Explorational Behavior

Introduction This report discusses an experiment to study the relationship of explorational behavior and spatial knowledge. The objective of the experiment was to see if the spatial arrangement and time in contact with objects are related. A study of exploratory behavior as an index of spatial knowledge in hamster conducted by Poucet in 1986 hypothesized that hamsters will dis-habituation or spend increased amount of contact and time on objects that had been rearranged verses objects that are stable. The independent variable was the arrangement of the objects and the dependent variables were the time spent with each contact and number of contacts. The investigators concluded that the groups with rearranged objects explored more contacts

Poucet and colleagues hypothesized that different species would spend different amounts of time exploring. The independent variables were the species of the subject and the time course of habituation. The dependent variables were the number of contacts and the time spent in contact. The investigators concluded that the rats (who area of lives change frequently) only habituated within trials while gerbils and hamsters (who are generally pets) habituated within and between trials. Effect of Age on Object Exploration, Habituation, and Response to spatial and Non-spatial change conducted by Shukkit Hale et al investigated how age affected object exploration in spatial and non-spatial change. They hypothesized that older rats had a harder time learning spatial maps, due to cognitive decline, and decreased exploratory behavior. The independent variable was the age of the subject and the type of change (spatial/ non-spatial). The dependent variable was the amount of contacts with objects and the time spent investigating in a changed field and other proxy measurements. They concluded that young rats distinguished between spatial and non- spatial and had an increased exploratory behavior while older rats had harder time noticing change, particularly in

Subjects were placed in a transport box and moved from the colony room into the running room. Subjects were then removed from cage and placed into the center of the open field maze for a period of 5 minutes (300 seconds). During this time the number of ambulations (forward locomotion into a square with the front and hind limbs) were counted. Subjects were then returned to home cage and OF was cleaned with cleanser.
 Week Two: Room lights were dimmed and experimenters remained as silent as possible. Three objects were placed inside the OF in the correct locations (as shown on the outside of the OF). Subjects were placed in a transport box and moved from the colony room into the running room. Subjects were placed in the corner of the open field nearest to the door (facing the corner). Immediately after the stopwatch was started. Number of ambulations, contacts (number of times the subject’s snout crosses into the same square as the object) and time spent in contact with the objects were then recorded. After five minutes (300 seconds) the subject was then removed and placed into transport box for ITI (1 minute). During that time the OF is was wiped down with cleanser. Procedure was then repeated for trials 2 and 5. During the ITI before the 6th trial, the objects in the OF were rearranged. Trial 6 was then performed. The subject was then placed back into home cage and returned to the colony