Abstract
On each of 10 trials a day, rats were allowed to sample two different target stimuli, each presented in one of two separate and distinctive contexts. One context was arbitrarily and permanently designated as positive for each rat. At a later test in a third apparatus, rats were rewarded for choosing the stimulus that had been encountered in their designated positive context. A pool of 20 different stimuli was freshly randomized between the contexts every day, individually for each rat. About half of the rats demonstrated statistically significant performance under the most stringently controlled conditions, showing that they had a working memory (albeit limited) for contexts no longer physically present. Some possible mechanisms underlying this ability are discussed.
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This work was supported by a Medical Research Council grant to the Brain and Behaviour Research Centre, Oxford University.
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Deacon, R.M.J., Rawlins, J.N.P. Working memory for stimulus-context associations in rats. Psychobiology 25, 141–145 (1997). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03331919
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03331919