Experimental Analysis of
Spatial Behavior in Humans
Bernd Leplow , Maximilian Mehdorn, Lingju Zeng, Doris Höll
University of Kiel , Department of Psychology
Duration: 1996 - 2002
Spatial behavior
was investigated using a locomotor maze for humans which incorporates basic
featurs of widely used animal paradigms. Experiments are based on the "cognitive
map" theory originally put forward by O`Keefe & Nadel (1978) and allowed
the assessment of place learning, and spatial working and spatial reference
memory errors. In our procedure subjects and patients have to learn and
remember five out of twenty locations within a 4 x 5 m area with completely
controlled intra- and extramaze cue conditions. Seven experiments are planned
on healthy subjects and three on CNS-patients. The goal is to find out
the influences of proximal versus distal cues, configuration of stimuli,
interference-, stress- and age-effects on the spatial learning and spatial
memory.
Approach:
empirical investigation
Area of Research:
neuropsychology
Topics: cognitive
maps; memory; context; perception
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