Septal lesions impair rats' Morris test performance but facilitate left-right response differentiation.
Lesions in the septum impaired performance on the Morris test, a task in which the rat locates a hidden escape platform by use of fixed landmarks, but facilitated a water maze-based left-right response differentiation, a task in which the rat finds a hidden escape ramp by means of its internal sense of direction. These results are interpreted as supporting an allocentric/egocentric dichotomy with respect to navigation, and support the notion that rats approach spatial problems with a hierarchy of potential solutions in which allocentric solutions take precedence over egocentric ones. The septal lesions are inferred to disrupt the allocentric mapping system.
Noonan
M
M
Department of Psychology, Canisius College, Buffalo, NY 14208, USA.
Penque
M
M
Axelrod
S
S
D000818:Animals; D004924:Escape Reaction / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D018782:Maze Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D051381:Rats; D012686:Septal Nuclei / Q000502:physiology*; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis