The Role of S-S* associations in spatial learning

In this thesis I have addressed two questions of particular interest regarding spatial learning. The first question is concerned with the nature of the associations formed during spatial learning; do animals form S-R or S-S* associations? Evidence that animals acquire S-S* associations which can then be used to locate a hidden goal was provided by Experiment one using placement training to produce latent spatial learning. Experiments 2 – 8A produced results consistent with this finding. Experiment 8B provided evidence that animals also use S-R associations. The second question concerned the type of cues that enter into S-S* associations with the goal. Experiments in Chapter 3 provided evidence that animals can use features of the environment to locate the goal, but no evidence of a global representation was found. Chapter 4 explored the role of the hippocampus in the acquisition of S-S* associations, and demonstrated that the hippocampus is required for the learning based on spatial S-S* associations, but not for S-R associations