ISSN: 2576-0319
Authors: Garcia-Falgueras Alicia*
The systematic use of the Global Positioning system (GPS) as a recursive and repetitive use of feedback about our position and destination provided by the GPS has a negative impact on human intrinsics natural navigation strategies. This negative impact is specially present when the GPS absorbs all the possible exterior stimulation that the driver might receive (visual and auditory stimulation). The auditory cortex is generally not so relevant to build an inner cognitive map, while with the GPS the audition would be the principal source of input. With GPS instructions, attention may never flow beyond the closer sensations (thigmotaxis) to the formation of a cognitive map after brain processing. In this paper we have checked brain processing of elaborating an escape route in a Morris Maze test for different aged mice (1 month vs 4 months). The younger mice were lost at the beginning of the first trial but quickly learned how to escape and were able to better remember the platform position through different trials, compared to the adult group. These new skills were more remarkable in a second session, made thirteen days later than the first one. Probably because their hippocampus and brain network made new connections, which were translated into their more adaptive behavior, so the water environment would have become a more familiar place and an essential cognitive map had arisen from their swimming experiences. This “ability to understand” or cognitive map happened because of their healthy state (one ill mouse could not survive the test). The learning was motivated by biological survival and earned by their hard physical activity during swimming to stay afloat and breathe.
Keywords: Morris Maze; Cognition; Memory; GPS; Global Positioning System; Arousal; Hippocampus
