In this thesis I have addressed two questions of particular interest regarding spatial learning. The first question is concerned with the nature of the associations formed during spatial learning; do animals form S-R or S-S* associations? Evidence that animals acquire S-S* associations which can then be used to locate a hidden goal was provided by Experiment one using placement training to produce latent spatial learning. Experiments 2 – 8A produced results consistent with this finding. Experiment 8B provided evidence that animals also use S-R associations. The second question concerned the type of cues that enter into S-S* associations with the goal. Experiments in Chapter 3 provided evidence that animals can use features of the environment to locate the goal, but no evidence of a global representation was found. Chapter 4 explored the role of the hippocampus in the acquisition of S-S* associations, and demonstrated that the hippocampus is required for the learning based on spatial S-S* associations, but not for S-R associations.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:585289 |
| Date | January 2013 |
| Creators | Gilroy, Kerry E. |
| Publisher | Cardiff University |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://orca.cf.ac.uk/52579/ |
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