Establishing an fMRI-Compatible Y-Maze Task to Characterize Task-Related Hippocampal Activity Open Access
Funderburg, Emma (Spring 2025)
Abstract
Human spatial navigation is a complex, cognitive domain essential to daily life activities. As declines in spatial navigation may be an early potential marker of neurodegenerative disorders and aging-relating cognitive decline, understanding navigation ability is important to the future development and treatment of these conditions. Notably, the hippocampus is a neural region hypothesized to be directly associated in the mechanisms of aging-related navigation impairments, specifically deficits in processing third-person, landmark-focused knowledge during navigation behavior. The Y-Maze task, a traditional, forced-choice, desktop navigation task, has been previously used to classify reference frame utilization in older adults, demonstrating decreased reliance on allocentric strategies. However, a gap in understanding remains in what neural regions are involved in reference frame utilization within the Y-Maze task. To set up future comparisons between younger and older adults, we administered the Y-Maze task in the scanner to N = 13 young adults, alongside an array of behavioral measures. Neural activation in the hippocampus was compared across participants grouped by reference frame classification and allocentric recall score. When comparing Y-Maze behavior in the scanner and in a traditional desktop version, there was no difference observed in reference frame classification across participants, but a significantly greater average trial duration in the scanner. When completing the Y-Maze within the scanner, no significant difference was observed in hippocampal activation, but a general trend of HPC activation within the contrast of interest was observed. Finally, when grouped by high or low allocentric recall scores, participants showed no difference in hippocampal activation between or across the three task-related contrasts. A lack of significantly different activation across or between contrasts was also observed for participants grouped by reference frame classification, though general trends between allocentric recall group and RF classification group support initial hypotheses. Ultimately, despite preliminary neuroimaging data not following predicted trends, initial trends in data partially support initial hypotheses and demonstrate the need for continued research and data collection using the Y-Maze task.
Table of Contents
Introduction………………………………………………………………………………………1
Aim Statements & Hypotheses……………………………….…………………..……………7
Materials & Methods……..……………………………………………………………………..8
Results……………………………………………………………………….…………………17
Discussion…………………………………………………………………………..………….33
Limitations…………………………………………………………………………..………….42
Future Directions………………………………………………………..…………………..…43
Conclusion……………………………………………………………………….……………..45
Contributions…….……………………………………………..………………………………45
References……………………………………………………………………….………….…46
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Establishing an fMRI-Compatible Y-Maze Task to Characterize Task-Related Hippocampal Activity () | 2025-04-14 12:52:24 -0400 |
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