The role of exploratory experience in a shortcut task by golden hamsters (Mesocricetus auratus)

Abstract

The aim of this experiment was to examine the role of exploratory experience on the ability to take a shortcut. In the first phase, two subspaces, X and Y, each consisting of two baited tables related by a runway, were separately explored by hamsters. In the second phase, the experimental group explored a connecting pathway between X and Y. The animals were finally submitted to a shortcut test during 2 days: in this test, in order to go from X to Y, they could choose between the longer familiar pathway and two shorter new pathways. In comparison with a control group, which did not undergo the second phase, the experimental group displayed a significant preference for the shortcut that did not cross the linking path with which they had had experience or either of the two distant portions whose linkage the animals had experienced. These results suggest that, in this simple situation, additional experience of a linking element between two separated subspaces has a beneficial effect on the setting up of spatial relationships between them, and perhaps on the representation of the whole situation. © 1987 Psychonomic Society, Inc.