032-23 – Translational Paradigms for Investigating Spatial Memory and Prior Knowledge in Virtual Environments

Learning and memory formation are crucial aspects of our daily lives, contributing to the creation of knowledge. Map learning has been widely studied as a model for understanding the development and updating of spatial knowledge (O’Keefe & Nadel, 1979). Spatial navigation and orientation, although complex, are abilities shared by most species of animal. While animal and human models have been employed to assess spatial navigation and memory (O’Keefe and Nadel 1979; Morris 1981; Bast et al., 2005; Tse et al., 2007; van Kesteren et al., 2012; Bauer et al., 2021), challenges arise when translating findings from animal studies to human applications due to methodological constraints and ethical considerations. However, recent research has demonstrated the potential of virtual environments, such as Minecraft, in exploring real-world implications for spatial memory (Clemenson et al., 2019). Leveraging the advantages of virtual environments offers an opportunity for conducting translational research that would otherwise be impractical.

This study aims to introduce a novel paradigm utilizing Minecraft as a translational model to investigate the influence of prior knowledge on new learning. Drawing inspiration from carefully designed animal models, we focus on the phenomenon of rapid spatial memory consolidation when new information aligns with pre-existing schemas (Tse et al., 2007; 2011; van Kesteren et al., 2012). To achieve this, a spatial paired-associative task previously utilized with rats will be adapted for human participants in the virtual Minecraft environment. Participants will be tasked with associating specific locations within the virtual environment with different colour