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Related Experiment Videos

Differences between appetitive and aversive reinforcement on reorientation in a spatial working memory task.

Edward J Golob1, Jeffrey S Taube

  • 1Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, 6207 Moore Hall, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH 03755, USA.

Behavioural Brain Research
|October 19, 2002
PubMed
Summary

Rats disoriented in aversive tasks use distinct cues, unlike those in appetitive tasks who rely on arena shape. This suggests different spatial strategies based on reinforcement type.

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Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Animal Behavior
  • Spatial Cognition

Background:

  • Disorientation in rats performing appetitive tasks leads to reliance on arena shape for reorientation.
  • Appetitive tasks are impaired by disorientation, while aversive tasks are not.
  • Previous research indicates rats struggle to differentiate geometrically similar corners in appetitive tasks.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate if rats exhibit similar geometric errors in a working memory task using aversive reinforcement.
  • To determine if disorientation affects spatial reorientation strategies differently based on reinforcement type (appetitive vs. aversive).

Main Methods:

  • Rats were tested in a rectangular arena with a polarizing visual cue.
  • Two conditions were used: appetitive (water consumption reward) and aversive (escape from water to a hidden platform).

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  • Performance after disorientation was compared between the two conditions.

    • Main Results:

    • In the aversive condition, disoriented rats significantly favored the reinforced corner.
    • Rats in the aversive condition did not show a preference for the diagonally opposite corner.
    • Unlike in appetitive tasks, rats in the aversive condition did not rely on arena shape for reorientation.

    Conclusions:

    • Rats can utilize cues beyond arena shape for reorientation in aversive reinforcement scenarios.
    • Findings suggest distinct spatial strategies: an escape/homing strategy in aversive tasks and a foraging strategy in appetitive tasks.
    • Aversive reinforcement may mitigate disorientation-induced geometric errors observed in appetitive tasks.