Multiple systems for spatial learning: dead reckoning and beacon homing in rats.
Rats homed with food in a large lighted arena. Without visual cues, they used dead reckoning. When a beacon indicated the home, rats could also use the beacon. Homing did not differ in 2 groups of rats, 1 provided with the beacon and 1 without it; tests without the beacon gave no evidence that beacon learning overshadowed dead reckoning (Experiment 1). When the beacon was at the home for 1 group and in random locations for another, there was again no evidence of cue competition (Experiment 2). Dead reckoning experience did not block acquisition of beacon homing (Experiment 3). Beacon learning and dead reckoning do not compete for predictive value but acquire information in parallel and are used hierarchically.
Shettleworth
Sara J
SJ
Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M5S 3G3, Canada. shettle@psych.utoronto.ca
Sutton
Jennifer E
JE
D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal; D003463:Cues; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D006185:Habituation, Psychophysiologic; D006702:Homing Behavior; D007858:Learning; D008297:Male; D051381:Rats; D020318:Rats, Long-Evans; D013028:Space Perception