METHODS article

Front. Aging Neurosci.

Sec. Neurocognitive Aging and Behavior

Volume 17 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fnagi.2025.1567929

This article is part of the Research TopicNeurobiological insights into healthy brain aging: From molecular markers to behavioral manifestations – A cross-species analysisView all articles

Normal and slow learners: A new discriminative method based on the speed of spatial learning in aged mice

Provisionally accepted
Celine DuffauCeline Duffau1*Senka HadzibegovicSenka Hadzibegovic2,3Vojislav AndelkovicVojislav Andelkovic3Bruno BontempiBruno Bontempi3,4Olivier NicoleOlivier Nicole3,5*
  • 1Brigham Young University–Hawaii, Lā‘ie, Hawaii, United States
  • 2INSERM U1215 Neurocentre Magendie, Bordeaux, France
  • 3Université de Bordeaux, Bordeaux, Aquitaine, France
  • 4UMR5287 Institut de Neurosciences Cognitives et Intégratives d’Aquitaine (INCIA), Bordeaux, Aquitaine, France
  • 5UMR5297 Institut Interdisciplinaire de Neurosciences (IINS), Bordeaux, Aquitaine, France

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Aging is accompanied by a decline in cognitive functions, including spatial memory, yet significant variability exists in the learning abilities of older individuals. Using a large cohort of aged and young male mice, we employed spatial discrimination testing in an 8-arm radial maze to investigate agerelated differences in performance in spatial learning and to categorize individual memory phenotypes within the aged population. Despite a general learning ability across groups, aged mice showed slower acquisition rates compared to young counterparts, highlighting age-related cognitive difficulties in establishing or discriminating spatial representations. By modeling individual learning curves, we classified aged mice into two subgroups-normal learners (NL) and slow learners (SL)-based on learning speed. SL mice demonstrated significantly delayed spatial memory acquisition compared to NL and young mice, suggesting pronounced heterogeneity in cognitive aging. This method provides a robust framework to explore the neurobiological underpinnings of learning deficits and may inform the development of targeted interventions to mitigate age-related memory decline.

Keywords: Aging, Memory, individual difference, normal aging, radial arm maze, spatial memory

Received: 28 Jan 2025; Accepted: 07 May 2025.

Copyright: © 2025 Duffau, Hadzibegovic, Andelkovic, Bontempi and Nicole. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence:
Celine Duffau, Brigham Young University–Hawaii, Lā‘ie, Hawaii, United States
Olivier Nicole, Université de Bordeaux, Bordeaux, 33076, Aquitaine, France

Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

Supplementary Material