Journal
BRAIN RESEARCH BULLETIN
Volume 54, Issue 5, Pages 559-563Publisher
PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD
DOI: 10.1016/S0361-9230(01)00448-8
Keywords
reference frames; allothesis; spatial memory; place learning
Categories
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Dry arenas are a convenient tool for assessing the spatial navigation abilities of rodents. In this paper, mice must avoid a punished sector of a dry arena from which they are expelled by a puff of compressed air. The position of the punished sector is defined relative to the coordinate system of the room. In a stable environment the mice can use both extramaze and intramaze landmarks to orient themselves accurately. However, when the shock area is defined by extramaze landmarks, continuous rotation of the arena at 1 rpm makes it impossible to solve the avoidance task using arena-based cues or idiothesis, The avoidance can only be solved by paying attention to extramaze cues. Our protocol tested spatial abilities on stable and rotating arenas. The acquisition of the task was manifested under both conditions by a significant improvement of performance within the first session (short-term memory component) and at the beginning of the 24-h delayed second session (long-term memory component). (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Inc.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available