Authors who publish in this journal agree to the following terms:
Acta Colombiana de Psicología complies with international intellectual property and copyright laws, and particularly with Article No. 58 of the Political Constitution of Colombia, Law No. 23 of 1982, and the Agreement No. 172 of September 30, 2010 (Universidad Católica de Colombia Intellectual Property Regulation).
Authors retain their copyright and grant to the Acta Colombiana de Psicología the right of first publication, with the work registered under Creative Commons attribution license, which allows third parties to use the published material, provided they credit the authorship of the work and the first publication in this Journal.
Abstract
In this study we evaluated the long-term spatial memory in humans. A quasiexperimental design was used in which three groups of undergraduate students were trained in a virtual water maze to locate a hidden platform whose location was indicated by a set of cues. A pre-test without platform was performed prior to the training, and a post-test was conducted immediately after this (Group 0h), or after a retention interval of two (Group 48h) or seven days (Group 168h). For the pre-test, there was no evidence of preference for any area of the maze. Throughout the training trials, the time to find the goal decreased without differences between groups. During the post-test, all groups showed a preference for the reinforced quadrant, although the spent time, swimming distance, and accuracy of the search behavior in that area was equivalent between Group 0 h and Group 48 h, but higher than that shown by the Group 168 h. These data indicate changes in long-term spatial memory in humans, occurring after an interval of 48 h after its acquisition. The results are discussed on the basis of general memory processes and specific processes proposed by particular spatial memory theories. The clinical and comparative psychology implications are also addressed.
References
Aron. A., & Aron, E. N. (2001). Estadística para psicólogos. México: Prentice Hall.
Astur, R. S., Ortiz, M. L., & Sutherland, R. J. (1998). A characterization of performance by men and women in a virtual Morris water task: a large and reliable sex difference. Behavioural Brain Research, 95(1-2), 185-190. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0166-4328(98)00019-9.
Astur, R. S., Purton, A. J., Zaniewski, M. J., Cimadevilla, J., & Markus, E. J. (2016). Human sex differences in solving a virtual navigation problem. Behavioural Brain Research, 308, 236-243. doi:10.1016/j.bbr.2016.04.037.
Ayaz, H., Shewokis, P. A., Curtin, A., Izzetoglu, M., Izzetoglu, K., & Onaral, B. (2011). Using maze suite and functional near infrared spectroscopy to study learning in spatial navigation. Journal of Visualized Experiments, 56, e3443. doi: 10.3791/3443.
Baldi, E., Efoudebe, M., Lorenzini, C. A., & Bucherelli, C. (2005). Spatial navigation in the Morris water maze: working and long lasting reference memories. Neuroscience Letters, 378(3), 176-180. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neulet.2004.12.029.
Blokland, A., Geraerts, E., & Been, M. (2004). A detailed analysis of rats' spatial memory in a probe trial of a Morris task. Behavioural Brain Research, 154(1), 71-75. doi: 10.1016/j.bbr.2004.01.022.
Burgess, N., Jackson, A., Hartley, T., & O'Keefe, J. (2000). Predictions derived from modelling the hippocampal role in navigation. Biological Cybernetics, 83(3), 301-312. doi: 10.1007/s004220000172.
Burgess, N., Maguire, E. A., & O'Keefe, J. (2002). The human hippocampus and spatial and episodic memory. Neuron, 35(4), 625-641. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0896-6273(02)00830-9.
Carmack, S. A., Block, C. L., Howell, K. K., & Anagnostaras, S. G. (2014). Methylphenidate enhances acquisition and retention of spatial memory. Neuroscience Letters, 567, 45-50. doi:10.1016/j.neulet.2014.03.029.
Chalfonte, B. L., & Johnson, M. K. (1996). Feature memory and binding in young and older adults. Memory & Cognition, 24(4), 403-416. doi:10.3758/BF03200930.
Chamizo, V. D., Aznar-Casanova, J. A., & Artigas, A. A. (2003). Human overshadowing in a virtual pool: Simple guidance is a good competitor against locale learning. Learning and Motivation, 34(3), 262-281. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0023-9690(03)00020-1.
