[en] The Morris water maze is an experimental procedure in which animals learn to escape swimming in a pool using environmental cues. Despite its success in neuroscience and psychology for studying spatial learning and memory, the exact mnemonic and navigational demands of the task are not well understood. Here, we provide a mathematical model of rat swimming dynamics on a behavioural level. The model consists of a random walk, a heading change and a feedback control component in which learning is reflected in parameter changes of the feedback mechanism. The simplicity of the model renders it accessible and useful for analysis of experiments in which swimming paths are recorded. Here, we used the model to analyse an experiment in which rats were trained to find the platform with either three or one extramaze cue. Results indicate that the 3-cues group employs stronger feedback relying only on the actual visual input, whereas the 1-cue group employs weaker feedback relying to some extent on memory. Because the model parameters are linked to neurological processes, identifying different parameter values suggests the activation of different neuronal pathways.
Research Center/Unit :
Giga-Systems Biology and Chemical Biology - ULiège
Disciplines :
Life sciences: Multidisciplinary, general & others
Author, co-author :
Fey, Dirk ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Dép. d'électric., électron. et informat. (Inst.Montefiore) > Systèmes et modélisation : Méth. computat. pour la bio.syst.
Burgess, N. (2008). Spatial cognition and the brain. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1124, 77-97. doi: 10.1196/annals.1440.002.
Cain, D. P., & Saucier, D. (1996). The neuroscience of spatial navigation: Focus on behavior yields advances. Reviews of Neuroscience, 7(3), 215-231. (Pubitemid 26397660)
Harrison, F. E., Reiserer, R. S., Tomarken, A. J., & McDonald, M. P. (2006). Spatial and nonspatial escape strategies in the Barnes maze. Learning and Memory, 13(6), 809-819. doi:10.1101/lm.334306. (Pubitemid 44871683)
Harvey, D. R., Brant, L., & Commins, S. (2009). Differences in cue-dependent spatial navigation may be revealed by in-depth swimming analysis. Behavioural Processes, 82(2), 190-197. doi:10.1016/j.beproc.2009.06.008.
Kealy, J., Diviney, M., Kehoe, E., McGonagle, V., O'Shea, A., Harvey, D., et al. (2008). The effects of overtraining in the Morris water maze on allocentric and egocentric learning strategies in rats. Behavioural Brain Research, 192(2), 259-263. doi:10.1016/j.bbr.2008.04.009.
Maei, H. R., Zaslavsky, K., Teixeira, C. M., & Frankland, P. W. (2009). What is the most sensitive measure of water maze probe test performance? Frontiers in Integrative Neuroscience, 3, 4. doi:10.3389/neuro.07.004.2009.
Moghaddam, M., & Bures, J. (1996). Contribution of egocentric spatial memory to place navigation of rats in the Morris water maze. Behavioural Brain Research, 78(2), 121-129. doi:10.1016/0166-4328(95)00240-5. (Pubitemid 26252881)
Morris, R. G., Garrud, P., Rawlins, J. N., & O'Keefe, J. (1982). Place navigation impaired in rats with hippocampal lesions. Nature, 297(5868), 681-683. (Pubitemid 12096189)
Sheynikhovich, D., Chavarriaga, R., Strösslin, T., Arleo, A., & Gerstner, W. (2009) Is there a geometric module for spatial orientation? Insights from a rodent navigation model. Psychology Review, 116(3), 540-566. doi:10.1037/a0016170.