Abstract
In Experiment 1, rats foraged for food in six successive phases with 8, 16, 24, 32, 40, and 48 arms attached in random locations to a large radial maze. The percentage of novel choices appeared to be determined more by spatial proximity than by number of arms. In Experiment 2, rats foraged for food in four successive phases with 8, 16, 24, and 48 arms attached to the maze in spread-out or tight configurations. Performance was poor in the tight configurations regardless of the number of arms. Performance was excellent in the 8-arm spread-out condition but declined as 16 and, then again, 24 arms were added. Thus, spatial separation, not number of locations, was the chief determinant of performance in the first two experiments. In Experiment 3, in successive phases, 8, 16, 24, 32, 40, 48, 16, and 8 food towers were set in a circle on the floor, with the spatial separation between adjacent towers held constant at 33 cm. The percentage of novel choices declined as 8 towers became 16 and did not change again with 24, 32, 40, or 48 towers in place but then increased again as 16 towers became 8. In Experiment 4, in successive phases, 8, 16, 24, and 32 food towers were set in a circle, with the spatial separation between adjacent towers held constant at 66 cm. The percentage of novel choices declined as 8 towers became 16 and again as 16 towers became 24 but did not decline further. These data were discussed in terms of the fundamental problems posed by variations in the number of food locations in the pursuit of the limit of spatial memory in rats.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bond, A. B., Cook, R.G., &Lamb, M. R. (1981). Spatial memory and the performance of rats and pigeons in the radial-arm maze.Animal Learning & Behavior,9, 575–580.
Brown, M. F., &Terrinoni, M. (1996). Control of choice by the spatial configuration of goals.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes,22, 438–446.
Charnov, E. L. (1976). Optimal foraging: The marginal value theorem.Theoretical Population Biology,9, 129–136.
Cohen, J. S., Burkhart, P., Jones, N., &Innis, N. K. (1990). The effects of an intramaze cue search rule on rats’ spatial working memory.Behavioural Processes,22, 73–88.
Dale, R. H. I. (1982). Parallel-arm performance of sighted and blind rats: Spatial memory and maze structure.Behaviour Analysis Letters,2, 127–139.
Dallal, N. L., &Meck, W.H. (1990). Hierarchical structures: Chunking by food type facilitates spatial memory.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes,16, 69–84.
Eckerman, D. A. (1980). Monte Carlo estimation of chance performance for the radial arm maze.Bulletin of the Psychonomic Society,15, 93–95.
Grobety, M.-C., &Schenk, F. (1992). The influence of spatial irregularity upon radial-maze performance in the rat.Animal Learning & Behavior,20, 393–400.
Hoffman, C.M., Timberlake, W., Leffel, J., &Gont, R. (1999). How is radial-arm maze behavior in rats related to locomotor search tactics?Animal Learning & Behavior,27, 426–444.
Lanke, J., Mansson, L., Bjerkemo, M., &Kjellstrand, P. (1993). Spatial memory and stereotypic behaviour of animals in radial arm mazes.Brain Research,605, 221–228.
Miller, G. A. (1956). The magical number seven plus or minus two: Some limits on our capacity for processing information.Psychological Review,63, 81–97.
Olton, D. S., Collison, C., &Werz, M. A. (1977). Spatial memory and radial arm maze performance of rats.Learning & Motivation,8, 289–314.
Olton, D. S., &Samuelson, R. J. (1976). Remembrance of places passed: Spatial memory in rats.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes,2, 97–116.
Roberts, W. A. (1979). Spatial memory in the rat on a hierarchical maze.Learning & Motivation,10, 117–140.
Staddon, J. E. R. (1983). Memory and temporal control. In J. E. R. Staddon (Ed.),Adaptive behavior and learning (pp. 354–394). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Suzuki, S., Augerinos, G., &Black, A. H. (1980). Stimulus control of spatial behavior on the eight-arm maze in rats.Learning & Motivation,11, 1–18.
Tulving, E., &Pearlstone, Z. (1966). Availability versus accessibility of information in memory for words.Journal of Verbal Learning & Verbal Behavior,5, 381–391.
Yoerg, S. I., &Kamil, A. C. (1982). Response strategies in the radial arm maze: Running around in circles.Animal Learning & Behavior,10, 530–534.
Zoladek, L., &Roberts, W. A. (1978). The sensory basis of spatial memory in the rat.Animal Learning & Behavior,6, 77–81.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Portions of the present research were presented at various conferences, including the meetings of the Canadian Society for Brain, Behaviour and Cognitive Sciences in Edmonton, June 1999; the joint meeting of the Canadian Society for Brain, Behaviour and Cognitive Sciences and the Experimental Psychology Society in Cambridge, England, July 2000; the meetings of the Canadian Society for Brain, Behavior and Cognitive Sciences in Quebec City, June 2001; and the meetings of the Canadian Society for Brain, Behavior and Cognitive Sciences in Vancouver, June 2002. This research was supported by grants from the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at Huron University College. Much gratitude is due Kathy Bracken, Ken Bignell, Amy Clipperton, Nadine Magid, and Dana Tobe, all of whom assisted in data collection and/or analysis. We thank Stephen Erdle for advice regarding analysis and the entire Psychology 501 Graduate Group for advice and counsel, with special thanks to Nancy Innis for her helpful suggestions. Finally, thanks to Lori Cole for cheerfully accepting all those undone household chores over four summers.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Cole, M.R., Chappell-Stephenson, R. Exploring the limits of spatial memory in rats, using very large mazes. Animal Learning & Behavior 31, 349–368 (2003). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03195996
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03195996