Human performance with a seventeen-arm radial maze analog

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Psychology
• Neuroscience
• Comparative Cognition

Background:

• Previous research using radial mazes indicated rats might possess a superior short-term memory (STM) capacity compared to the commonly cited human limit of seven items.
• The "magical number seven" is a long-standing hypothesis regarding human short-term memory limitations.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate and compare spatial short-term memory (STM) capacity in humans using a novel radial maze analog.
• To determine if human spatial STM performance is comparable to that observed in rats.

Main Methods:

• A paper-based radial maze analog was developed, featuring 17 cardboard flaps arranged radially around a central point.
• Fifteen undergraduate human subjects participated, instructed to lift flaps in a randomized sequence.
• Participants completed seven trials per day over two consecutive days.

Main Results:

• Human subjects achieved an average of 15.4 correct choices per trial on the 17-arm radial maze analog.
• This performance level is comparable to that previously reported for rats on 17-arm radial mazes.

Conclusions:

• Humans exhibit spatial short-term memory (STM) capacities on par with rats when assessed using equivalent radial maze tasks.
• The findings suggest potentially homologous neural substrates underlying spatial memory in both species.
• This research challenges the notion of a significantly limited human short-term memory capacity in spatial contexts.