Locating an invisible goal in a water maze requires at least two landmarks

Abstract

In three experiments, rats were trained in a spatial task in a swimming pool similar to that used by Morris (1981), but surrounded by black curtains that provided a great level of control over the landmarks that defined the location of the goal. Experiment 1 showed that rats can learn to find an invisible platform in a fixed location relative to four landmarks in a very homogeneous environment. Experiments 2 and 3 demonstrated that the animals need two landmarks to recover the information about the environment stored in their memory as a cognitive map.