Signals for food facilitate gerbils' foraging behaviour

To determine if cues signalling the availability of food results in more effective foraging, we trained experimental but not control gerbils to associate a cue (a wire mesh-or pebble-covered floor) with food availability in a Y-maze. Both experimental and control subjects were subsequently tested on an eight arm radial maze foraging task. For both groups half of the arms contained food; for the experimental group the baited arms contained the cue previously associated with food. Trained subjects foraged much more efficiently, a result consistent with the notion that animals utilize cues signalling the presence of food to guide their foraging behaviour.