Cognitive mapping: Metrics of neural representations of space
| dc.contributor.advisor | Doeller, C. | |
| dc.contributor.advisor | Haas, Naomi, de | |
| dc.contributor.author | Ottink, Loes | |
| dc.date.issued | 2017-07-01 | |
| dc.description.abstract | For successful spatial navigation, accurate memory or representation of the environment is required. The hippocampus has been shown to be highly involved in spatial navigation. Also the frontal cortex has been suggested to be implicated. The hippocampus is thought to play a role in the formation of a cognitive map of the environment. In such a map, the representation of distances between locations is important. Previous research has suggested that similarity in neural activation pattern between pairs of locations correlates with the distance between these locations. In our study, we aimed to take a more fine-grained look at cognitive map formation. We investigated whether the represented distances were Euclidean or path distances, or both. Thereby, we looked at the hippocampus and frontal pole. We used navigational tasks in a virtual city, functional magnetic resonance imaging, and representational similarity analysis to investigate neural representations of distances between locations in the virtual environment. Our results suggest that both objective and remembered path distances are represented in a right lateral frontal region. We found no evidence for representations in the hippocampus, nor for Euclidean distances. However, based on previous research, it is more likely that we did not pick up on these effects rather than that they are not present. Further analyses on our data may give a clearer view on this, but that lies beyond the scope of this thesis. We furthermore wanted to investigate the use of different navigational strategies and their effect on neural distance representations. To this end, participants performed several additional behavioural spatial tasks. We show that there are clear behavioural differences between people considering navigational abilities. These suggest differential use of navigational strategies. | en_US |
| dc.embargo.lift | 2043-07-01 | |
| dc.embargo.type | Tijdelijk embargo | en_US |
| dc.identifier.uri | https://theses.ubn.ru.nl/handle/123456789/7686 | |
| dc.language.iso | en | en_US |
| dc.thesis.faculty | Faculteit der Sociale Wetenschappen | en_US |
| dc.thesis.specialisation | Researchmaster Cognitive Neuroscience | en_US |
| dc.thesis.studyprogramme | Researchmaster Cognitive Neuroscience | en_US |
| dc.thesis.type | Researchmaster | en_US |
| dc.title | Cognitive mapping: Metrics of neural representations of space | en_US |