How long do rats remember the spatial arrangement of visual stimuli?

Abstract

The responses to stimulus change consisting in the choice of maze arm where the brightness was changed between two consecutive trials were studied in an enclosed T maze with varying exposure times and retention intervals. The strength of memory involved in the response-to-change test depended on both variables. Memory acquired in 10 min exposure survived around 25 min, while after 1 min exposure memory decayed in less than 15 min. Under conditions of paucity of memory traces rats relied on their directional preferences.