Clark, R. E., Broadbent, N. J., & Squire, L. R. (2005). Hippocampus and remote spatial memory in rats. Hippocampus, 15(2), 260-272. doi:10.1002/hipo.20056.
Commins, S., Cunningham, L., Harvey, D., & Walsh, D. (2003). Massed but not spaced training impairs spatial memory. Behavioural Brain Research, 139(1-2), 215-223. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0166-4328(02)00270-X.
Conejo, N. M., Cimadevilla, J. M., González-Pardo, H., Méndez-Couz, M., & Arias, J. L. (2013). Hippocampal inactivation with TTX impairs long-term spatial memory retrieval and modifies brain metabolic activity. PloS one, 8, e64749.doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0064749.
D'Hooge, R., & De Deyn, P. P. (2001). Applications of the Morris water maze in the study of learning and memory. Brain Research Reviews, 36(1), 60-90. doi: 10.1016/S0165-0173(01)00067-4.
De Winter, J. C. (2013). Using the Student's t-test with extremely small sample sizes. Practical Assessment, Research & Evaluation, 18(10), 1-12.
Demas, G. E., Nelson, R. J., Krueger, B. K., & Yarowsky, P. J. (1996). Spatial memory deficits in segmental trisomic Ts65Dn mice. Behavioural Brain Research, 82(1), 85-92. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0166-4328(97)81111-4.
Ferrara, M., Iaria, G., de Gennaro, L., Guariglia, C., Cursio, G., Tempesta, D., & Bertini, M. (2006). The role of sleep in the consolidation of route learning in humans: A behavioural study. Brain Research Bulletin, 71(1-3), 4-9. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.brainresbull.2006.07.015.
Florian, C., & Roullet, P. (2004). Hippocampal CA3-region is crucial for acquisition and memory consolidation in Morris water maze task in mice. Behavioural Brain Research, 154(2), 365-374. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.bbr.2004.03.003.
Goodrich-Hunsaker, N. J., Livingstone, S. A., Skelton, R. W., & Hopkins, R. O. (2009). Spatial deficits in a virtual water maze in amnesic participants with hippocampal damage. Hippocampus, 20(4), 481-491. doi:10.1002/hipo.20651.
Hamilton, D., Driscoll, I., & Sutherland, R. J. (2002). Human place learning in a virtual Morris water task: some important constraints on the flexibility of place navigation. Behavioral Brain Research, 129(1-2), 159-170. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0166-4328(01)00343-6.
Hamilton, D. A., Kodituwakku, P., Sutherland, R. J., & Savage, D. D. (2003). Children with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome are impaired at place learning but not cued-navigation in a virtual Morris water task. Behavioural Brain Research, 143(1), 85-94. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0166-4328(03)00028-7.
Hardt, O., Hupbach, A., & Nadel, L. (2009). Factors moderating blocking in human place learning: The role of task instructions. Learning & Behavior, 37(1), 42-59. doi: 10.3758/LB.37.1.42.
Izquierdo, I., Medina, J. H., Vianna, M. R. M., Izquierdo, L. A., & Barros, D. M. (1999). Separate mechanisms for short- and long-term memory. Behavioural Brain Research, 103(1), 1-11. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0166-4328(99)00036-4.
Jacobs, W. J., Laurance, H. E., & Thomas, K. G. (1997).
Place learning in virtual space I: Acquisition, overshadowing, and transfer. Learning and Motivation, 28, 521-541. doi: 10.1006/lmot.1997.0977.
Jones, C. M., & Healy, S. D. (2006). Differences in cue use and spatial memory in men and women. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B: Biological Sciences, 273(1598), 2241-2247. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2006.3572.
Kelly, D. M., & Gibson, B. M. (2007). Spatial navigation: Spatial learning in real and virtual environments. Comparative Cognition & Behavior Reviews, 2, 111-124. doi: 10.3819/ccbr.2008.20007.
