The relative influence of place and direction in the Morris water task.

Hamilton, Derek A.; Akers, Katherine G.; Johnson, Travis E.; Rice, James P.; Candelaria, Felicha T.; Sutherland, Robert J.; Weisend, Michael P.; Redhead, Edward S.

doi:10.1037/0097-7403.34.1.31

Cited by 58 publications

(123 citation statements)

References 41 publications

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“…The data from Experiment 2 are also consistent with Blodgett et al 's ( 1949) In contrast to earlier findings by Hamilton et al (2008), making the pool wall transparent did not encourage place learning when the maze was translated. The absence of a place strategy in the water T-maze may be due to the dominance of response and direction solutions in an apparatus with confined movement trajectories.…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 54%

“…In a pilot experiment, it was shown that acquisition of the translation place problem was difficult in the water maze. However, Hamilton et al (2008) demonstrated a preference for place navigation over directional responding using the open maze configuration when the pool wall was removed as a prominent cue. Consequently, in Experiment 2 acqui ition of place learning was assessed in a new water T -maze with transparent Plexiglas walls.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The authors concluded that rats use distal cues to provide directional information and the apparatus boundaries to provide distance information. Hamilton et al (2008) went on to examine spatial learning when the pool wall was removed as a prominent cue. A in previous experiments, rats were trained to locate a hidden platform from varying start point during training.…”

Section: Spatial Learning In An Aversive Task-the Morris Water Mazementioning

confidence: 99%

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An assessment of response, direction and place learning by rats in a water T-maze

Whyte

Martin

Skinner

2009

Learning and Motivation

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Behavioural data suggest that distinguishable orientations may be necessary for place learning even when distal cues define different start points in the room and a unique goal location. I examined whether changes in orientation are also impottant in place learning and navigation in a water T -maze. In Experiment 1, rats were trained to locate a hidden platform and given a no-platform probe trial after 16 and 64 trials with the maze moved to a new position. Direction and response strategies were more prevalent than a place strategy. In Experiment 2, acquisition of place, response, and direction strategies was assessed in a water T -maze that was moved between two locations during training. Rat were impaired on the place task when the maze was translated (moved to the L or R) but were successful when the maze was rotated across trials. These data are consistent with findings from appetitive tasks.Place Learning m Acknowledgements

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Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 54%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Spatial Learning In An Aversive Task-the Morris Water Mazementioning

confidence: 99%

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An assessment of response, direction and place learning by rats in a water T-maze

Whyte

Martin

Skinner

2009

Learning and Motivation

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“…Recent findings, however, question this assumption. Specifically, it was discovered that adult rats do not search for the platform at its absolute spatial location when the pool is repositioned in the testing room during a posttraining probe trial (Hamilton et al, 2008;Hamilton, Akers, Weisend, & Sutherland, 2007). Instead, they continue to swim in the same direction that the platform was located during training, resulting in a search for the platform at a spatial location that was never trained.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…To disambiguate directional responding and place navigation in the Morris water task, we developed two variants of the task that specifically require either direction or place responses (Hamilton et al, 2008). In both variants of the task, the pool is repositioned in the distal cue environment for every trial.…”

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confidence: 99%

Delayed development of place navigation compared to directional responding in young rats.

Akers

Candelaria‐Cook

Rice

et al. 2009

Behavioral Neuroscience

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Recent work from our laboratory demonstrates that both young and adult rats show a preference for directional responding over place navigation in the Morris water task. Based on these findings, previous studies on the postnatal development of spatial learning have most likely assessed the ontogeny of directional responding instead of true place navigation. Here, we examined the development of directional responding and place navigation among young male and female rats using two variants of the Morris water task that specifically require directional and place responses. In the place variant, the hidden platform remained in the same absolute spatial location regardless of pool position. In the direction variant, the platform remained in the same direction in the room regardless of pool position. We found that ability to solve the direction task emerged around 20 to 21 days of age, whereas ability to solve the place task did not emerge until 26 to 27 days of age. These findings indicate that directional responding and place navigation exhibit different developmental trajectories and suggest that the 2 forms of navigation have different neurobiological bases.

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The stimulus control of local enclosures and barriers over head direction and place cell spatial firing

2021

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Objective Head direction cell and place cell spatially tuned firing is often anchored to salient visual landmarks on the periphery of a recording environment. What is less well understood is whether structural features of an environment, such as orientation of a maze sub‐compartment or a polarizing barrier, can likewise control spatial firing. Method We recorded from 54 head direction cells in the medial entorhinal cortex and subicular region of male Lister Hooded rats while they explored an apparatus with four parallel or four radially arranged compartments (Experiment 1). In Experiment 2, we recorded from 130 place cells (in Lister‐ and Long‐Evans Hooded rats) and 30 head direction cells with 90° rotations of a cue card and a barrier in a single environment (Experiment 2). Results We found that head direction cells maintained a similar preferred firing direction across four separate maze compartments even when these faced different directions (Experiment 1). However, in an environment with a single compartment, we observed that both a barrier and a cue card exerted comparable amounts of stimulus control over head direction cells and place cells (Experiment 2). Conclusion The maintenance of a stable directional orientation across maze compartments suggests that the head direction cell system has the capacity to provide a global directional reference that allows the animal to distinguish otherwise similar maze compartments based on the compartment's orientation. A barrier is, however, capable of controlling spatially tuned firing in an environment in which it is the sole polarizing feature.

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The relative influence of place and direction in the Morris water task.

Cited by 58 publications

References 41 publications

An assessment of response, direction and place learning by rats in a water T-maze

An assessment of response, direction and place learning by rats in a water T-maze

Delayed development of place navigation compared to directional responding in young rats.

The stimulus control of local enclosures and barriers over head direction and place cell spatial firing

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