EFFECTS OF LIMITATIONS ON THE USE OF SOME VISUAL AND KINESTHETIC INFORMATION IN SPATIAL-MAPPING DURING EXPLORATION IN THE RAT

The purpose of this experiment was to study the effects of limiting vi sual and/or locomotor access to a part of the environment in the build ing up of a spatial representation of the whole space. During five ses sions, rats were allowed to explore separately and successively the tw o halves (subspaces) of a circular open field containing four objects. During exploration of each half, continuous or discontinuous locomoto r and/or visual access to the other half was provided by using opaque or transparent partitions, with or without doors. Once habituation was complete, the partition was removed for some subjects but remained fo r others. The locomotor and exploratory reactions to this removal were recorded. Whatever their locomotor experience (continuous or disconti nuous), rats that had a discontinuous visual experience between the su bspaces displayed a renewal of exploratory activity whereas the rats t hat had received a continuous visual experience did not re-explore the objects. This result suggests that continuous visual access to the wh ole space is necessary for the construction of an overall representati on. Furthermore, continuous locomotor activity does not seem to compen sate for the discontinuity of visual information.