Khan, A., & Rayner, G. D. (2003). Robustness to non-normality of common tests for the many-sample location problem. Journal of Applied Mathematics & Decision Sciences, 7(4), 187-206.
Kolarik, B. S., Shahlaie, K., Hassan, A., Borders, A. A., Kaufman, K. C., Gurkoff, G., ... Ekstrom, A. D. (2016). Impairments in precision, rather than spatial strategy, characterize performance on the virtual Morris Water Maze: A case study. Neuropsychologia, 80, 90-101. doi: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2015.11.013.
Maguire, E. A., Nannery, R., & Spiers, H. J. (2006). Navigation around London by a taxi driver with bilateral hippocampal lesions. Brain, 129(11), 2894-2907. doi: https://doi.org/10.1093/brain/awl286.
Manns, J. R., & Eichenbaum, H. (2009). A cognitive map for object memory in the hippocampus. Learning & Memory, 16(10), 616-624. doi: 10.1101/lm.1484509.
Méndez-Couz, M., Conejo, N. M., González-Pardo, H., & Arias, J. L. (2015). Functional interactions between dentate gyrus, striatum and anterior thalamic nuclei on spatial memory retrieval. Brain research, 1605, 59-69. doi: 10.1016/j.brainres.2015.02.005.
Mettke-Hofmann, C., & Gwinner, E. (2003). Long-term memory for a life on the move. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 100(10), 5863-5866. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1037505100.
Morellini, F. (2013). Spatial memory tasks in rodents: What do they model? Cell Tissue Research, 354(1), 273-286. doi: 10.1007/s00441-013-1668-9.
Morris, R. G. M. (1984). Developments of a water-maze procedure for studying spatial learning in the rat. Journal of Neuroscience Methods, 11(1), 47-60. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0165-0270(84)90007-4
Morris, R. (2013). Neurobiology of Learning and Memory. En D. W. Pfaff (Ed.), Neuroscience in the 21st Century (pp.2173-2211). New York: Springer.
Morris, R. G. M., Garrud, P., Rawlins, J. N. P., & O'Keefe, J. (1982). Place navigation impaired in rats with hippocampal lesion. Nature, 297(5868), 681-683. doi: 10.1038/297681a0.
Morris, R. G., & Mayes, A. R. (2004). Long-term spatial memory: introduction and guide to the special section. Neuropsychology, 18(3), 403-404. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0894-4105.18.3.403.
Moscovitch, M., Nadel, L., Winocur, G., Gilboa, A., & Rosenbaum, R. S. (2006). The cognitive neuroscience of remote episodic, semantic and spatial memory. Current Opinion in Neurobiology, 16(2), 179-190. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.conb.2006.03.013.
Moser, M. B., & Moser, E. I. (1998). Distributed encoding and retrieval of spatial memory in the hippocampus. The Journal of Neuroscience, 18(18), 7535-7542.
O'Keefe, J., & Nadel, L. (1978). The hippocampus as a cognitive map. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Odinot, G., & Wolters, G. (2006). Repeated recall, retention interval and the accuracy-confidence relation in eyewitness memory. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 20(7), 973-985. doi: 10.1002/acp.1263.
Postma, A., Jager, G., Kessels, R. P., Koppeschaar, H. P., & Van Honk, J. (2004). Sex differences for selective forms of spatial memory. Brain and Cognition, 54(1), 24-34. doi: 10.1016/S0278-2626(03)00238-0.
Rosenbaum, R. S., Cassidy, B. N., & Herdman, K. A. (2015). Patterns of preserved and impaired spatial memory in a case of developmental amnesia. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 9, 196. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2015.00196.
Rosenbaum, R. S., Winocur, G., Grady, C. L., Ziegler, M., & Moscovitch, M. (2007). Memory for familiar environments learned in the remote past: fMRI studies of healthy people and an amnesic person with extensive bilateral hippocampal lesions. Hippocampus, 17(12), 1241-1251. doi: 10.1002/hipo.20354.
