Gray and White Matter Correlates of Human Place Learning Competence
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Issue Date
2015-07-28
Language
en
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Abstract
Two
different
ways
of
learning
have
been
suggested
to
support
successful
navigation.
Response
learning,
through
which
an
organism
learns
to
associate
an
individual
landmark
with
a
goal
location,
relies
primarily
on
the
striatal
system.
Place
learning,
on
the
contrary,
relies
on
the
hippocampal
system
and
refers
to
a
type
of
learning
where
multiple
landmarks
are
integrated
and
together
form
a
cognitive
map
of
the
environment.
The
current
training
study
investigates
how
the
gray
and
white
matter
correlates
of
the
brain
structures
involved
in
place
learning,
relate
to
the
different
strategies.
In
a
virtual
environment
participants
had
to
pick
up
objects
and
then
relocate
it
to
their
original
position.
The
anatomical
and
diffusion
weighted
scans
allowed
us
to
investigate
how
the
striatal
and
hippocampal
system
contribute
to
the
different
learning
strategies.
We
used
voxel-‐based
morphometry
and
fractional
anisotropy
to
examine
gray
and
white
matter
differences
of
the
hippocampal
and
striatal
system.
The
results
showed
increased
gray
matter
volume
of
the
right
caudate
nucleus
for
better
baseline
performance
and
bigger
training
effects
when
all
spatial
cues
were
present
(standard
condition).
White
matter
anisotropy
of
the
right
anterior
limb
of
the
internal
capsule
correlated
negatively
with
training
effects
in
the
standard
condition.
These
findings
indicate
that
people
biased
towards
using
a
response
strategy
have
increased
gray
matter
volume
of
the
right
caudate
nucleus
and
also
increased
white
matter
in
the
right
anterior
limb
of
the
internal
capsule.
Gray
matter
volume
and
white
matter
anisotropy
of
the
caudate
nucleus
can
predict
response
strategy
use.
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