Faculty Collaboration Database

Human performance with a seventeen-arm radial maze analog. Brain Res Bull 1993;30(1-2):189-91

Date

01/01/1993

Pubmed ID

8420630

DOI

10.1016/0361-9230(93)90058-j

Scopus ID

2-s2.0-0027472787 (requires institutional sign-in at Scopus site)   21 Citations

Abstract

Results using radial mazes suggest rats may have a greater short-term memory (STM) capacity than the human "magical number seven." We examined spatial STM in humans using a radial maze analog drawn on paper. Subjects were instructed to lift, in "random" order, each of 17 cardboard flaps arranged radially around a center point. Fifteen undergraduate subjects, tested seven trials a day on 2 consecutive days, averaged 15.4 correct choices per trial. Thus, humans perform equally well on a 17-arm radial maze analog as rats do on a 17-arm radial maze, suggesting comparable spatial STM capacities, and perhaps homologous brain substrates for these tasks, in these two species.

Author List

O'Connor RC, Glassman RB

Author

Robert Corey O'Connor MD Professor in the Urologic Surgery department at Medical College of Wisconsin

MESH terms used to index this publication - Major topics in bold

Adult
Animals
Female
Humans
Male
Memory
Rats
Sex Characteristics
Space Perception