spatial cognition

Question 1

list of simple to complex control of movement

Answer 1

kinesis
-taxis
migration
homing
routes
maps

Question 2

define kinesis

Answer 2

control of the rate of movement

Question 3

define orthokinesis

Answer 3

variable rate of movement

Question 4

define klinokinesis

Answer 4

variable rate of turning

Question 5

phototaxis

Answer 5

movement towards light

Question 6

zooplankton and light

Answer 6

• light inhibits nearby hair cells
• causes zooplankton to swim towards light

Question 7

menotaxis in moths

Answer 7

• use moon to stay at the right angle to fly straight
• if light source is too close (lamp)
• causes moths to fly circularly even though angle doesnt change as too close

Question 8

monarch butterfly migration

Answer 8

• Eastern migrants overwinter in Mexico.
• 2 generations of spring and summer
  monarchs repopulate the home range.
• Southerly trip triggered by decreasing
  day length and cooler temperatures
• Directional mechanism is a
  time-compensated sun
  compass.
• Sun moves so need to know
  what time it is.
• The circadian clock is driven
  by light sensitive cells in the
  antennae
• This clock is calibrated by
  dawn & dusk

Question 9

hatchling turtle migration

Answer 9

• Different simulated latitudes
  produce different swimming
  directions in the hatchlings
• they need inclination and orientation of magnetic field

Question 10

innate homing mechanisms

Answer 10

• path integration
• uses a step-counter
• uses celestial compass cues like the sun
• needs to do geometry

Question 11

route learning

Answer 11

• Many animals show habitual
  routes through the world
• Path integration is used at first
• Visual learning is “guided” by PI
• Using consistent paths, makes
  learning easier
• Better to have a reliable route
  even if it isn’t the most direct

Question 12

what shows evidence for hippocampus enlargement related to navigational performance

Answer 12

• food storing bired
• london black cab drivers
• male polygynous voles

Question 13

inputs of place cells

Answer 13

• Place cells get inputs
  from many brain areas
  via the Entorhinal cortex
• This includes from cells
  with very specific spatial
  firing properties

Question 14

place cells in hippocampus

Answer 14

• firing is specific to location, independantly of orientation
• place cells are tied to visual landmarks
• but they maintain their firing in the dark
• might be a site where visual learning and idiothetic info in combined

Question 15

inputs to place cells

Answer 15

• Head direction cells
  – Direction independently of
  location
  – Population coding
• Border cells
  – fire when an animal is near the
  edge or boundary of an
  environment
  – Cells are selective to boundary
  orientation
• Grid cells
  – Hexagonal array of firing
  fields.
  – Cells in different layers have
  different scales but the same
  orientation

Question 16

place cells in humans

Answer 16

• Single unit
  recordings from
  subjects with
  chronic electrodes
• Single cells in
  hippocampus show
  place fields

Question 17

summarise place cells

Answer 17

• Place cells combine learnt visual information with PI information.
• This means that they can keep track of locations with multimodal
  information.
• This is probably a mechanism seen in all vertebrates