Navigation Flashcards
In the navigation framework analysis, what is microscopic analysis?
Its about keeping track of your own location and objects as you move. Through:
Small-scale space
Short time scales
Perception
In Navigation framework analysis, what is macroscopic analysis?
This is remembering where things are, and using memory as the guide to navigation. Through
Large-scale space
Long time scale
Learning and memory
What are four important structures within the medial-temporal lobe that work with navigation?
Peririhinal cortex
Entorhinal Cortex
Hippocampus
Parahippocampal cortex
What are place cells and where are they located?
They are cells within the hippocampus that fire when we are in a specific location within a given environment.
What can place cells not tell you?
They are not useful for how you ended up in a location, they are only important for telling you where you are.
What are grid cells where are they located?
They are cells in the entorhinal cortex that fire when you occupy one of the hexagonal grid points with a given environment. Therefore, an extension of place cells.
How do other species and humans obtain sensory input that is the basis of navigation?
Humans rely heavily on vision to generate inputs, bats use hearing, some the magnetic field of the earth.
What was the conclusion from the Klatzky navigation experiment?
It is not just verbal information, or cognitive ability that allows us to navigate we really need to move our body to gain critical information for location tracking.
Is any body-based information equally effective for facilitating spacial updating?
No, it is actively controlled walking that enhances spatial updating when navigating small spaces. This is manipulated in labs by having a target that participants walk towards.
How are behavioural observations relevant to the neural mechanisms in the MTL?
Patients who had damage to either their left or right MTL would walk further than those with intact hemispheres. Meaning, that the place and grid cells that are in the hippocampus are crucial for microscopic analysis of space.
How can spatial updating behaviour be explained?
By the properties of the cells located in the medial temporal lobe. All of the cells in the hippocampus make spatial updating possible.
Ishikawa’s study was to understand large-scale navigation, particularly how GPS effects our navigation compared to being guided and then remembering paths, and finding the paths by the map. What were the findings?
GPS users walked longer distances and made more stops, their memory for the neighbourhood layout was less accurate than those who were not using a GPS. Meaning, could GPS be ruining our ability to navigate for ourselves?
What are the two systems of large-scale navigation?
Place learning
Response learning
What is place learning?
Identifying object locations within a larger environment framework.
It is rapidly acquired, allows flexible behaviour (e.g. short-cutting), but requires conscious retrieval and susceptible to forgetting
Declarative memory based, MTL-dependent system
What is response learning?
Performing a specific sequence of action
Slow to learn, only rigid behaviour is possible, but does not require conscious awareness and much longer-lasting
Procedural memory based, caudate-dependent system