Ross, S. P., Skelton, R. W., & Mueller, S. C. (2006). Gender differences in spatial navigation in virtual space: implications when using virtual environments in instruction and assessment. Virtual Reality, 10(3), 175-184. doi: 10.1007/s10055-006-0041-7.
Roth, T. C., LaDage, L. D., & Pravosudov, V. V. (2012). Evidence for long-term spatial memory in a parid. Animal Cognition, 15(2), 149-154. doi: 10.1007/s10071-011-0440-3.
Ruetti, E., Justel, N., & Bentosela, M. (2009). Perspectivas clásicas y contemporáneas acerca de la memoria. Suma Psicológica, 16(1), 65-83.
Sara, S. J. (2000). Retrieval and reconsolidation: Toward a neurobiology of remembering. Learning & Memory, 7(2), 73-84. doi: 10.1101/lm.7.2.73.
Shiflett, M. W., Tomaszycki, M. L., Rankin, A. Z., & De-Voogd, T. J. (2004). Long-term memory for spatial locations in a food-storing bird (Poecile atricapilla) requires activation of NMDA receptors in the hippocampal formation during learning. Behavioral Neuroscience, 118(1), 121-130. doi: http://doi.apa.org/getdoi.cfm?doi=10.1037/0735-7044.118.1.12.
Schoenfeld, R., Foreman, N., & Leplow, B. (2014). Ageing and spatial reversal learning in humans: Findings from a virtual water maze. Behavioural Brain Research, 270, 47-55. doi: 10.1016/j.bbr.2014.04.036.
Sociedad Mexicana de Psicología. (2010). Código ético del psicólogo. México: Trillas.
Spieker, E. A., Astur, R. S., West, J. T., Griego, J. A., & Rowland, L. M. (2012). Spatial memory deficits in a virtual reality eight-arm radial maze in schizophrenia. Schizophrenia Research, 135(1-3), 84-89. doi: 10.1016/j.schres.2011.11014.
Spreng, M., Rossier, J., & Schenk, F. (2002). Spaced training facilitates long-term retention of place navigation in adult but not in adolescent rats. Behavioural Brain Research, 128(1), 103-108. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0166-4328(01)00266-2.
Squire, L. R. (2004). Memory systems of the brain: A brief history and current perspective. Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, 82(3), 171-177. doi: 10.1016/j.nlm.2004.06.005.
Teng, E., & Squire, L. R. (1999). Memory for places learned long ago is intact after hippocampal damage. Nature, 400(6745), 675-677. doi: 10.1038/23276.
Tramoni, E., Felician, O., Barbeau, E. J., Guedj, E., Guye, M., Bartolomei, F., & Ceccaldi, M. (2011). Long-term consolidation of declarative memory: insight from temporal lobe epilepsy. Brain, 134(3), 816-831. doi: 10.1093/brain/awr002.
Vorhees, C. V., & Williams, M. T. (2014). Assessing spatial learning and memory in rodents. ILAR Journal, 55(2), 310-332. doi: https://doi.org/10.1093/ilar/ilu013.
Wilkie, D. M., & Willson, R. J. (1989). Pigeons' (Columba livia) spatial reference memory is stable over long retention intervals. Bulletin of the Psychonomic Society, 27(3), 271-273. doi: 10.3758/BF03334604.
Winocur, G., Moscovitch, M., & Sekeres, M. (2007). Memory consolidation or transformation: context manipulation and hippocampal representations of memory. Nature Neuroscience, 10, 555-557. doi: 10.1038/nn1880.
Woolley, D. G., Laeremans, A., Gantois, I., Mantini, D., Vermaercke, B., Op de Beeck, ... D'Hooge, R. (2013). Homologous involvement of striatum and prefrontal cortex in rodent and human water maze learning. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 110(8), 3131-3136. doi: doi/10.1073/pnas.1217832110.
World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki. (2008). Ethical principles for medical research involving human subjects. In World Medical Association. Recuperado de http://www.wma.net/en/30publications/10policies/b3/in-dex.html