The ability to orient is critical for mobile species. Two visual cues, geometry (e.g., distance and direction) and features (e.g., colour and texture) are often used when establishing one's orientation. Previous research has shown the use of these cues, in particular, geometry, may decline with healthy aging. Few studies have examined whether degenerative aging processes show similar time points for the decline of geometry use. The present study examined this issue by training adult and aged mice from two strains, a healthy wild-type and an Alzheimer's model, to search for a hidden platform in a rectangular water maze. The shape of the maze provided geometric information, and distinctive features were displayed on the walls. Following training, manipulations to the features were made to examine whether the mice were able to use the features and geometry, and whether they showed a preference between these two cue types. Results showed that although Alzheimer's transgenic mice were slower to learn the task, overall age rather than strain, was associated with a degradation in use of geometry. However, the presence of seemingly uninformative features (due to their redundancy) facilitated the use of geometry. Additionally, when features and geometry provided conflicting information, only young wild-type mice showed a primary use of features. Our results suggest the failure to use geometry may be a generalized function of aging, and not a diagnostic feature of degeneration for mice. Whether this is also the case for other mammals, such as humans for which the mouse is an important medical model, remains to be examined.

中文翻译：

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通过特征和几何形状重新定向：健康和退化的与年龄相关的认知能力下降的影响。

定向能力对于流动物种至关重要。在确定一个人的方位时，经常使用两个视觉提示，几何形状（例如，距离和方向）和特征（例如，颜色和纹理）。先前的研究表明，这些提示的使用（尤其是几何形状）可能会随着健康的衰老而下降。很少有研究检查退化老化过程是否显示出几何形状使用下降的相似时间点。本研究通过训练来自两种品系的成年和成年小鼠，即健康的野生型和阿尔茨海默氏症模型，在矩形水迷宫中寻找隐藏的平台，从而研究了这一问题。迷宫的形状提供了几何信息，墙壁上显示了鲜明的特征。经过培训，对特征进行了操作，以检查小鼠是否能够使用特征和几何形状，以及它们在这两种提示类型之间是否显示出偏好。结果表明，尽管阿尔茨海默氏症的转基因小鼠学习任务的速度较慢，但​​总体年龄而非劳损与几何形状的使用降低有关。但是，看似无关紧要的特征（由于其冗余）的存在促进了几何的使用。此外，当特征和几何形状提供相互矛盾的信息时，只有年轻的野生型小鼠显示出特征的主要用途。我们的结果表明，无法使用几何图形可能是衰老的普遍功能，而不是小鼠变性的诊断特征。其他哺乳动物是否也是这种情况，