Fig. 1

The spontaneous alternation task used to assess spatial memory. a A four-arm radial plus maze, with two explicit distal visual cues for spatial orientation. No explicit rewards were present on the maze. b The time line used to ensure the behavior of all rats was minimally impacted by stressors related to the environment or the experimenters. c Parsing of exploratory behavior into sets of alternations or non-alternations. d Conversion of raw behavioral observations into % alternation scores for comparisons between individuals and between groups