title: Signals for food facilitate gerbils' foraging behaviour.
abstract: To determine if cues signalling the availability of food results in more effective foraging, we trained experimental but not control gerbils to associate a cue (a wire mesh-or pebble-covered floor) with food availability in a Y-maze. Both experimental and control subjects were subsequently tested on an eight arm radial maze foraging task. For both groups half of the arms contained food; for the experimental group the baited arms contained the cue previously associated with food. Trained subjects foraged much more efficiently, a result consistent with the notion that animals utilize cues signalling the presence of food to guide their foraging behaviour.
authors.affiliation: Psychology Department, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada V6T 1Y7.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: de Jong
authors.forename: D M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Wilkie
authors.forename: R J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Willson