Neurobiologist: In an experiment on memory consolidation, two groups of volunteers navigated a complex virtual environment. Immediately following the task, Group 1 rested quietly in a darkened room for thirty minutes, while Group 2 performed a rapid series of auditory arithmetic calculations. In a recall test administered forty-eight hours later, Group 1 demonstrated significantly higher spatial accuracy than Group 2. Neurological monitoring during the thirty-minute interval revealed that participants in Group 1 exhibited robust theta-wave phase locking between the hippocampus and the retrosplenial cortex, a neural synchronization linked to offline memory processing. Because arithmetic calculations do not recruit spatial reasoning circuits, the discrepancy in recall performance was not caused by direct interference from competing spatial representations. Thus, immediate post-learning theta-wave synchronization between these brain regions is required for the durable retention of complex spatial representations.
Which one of the following is an assumption on which the neurobiologist's argument depends?
- AAny individual who exhibits robust theta-wave phase locking between the hippocampus and the retrosplenial cortex immediately following a spatial learning task will successfully retain the learned representations for at least forty-eight hours.
- BTheta-wave phase locking between the hippocampus and the retrosplenial cortex never occurs during periods of active, waking spatial navigation.
- Performing intensive non-spatial cognitive tasks does not disrupt the long-term stabilization of recently encoded spatial memories through mechanisms other than the suppression of theta-wave synchronization.Cevap
- DIf a person fails to demonstrate durable retention of a complex spatial environment, that person must have engaged in an intensive non-spatial cognitive task immediately after navigating that environment.
- EThe retrosplenial cortex is the only cortical brain region that receives synchronized neural signals from the hippocampus during periods of quiet wakefulness.