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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jul 9, 2026

Place and Response Learning in the Open-field Tower Maze
08:31

Place and Response Learning in the Open-field Tower Maze

Published on: October 28, 2015

Place versus response learning in rats.

Mark R Cole1, Amy Clipperton, Caryn Walt

  • 1Department of Psychology, Huron University College, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada. mcole@uwo.ca

Learning & Behavior
|December 1, 2007
PubMed
Summary

Rats learned place and response tasks equally well in a static apparatus, challenging previous findings. Response biases may hinder spatial learning more than previously thought.

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Area of Science:

  • Behavioral Neuroscience
  • Animal Cognition
  • Spatial Learning

Background:

  • Previous studies on rat spatial learning lacked unambiguous definitions of 'place'.
  • Direction control via apparatus movement created ambiguity in prior place vs. response learning research.
  • A historical debate exists regarding the relative efficiency of place and response learning in rats.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To compare place and response learning in rats using a static apparatus for unambiguous place definition.
  • To investigate the influence of controlled direction and visual cue discriminability on spatial learning strategies.
  • To re-evaluate the historical debate on place versus response learning efficiency in rats.

Main Methods:

  • Experiment 1: Rats learned to find food using either place-specific turns or consistent turns in a static apparatus.
  • Experiment 2: Visual cues were standardized for both place and response learners in the static apparatus.
  • Performance metrics were used to compare learning speed and accuracy between place and response learners.

Main Results:

  • No significant difference in performance between place and response learners in Experiment 1.
  • Place learners did not outperform response learners in Experiment 2, even with equal cue discriminability.
  • Evidence suggests response biases interfere more with place learning than response learning.

Conclusions:

  • The efficiency of place learning relative to response learning in rats may be less pronounced than previously suggested.
  • Static apparatus designs are crucial for unambiguous spatial learning research in rodents.
  • Response biases represent a significant factor influencing spatial learning strategies and outcomes in rats.

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Last Updated: Jul 9, 2026

Place and Response Learning in the Open-field Tower Maze
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The Double-H Maze: A Robust Behavioral Test for Learning and Memory in Rodents
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Published on: July 8, 2015

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