The role of instrumental responses in memory retrieval in a T-maze

Retrieval of the memory of non-reward on a rewarded trial was investigated here employing rats in a T-maze. A forced choice procedure was used. The daily rewarded (R) and non-rewarded (N) trials always occurred in a fixed order, two R, four N, and finally two R, i.e. the series was R1-R2-N1-N2-N3-N4-R3-R4. In an original acquisition phase, Trial N4 of the series having occurred in a particular spatial alternative, e.g. left, it was followed by R3 either in the same alternative, Groups C and T, or in the opposite alternative, Group R. Group T, unlike Groups C and R, received a relatively long intertrial interval between N4 and R3. In a shift phase, groups were treated as in original acquisition except that the long intertrial interval (Group T) and the change in response (Group R) now occurred between R3 and R4 rather than N4 and R3. The major finding in original acquisition was slower running by Groups T and R than by Group C on Trials N2, N3, and N4. In shift, differences between the groups disappeared. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that response-produced cues contribute to memory retrieval.