩子们要求在他们最喜欢的节目时间看电视。我的研究计划旨在了解动物，包括人类，如何学习时空的变化以及时间（特别是昼夜节律）信息在学习和记忆中的作用。为了理解动物如何学习在空间和时间上可预测变化的事件，我使用了一种称为时间-地点学习（TPL）的范式。在大鼠中，TPL表现为大鼠在上午学习到一个位置，在下午学习到另一个位置，以获得食物奖励或避免厌恶刺激。我还成功地修改了这个任务，使其适用于儿童。

Animals tend to associate time of day with places: dogs greet us at our door minutes before our usual arrival time from work; children ask to watch television at the time of their favourite show. My research program seeks to understand how animals, including humans, learn about spatiotemporal regularities and the role of temporal (specifically, circadian) information in learning and memory. To understand how animals learn about events that vary predictably in space and time, I use a paradigm known as Time-Place Learning (TPL). In rats, TPL is demonstrated when rats learn to go to one location in morning sessions and a different location in afternoon sessions for a food reward or to avoid an aversive stimulus. I have also successfully modified this task for use in children.