Abstract
Rats (n=4) searched for food on an eight-arm radial maze. Daily 56-min sessions were divided into eight 7-min time zones, during each of which a different location provided food; locations were randomized across subjects before training. The rats obtained multiple pellets within each time zone by leaving and returning to the correct location. Evidence that the rats had knowledge about the temporal and spatial features of the task includes the following. The rats anticipated locations before they became active and anticipated the end of the currently active locations. The rats discriminated currently active locations from earlier and forthcoming active locations in the absence of food transition cues. After the rats had left the previously active location, they visited the next correct location more often than would be expected by chance in the absence of food transition cues. The rats used handling or opening doors as a cue to visit the first location and timed successive 7-min intervals to get to subsequent locations.
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The data were presented at the 10th Annual Meeting of the International Conference on Comparative Cognition, Melbourne, FL, March 2003. This work was supported by National Institute of Mental Health Grants MH64799 and MH61618 to J.D.C. This research was completed in partial fulfillment of a doctoral degree to M.J.P. at the University of Georgia. The raw data (time of occurrence of each stimulus and response) are available at www.uga.edu/animal-cognition-lab. We thank Kenneth W. Maxwell for technical assistance during the course of this study.
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Pizzo, M.J., Crystal, J.D. Time-place learning in the eight-arm radial maze. Animal Learning & Behavior 32, 240–255 (2004). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03196025
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03196025