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Chris Chapleau ('02,
neuroscience, biology and psychology) prepares the
maze prior to the session. The 17-arm maze is a very
challenging task, requiring the hippocampus and related
brain structures for success in learning the task.
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Professor Penny Seymoure
has used the 17-arm radial maze to study rearing environment
and gender differences (Seymoure, P., Dou, H. &
Juraska, J. M. (1996) Psychobiol., 24,
33-37) and lifespan spatial cognition (Seymoure, P.
(2003). Spatial memory for the 17-arm-radial maze
improves over the lifespan of rats living in a complex
environment presented at the Society for Neuroscience
conference) in hooded rats. In the 2003 study Dr.
Seymoure tested Long-Evans hooded rats in the 17-arm
radial maze four times - from before puberty to early
old age. She found that spatial memory for the 17-arm
radial maze significantly improves over the lifespan
of rats living in a complex environment.
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Note the multiple flags attached to the arms of the
maze. These flags are cues that the rat must use to
successfully navigate the maze and obtain the food
pellet reinforcements. Aging albino rats have poor
eyesight, so the flags were placed on the arms, either
close to the entrance or at the end of the arm near
the food pellet, to determine whether placement made
a difference in learning performance.
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Jessica Sladek
('03 neuroscience, psychology, and biology) begins
a testing session
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After performing one session
per day for 20 days, rats were given a 14-day rest
period. Professor Dan Miller and Chris
Chapleau studied a drug that
enhances the function of the hippocampus. Following
the rest, some rats were given injections of the drug
while others received a control injection. We were
attempting to determine whether the drug that enhances
hippocampal function also enhances memory-related
performance on the maze after the rest period. The
results of this study were presented at the Society
for Neuroscience meeting in San Diego (Sladek, J.
A. , Chapleau, C. A., Miller, D. P., & Seymoure,
P. (2001). Age and cue related effects in a 17-arm-radial
maze.
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