Alleyway paper flooring as a locus of nondifferential components of reward and nonreward odors

Abstract

The locus of discriminable differences in conspecific odors arising from rewarded (R) and nonrewarded (N) trials administered to rats in a straight alleyway was examined by collecting the paper flooring from the alleyway after a squad of donor rats had received R or N. Paper flooring was also collected after a different squad of donors, with no history of alleyway R and N, merely walked on the paper. Different test rats were trained to discriminate between one of these kinds of alleyway paper and clean paper, and then each test rat was successively shifted through two more discriminations involving each of the other kinds of alleyway paper and clean paper. Results indicate that all of the alleyway papers retained olfactory components, which were discriminable from clean paper, and that interchanging the kinds of alleyway paper produced little disruption of discrimination. Implications for the volatility and nondifferential nature of components captured on the paper are discussed.