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Interaction between piloting and beacon homing by rats in a swimming pool

Interaction between piloting and beacon homing by rats in a swimming pool
Interaction between piloting and beacon homing by rats in a swimming pool
In three experiments, rats in a swimming pool were trained to find a submerged platform with a beacon attached to it. For some rats this beacon unambiguously identified the location of the platform; for others the beacon was made ambiguous by placement of an identical beacon in a different part of the pool. Test trials, in the absence of the platform and the beacons, revealed more persistent searching near the original location of the platform if the beacon attached to the platform had been ambiguous. These results show that learning about the location of the platform, with regard to cues that lie beyond the pool, is influenced by the extent to which an animal can find the platform by relying on other cues. The final experiment shows that this interaction between cues is influenced by an animal's prior experience.
0097-7403
340-350
Redhead, Edward S.
d2342759-2c77-45ef-ac0f-9f70aa5db0df
Roberts, Amanda
c4a5d206-49c3-4a07-8cfd-5bccf8c93b3b
Good, Mark
23797100-2667-435b-986e-2e9e0b59a4fd
Pearce, John M.
0448ba7f-c537-41ce-8c45-14c869414c88
Redhead, Edward S.
d2342759-2c77-45ef-ac0f-9f70aa5db0df
Roberts, Amanda
c4a5d206-49c3-4a07-8cfd-5bccf8c93b3b
Good, Mark
23797100-2667-435b-986e-2e9e0b59a4fd
Pearce, John M.
0448ba7f-c537-41ce-8c45-14c869414c88

Redhead, Edward S., Roberts, Amanda, Good, Mark and Pearce, John M. (1997) Interaction between piloting and beacon homing by rats in a swimming pool. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behaviour Processes, 23 (3), 340-350.

Record type: Article

Abstract

In three experiments, rats in a swimming pool were trained to find a submerged platform with a beacon attached to it. For some rats this beacon unambiguously identified the location of the platform; for others the beacon was made ambiguous by placement of an identical beacon in a different part of the pool. Test trials, in the absence of the platform and the beacons, revealed more persistent searching near the original location of the platform if the beacon attached to the platform had been ambiguous. These results show that learning about the location of the platform, with regard to cues that lie beyond the pool, is influenced by the extent to which an animal can find the platform by relying on other cues. The final experiment shows that this interaction between cues is influenced by an animal's prior experience.

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Published date: 1997

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 18295
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/18295
ISSN: 0097-7403
PURE UUID: 32f887ee-e0b5-4c81-a74f-95f376e198fb
ORCID for Edward S. Redhead: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-7771-1228

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Date deposited: 21 Jul 2006
Last modified: 09 Jun 2023 01:35

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Contributors

Author: Amanda Roberts
Author: Mark Good
Author: John M. Pearce

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