Place-Learning Task
Objective: Investigate human brain activity related to strategies for navigating in space and how it changes with practice using functional magnetic resonance imaging during a place-learning task in a virtual environment
Protocol Steps
Task presentation and strategy selection
Subjects performed a place-learning task in a computer-generated virtual environment. Subjects spontaneously adopted one of two different strategies to solve the task.
Note: One-half of subjects used spatial landmarks to navigate in the early phase of training; the other half used a nonspatial strategy
View evidence from paper
“Subjects used two different strategies to solve a place-learning task in a computer-generated virtual environment. One-half of the subjects used spatial landmarks to navigate in the early phase of training, and these subjects showed increased activation of the right hippocampus. The other half used a nonspatial strategy and showed, with practice, sustained increased activity within the caudate nucleus during navigation.”
Brain activity monitoring during navigation
fMRI was used to measure brain activity while subjects navigated and performed the place-learning task
Note: Activation was measured in hippocampus, caudate nucleus, posterior parietal cortex, and frontal cortex
View evidence from paper
“Activation common to both groups was observed in the posterior parietal and frontal cortex.”
Practice and neural mechanism changes
Subjects continued performing the task with practice, and changes in neural activation patterns were monitored
Note: Nonspatial strategy group showed sustained increased activity within the caudate nucleus with practice
View evidence from paper
“The other half used a nonspatial strategy and showed, with practice, sustained increased activity within the caudate nucleus during navigation.”