Department of Psychology, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia 30602-3013, USA. mpizzo@uga.edu
Abstract:
Rats (n=4) searched for food on an eight-arm radial maze. Daily 56-min sessions were divided into eight 7-min time zones, during
each of which a different location provided food; locations were randomized across subjects before training. The rats obtained
multiple pellets within each time zone by leaving and returning to the correct location. Evidence that the rats had knowledge
about the temporal and spatial features of the task includes the following. The rats anticipated locations before they became
active and anticipated the end of the currently active locations. The rats discriminated currently active locations from earlier
and forthcoming active locations in the absence of food transition cues. After the rats had left the previously active location,
they visited the next correct location more often than would be expected by chance in the absence of food transition cues.
The rats used handling or opening doors as a cue to visit the first location and timed successive 7-min intervals to get to
subsequent locations.