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Morris Water Maze Test: Optimization for Mouse Strain and Testing Environment
Published on: June 22, 2015
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Impairments in precision, rather than spatial strategy, characterize performance on the virtual Morris Water Maze: A
Branden S Kolarik1, Kiarash Shahlaie2, Abdul Hassan3
1Department of Psychology, University of California, Davis, 1 Shields Ave, Davis, CA 95618, USA; Center for Neuroscience, University of California, Davis, 1 Shields Ave, Davis, CA 95618, USA.
Neuropsychologia
|November 24, 2015
Summary
A patient with severe medial temporal lobe damage and amnesia can still form coarse spatial maps for navigation. This suggests the hippocampus is not essential for landmark-based navigation in humans.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Cognitive Psychology
- Spatial Navigation
Background:
- Medial temporal lobe damage causes amnesia, impacting learning of new associations and events.
- Rodent studies link hippocampal damage to impaired spatial navigation using distal landmarks.
- Human studies on navigation and medial temporal lobe damage yield mixed results.
