RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 The HexMaze: A Previous Knowledge Task on Map Learning for Mice
JF eneuro
JO eNeuro
FD Society for Neuroscience
SP ENEURO.0554-20.2021
DO 10.1523/ENEURO.0554-20.2021
VO 8
IS 4
A1 Alejandra Alonso
A1 Levan Bokeria
A1 Jacqueline van der Meij
A1 Anumita Samanta
A1 Ronny Eichler
A1 Ali Lotfi
A1 Patrick Spooner
A1 Irene Navarro Lobato
A1 Lisa Genzel
YR 2021
UL http://www.eneuro.org/content/8/4/ENEURO.0554-20.2021.abstract
AB New information is rarely learned in isolation; instead, most of what we experience can be incorporated into or uses previous knowledge networks in some form. Previous knowledge in form of a cognitive map can facilitate knowledge acquisition and will influence how we learn new spatial information. Here, we developed a new spatial navigation task where food locations are learned in a large, gangway maze to test how mice learn a large spatial map over a longer time period—the HexMaze. Analyzing performance across sessions as well as on specific trials, we can show simple memory effects as well as multiple effects of previous knowledge of the map accelerating both online learning and performance increases over offline periods when incorporating new information. We could identify the following three main phases: (1) learning the initial goal location; (2) faster learning after 2 weeks when learning a new goal location; and then (3) the ability to express one-session learning, leading to long-term memory effect after 12 weeks. Importantly, we are the first to show that buildup of a spatial map is dependent on how much time passes, not how often the animal is trained.