Generalization in place learning and geometry knowledge in rats.

Luca Tommasi; Catherine Thinus-Blanc

doi:10.1101/lm.60904

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Generalization in place learning and geometry knowledge in rats.

Luca Tommasi·Catherine Thinus-Blanc

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Abstract

Rats were trained to search for a food reward hidden under sawdust in the center of a square-shaped enclosure designed to force orientation on the basis of the overall geometry of the environment. They were then tested in a number of enclosures differing in shape and in size (rectangular-, double-side square-, and equilateral triangle-shaped enclosures). Results showed that rats transferred their place-finding ability to the novel enclosures. Our results add evidence to the hypothesis that the evolutionary roots of spatial cognition entail a primitive encoding of geometric relationships, as already shown using other tasks in rats.

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Animals Appetitive Behavior Association Learning Male Orientation Random Allocation Rats Rats, Long-Evans Space Perception Spatial Behavior Transfer, Psychology Comparative Study Journal Article Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

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Luca Tommasi, Catherine Thinus-Blanc. Generalization in place learning and geometry knowledge in rats.. https://doi.org/10.1101/lm.60904

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