Retention Testing: Quadrant Analysis

<p>Percentage time during PT1 and PT2 spent in the training and opposite quadrants of the pool (left and right lanes) and the reminder treatment (grey central lane). The training location is represented as a red circle in the NE quadrant, and the novel location (novel subgroups only) as a black circle in the SW quadrant. In practice, NE and SW quadrants were counterbalanced. Rats with partial hippocampal lesions were unable to remember the platform location on PT1 but could be reminded of the training location by exposure, at the end of PT1, to a platform in the original or a novel location. (Note that the ‘reminder' lane simply refers to this exposure to a platform—PT1 is itself the ‘reminder trial.') The key finding is that the improvement in PT2 occurred irrespective of the platform location during reminding. In contrast, sham-lesioned animals exhibited some reversal learning upon exposure to the platform in a novel location. Complete-lesioned rats did not remember the platform location during either PT1 or PT2. *<i>p</i> < 0.05; **<i>p</i> < 0.01; n.s. = nonsignificant; comparisons with chance = 50%; one-sample t-tests. Representative swim paths are included.