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Research Methods in Psychology Spring 2012, PSYC.314.007

Research Methods in Psychology Spring 2012, PSYC.314.007 I. A brief description of the Morris water maze task used to measure spatial navigation in rodents and humans II. BrainStorming 2.0. The Morris water maze. PubMed Search 2/25/05. The Morris water maze. PubMed Search 2/25/05.

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Research Methods in Psychology Spring 2012, PSYC.314.007

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  1. Research Methods in Psychology Spring 2012, PSYC.314.007 I. A brief description of the Morris water maze task used to measure spatial navigation in rodents and humans II. BrainStorming 2.0

  2. The Morris water maze PubMed Search 2/25/05

  3. The Morris water maze PubMed Search 2/25/05

  4. The Morris water maze PubMed Search 2/25/05 Updated 2/29/09 Updated today: 5,175

  5. The Morris water maze

  6. The Morris water maze

  7. Standard Water Maze Setup Start points 4 1 # Quadrant Top View (camera) L Zone A B C Target Annulus Non-target Annuli 3 2 Water level Side view Submerged platform

  8. Place learning (acquisition) Escapelatency – time (sec) to reach the platform Distance – length (cm) of swim path Heading angle – deviation (deg) from a direct path Cumulative distance – cumulative average deviation (proximity to the goal in cm) from a direct path Probe test – spatial memory (retention) Quadrant time – % time (sec) in each quadrant Distance – path length (cm) in each quadrant Annulus crossings – number of passes through target and non-target annuli (= or 2x surface area of platform) Proximity – average distance (cm) from target and non-target annuli Dependent Measures General performance measures Thigmotaxis – swimming near wall – % time (sec) in outer zone Swim speed – cm/sec

  9. Place Learning

  10. Trial 40 of place navigation for a control rat http://pages.towson.edu/bdevan/videos.htm

  11. 4 1 Probe test without platform (60 sec) 1 4 3 2 3 2

  12. Figure 1. Schematic showing the pool and configuration of cues present for the probe test in room 500 B. The platform was formerly positioned at location 1 (blue circle). Location 2 represents the goal position relative to the door/entrance in the previous room (500 A). Also note that location 4 is close to the door while location 3 is closest to the experimenter. These locations are also near the west start point. The experimenter – really looks like Morris!

  13. Figure 2. Results for initial place acquisition in room 500 A. There were no significant differences in escape latency, cumulative distance, swim speed or absolute heading error.

  14. Figure 3. Compared to males, females demonstrated a more accurate absolute heading to the goal location on the probe test following latent learning in the second room (500 B). Heading Error ~50o 90o

  15. Figure 6. Time bin analysis of preference scores for quadrant 1 (top) and quadrant 4 (bottom). Females show less persistence in preference for quadrant 1, where the goal was formerly located, across time bins. Females also show a stable greater preference for quadrant 4, near the door/entrance relative to males.

  16. Swim paths of aged rats on retention probe test Saline Vardenafil

  17. Vardenafil in pre-trained aged rats Long-term retention probe Heading Error (deg +/- SEM) AGE (group)

  18. New hypothesis (i.e., wild speculation) • Sex difference • has been attributed to a difference in strategy use • Females use local cues and geometry (e.g. pool wall) • Males use distal cues • This results in a male advantage in new learning (sometimes) • However a female advantage occurs after pretraining • Females also tend to do better on a DMP task (multi-tasking?) • Hypothesis - females may use distal cues (when they’re not so distal at the edge of the pool) to identify start points and plan subsequent egocentric responses leading directly to the goal.

  19. Start point views of the virtual water maze

  20. Panoramic view of cues from center of the virtual WM

  21. ‘Sex difference virtual water maze’ search on PubMed

  22. Sex & Drugs: So let’s rock ‘n roll with a novel study Two video clips to get you thinking… Strategies: different ways to solve the same problem – distal vs local cues Multitasking: keeping track of different start points Persistence: males are persistent in searching a no-longer valid goal Hormone activation: estrogen vs testosterone (interactions with stress hormones) Hormone organization: fetal exposure to sex hormones in Uteromay influence sexual differentiation of the brain. 4th to 2nd finger length ratio is related to the early exposure to testosterone.

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