Hippocampal spatial mapping and the acquisition of competing responses

Response reversal learning is facilitated in many species, including humans, when competing responses occur in separate contexts. This suggests hippocampal maps may facilitate the acquisition of competing responses and is consistent with the hypothesis that contextual encoding permits rapid acquisition of new behaviors in similar environments. To test this hypothesis, the pattern of Arc expression was examined after rats completed a series of left/right response reversals in a T-maze. This reversal training occurred in the same room, two different rooms, or within a single room but with the maze enclosed in wall-length curtains of different configurations (i.e., black/white square or circle). Across CA1 and CA3, successive T-maze exposures in the same room recruited the same cells to repeatedly transcribe Arc, while a unique population of cells transcribed Arc in response to each of two different rooms as well as to the two unique curtain configurations in the same room. The interference from original learning that was evident on the first reversal in animals without a context switch was absent in groups that experienced changes in room or curtain configuration. However, only the use of unique rooms, and not changes in the curtained enclosure, facilitated learning across response reversals relative to the groups exposed to only one room. Thus, separate hippocampal maps appear to provide protection from the original learning interference but do not support improved reversals over trials. The present data suggest changes in heading direction input, rather than remapping, are the source of facilitation of reversal learning.