RUI: Spatial Pattern Learning

Villanova University, Villanova PA

Investigators

Abstract

Patterns of many kinds abound in nature. Behavioral scientists believe that the brain and the learning systems it supports have evolved to be especially sensitive to patterns. There is clear evidence that temporal patterns (e.g., an event that occurs every 10 seconds) and patterns of magnitude (e.g., the amount of food provided for a particular response increases or decreases with each response) play special roles in learning. This project examines how rats learn about patterns in space. Many resources are distributed systematically in space (e.g., clusters of food resources may tend to occur a specific distance apart from each other) and learning systems may be sensitive to these spatial patterns. In this research project, rats will search for food hidden of the tops of poles, such that the subject must rear-up and examine the top of the pole to determine if it contains food. There are no cues to the location of the baited poles, except that the baited poles always form a particular spatial pattern. If rats learn the pattern, such learning will be revealed by the details of their search behavior. Experiments will be done to determine what sorts of patterns can and cannot be learned, what features of the patterns are used by the learning system to guide search behavior, and the relations between pattern learning and other processes that are involved in spatial navigation ability. These experiments will provide basic information about how brains and learning systems allow objects to be located in space.