Exploration and learning of topographical relationships by the rat

Abstract

In three experiments, the exploratory behavior of thirsty rats systematically progressed to areas distant from the starting location in an unfamiliar environment (table with seven objects on it). In a fourth experiment, this systematic pattern was disrupted when one of the objects in the new environment was familiar. Learning of spatial relations occurred during exploration, as evidenced by exploratory behavior on a test in which a previously neutral object in the environment became a source of water. Exploratory activity differed when the starting location was fixed in one corner of the table from when it was varied daily from corner to corner on a large table in one experiment; it did not differ with a table half that size in another experiment. The findings are taken to indicate that the development of the spatial structure consists of utilizing a known part of a given locale as anchor point or “base of operations” upon which is built a network of topographic relations among objects in particular locales.