The relation between exploratory behavior and spontaneous alternation in the white rat.

Abstract

Satiated animals were allowed to freely explore simple elevated mazes. Exploratory behavior decreased with time and increased with size of maze. Although there were individual preferences for right or left turns and for particular places in the maze, the turn preferences were not generalized and place preferences disappeared with increasing time of exposure. "The findings are interpreted as supporting place-avoidance, as constrasted to response-avoidance, explanations of spontaneous alternation." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved)