BOTH HERE AND THERE - SIMULTANEOUS EXPRESSION OF AUTONOMOUS SPATIAL MEMORIES IN RATS

Foraging rats learned to avoid footshock that was present in a part of a circular arena that was either stable or rotating slowly in a light ed room. The rotation dissociated spatial information in the separate reference frames of the room and arena. After learning to avoid the sh ocked region in either condition, in the absence of shock, memory for this place was expressed by simultaneous avoidance of an area defined in the reference frame of the room as well as of an area defined in th e reference frame of the rotating arena, Spatial memories in these dis tinct reference frames were acquired, retrieved, and extinguished auto nomously.