Abstract
The aim of this experiment was to examine the role of exploratory experience on the ability to take a shortcut. In the first phase, two subspaces, X and Y, each consisting of two baited tables related by a runway, were separately explored by hamsters. In the second phase, the experimental group explored a connecting pathway between X and Y. The animals were finally submitted to a shortcut test during 2 days: in this test, in order to go from X to Y, they could choose between the longer familiar pathway and two shorter new pathways. In comparison with a control group, which did not undergo the second phase, the experimental group displayed a significant preference for the shortcut that did not cross the linking path with which they had had experience or either of the two distant portions whose linkage the animals had experienced. These results suggest that, in this simple situation, additional experience of a linking element between two separated subspaces has a beneficial effect on the setting up of spatial relationships between them, and perhaps on the representation of the whole situation.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Chapuis, N., Thinus-Blanc, C., &Poucet, B. (1983). Dissociation of mechanisms involved in dogs’ oriented displacements.Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology,35B, 213–219.
Chapuis, N., & Lavergne, F. (1980). Analysis of space by animals: Visual and proprioceptive cues in complex spatial tasks by hamsters.Neuroscience Letters, Supplement5, 171.
Chapuis, N., &Varlet, C. (1987). Shortcuts by dogs in natural surroundings.Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology,39B, 49–64.
Cheal, M. L. (1978). Stimulus-elicited investigation in the Mongolian gerbil (Meriones unguiculatus).Journal of Biological Psychology,20, 26–32.
Ellen, P. (1980). Cognitive maps and the hippocampus.Physiological Psychology,8, 168–174.
Ellen, P., Parko, E. M., Wages, C., Doherty, D., &Herrmann, T. (1982). Spatial problem solving by rats: Exploration, motivation and cognitive maps.Learning & Motivation,13, 81–94.
Ellen, P., Soteres, B. J., &Wages, C. (1984). Problem solving in the rat: Piecemeal acquisition of cognitive maps.Animal Learning & Behavior,12, 232–237.
Herrmann, T., Bahr, E., Bremmer, B., &Ellen, P. (1982). Problem solving in the rat: Stay vs. shift solutions on the three-table task.Animal Learning & Behavior,10, 39–45.
Kohler, W. (1925).The mentality of apes. New York: Harcourt, Brace.
Maier, N. R. F. (1929). Reasoning in white rats.Comparative Psychology Monograph,6, 1–93.
Maier, N. R. F. (1932). Study of orientation in the rat.Journal of Comparative Psychology,14, 387–399.
Menzel, E. W. (1973). Chimpanzee spatial memory organization.Science,182, 943–945.
O’Keefe, J., &Nadel, L. (1978).The hippocampus as a cognitive map. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Poucet, B., Thinus-Blanc, C., &Chapuis, N. (1983). Route-planning in cats, related to the visibility of the goal.Animal Behaviour,31, 594–599.
Poucet, B., Durup, M., Chapuis, N., &Thinus-Blanc, C. (1986). A study of exploration as an index of spatial knowledge in hamsters.Animal Learning & Behavior,14, 93–100.
Stahl, J. M., &Ellen, P. (1974). Factors in the reasoning performance of the rat.Journal of Comparative & Physiological Psychology,87, 598–604.
Thinus-Blanc, C. (in press). The cognitive map concept and its consequences. In P. Ellen & C. Thinus-Blanc (Eds.),Cognitive processes and spatial orientation in animal and man. Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Martinus Nijhoff.
Tolman, E. C. (1948). Cognitive maps in rats and men.Psychological Review,55, 189–208.
Tolman, E. C., &Honzik, C. H. (1930). “Insight” in rats.University of California Publications in Psychology,4, 215–232.
Tolman, E. C., Ritchie, B. F., &Kalish, D. (1946). Studies in spatial learning: I. Orientation and the short-cut.Journal of Experimental Psychology,36, 13–24.
Wilz, K. J., &Bolton, R. L. (1971). Exploratory behavior in response to the spatial rearrangement of familiar stimuli.Psychonomic Science,24, 117–118.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Chapuis, N., Durup, M. & Thinus-Blanc, C. The role of exploratory experience in a shortcut task by golden hamsters (Mesocricetus auratus). Animal Learning & Behavior 15, 174–178 (1987). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03204960
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03204960