Abstract
Human spatial memory research has significantly progressed since the development of computerized tasks, with many studies examining sex-related performances. However, few studies explore the underlying electrophysiological correlates according to sex. In this study event-related potentials were compared between male and female participants during the performance of an allocentric spatial recognition task. Twenty-nine university students took part in the research. Results showed that while general performance was similar in both sexes, the brain of males and females displayed a differential activation. Males showed increased N200 modulation than females in the three phases of memory process (encoding, maintenance, and retrieval). Meanwhile females showed increased activation of P300 in the three phases of memory process compared to males. In addition, females exhibited more negative slow wave (NSW) activity during the encoding phase. These differences are discussed in terms of attentional control and the allocation of attentional resources during spatial processing. Our findings demonstrate that sex modulates the resources recruited to performed this spatial task.
Highlights
Knowledge about the external world and how our brain uses this information during spatial orientation tasks have been the subject of many studies over the last decades
The hippocampus and medial temporal lobe structures have been implicated in allocentric representation (Iaria et al, 2009), the ability to form spatial associations between objects and locations that are independent of the viewer
Because allocentric spatial orientation involves the medial temporal lobe, a brain region that contributes to episodic memory (Burgess et al, 2002), these virtual reality (VR) spatial allocentric tasks are especially interesting in the learning and memory research field
Summary
Knowledge about the external world and how our brain uses this information during spatial orientation tasks have been the subject of many studies over the last decades. A further advantage of VR tasks is the ability to combine them with different neuroimaging techniques, which are responsible for the identification of many neural structures underlying spatial behavior, such as the hippocampal area (Burgess et al, 2002), parietal (Husain and Nachev, 2007), and retrosplenial cortices (Mitchell et al, 2018), among others. The hippocampus and medial temporal lobe structures have been implicated in allocentric representation (Iaria et al, 2009), the ability to form spatial associations between objects and locations that are independent of the viewer. Because allocentric spatial orientation involves the medial temporal lobe, a brain region that contributes to episodic memory (Burgess et al, 2002), these VR spatial allocentric tasks are especially interesting in the learning and memory research field. Evoked brain activity requires that events be controlled in time, making possible to match behavioral and electrophysiological processes
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