Grant: Discovery Grants Program - Individual

The human hippocampus plays a vital role in memory, particularly episodic memory. In animals, this same structure is critical for spatial learning and memory. The main goal of my research program is to understand the behavioral strategies used by animals in spatial learning and navigation, with the ultimate goal of finding commonalities in hippocampal function across species. Animals have a variety of strategies available to locate themselves and other objects in their spatial environment. They can approach a single cue (i.e., beacon) that predicts the location of a goal, they can use the relationship among multiple cues in the environment, they can go in a particular direction (i.e., west), they can use information obtained in the process of self-movement (path integration), or they can use the shape/geometry of their environment. My recent work suggests that orientation (or direction) and surface properties of an apparatus are particularly important to successful spatial learning. The aim of the present research proposal is to understand how these factors interact to produce successful navigation in animals.