Active preexposure enhances attention to the landmarks surrounding a Morris swimming pool.

Rats were required to swim to a hidden platform in order to escape from a Morris pool, after they had been exposed to the landmarks around the pool by swimming to a platform that had a beacon attached to it. The platform occupied a different place for the test trials than for the preexposure trials. Escape from the pool was facilitated if the landmarks remained in the same place throughout preexposure, but if their positions were changed during preexposure, then subsequent escape from the pool was disrupted (Experiment 2). Escape learning was also disrupted if the rats were placed on the platform for their preexposure treatment (Experiment 3). The results indicate that the associability of the cues around a Morris pool may be enhanced when they are in a stable spatial relationship with the platform throughout each preexposure session.

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