Internally coherent spatial memories in a mammal

CHILDREN aged 3.5–4.0 years were shown objects being hidden in three different locations in a rectangular environment, were disoriented to disable dead reckoning, and were asked without feedback where each object was. Results showed that children's spatial memories were internally coherent: the locations subjects chose were in a correct spatial configuration relative to one another as well as to environmental geometry, despite the fact that the environment's symmetry would have revealed any individual binding of memory for object positions to local environmental features. This finding of internal coherence in the spatial representation of one mammal is discussed relative to neural and behavioral findings on navigation and spatial memory in mammals more generally.