RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Spatial preferences account for inter-animal variability during the continual learning of a dynamic cognitive task
JF bioRxiv
FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
SP 808006
DO 10.1101/808006
A1 David B. Kastner
A1 Eric A. Miller
A1 Zhounan Yang
A1 Demetris K. Roumis
A1 Daniel F. Liu
A1 Loren M. Frank
A1 Peter Dayan
YR 2020
UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2020/10/18/808006.abstract
AB Individual animals perform tasks in different ways, yet the nature and origin of that variability is poorly understood. In the context of spatial memory tasks, variability is often interpreted as resulting from differences in memory ability, but the validity of this interpretation is seldom tested since we lack a systematic approach for identifying and understanding factors that make one animal’s behavior different than another. Here we identify such factors in the context of spatial alternation in rats, a task often described as relying solely on memory of past choices. We combine hypothesis-driven behavioral design and reinforcement learning modeling to identify spatial preferences that, when combined with memory, support learning of a spatial alternation task. Identifying these preferences allows us to capture differences among animals, including differences in overall learning ability. Our results show that to understand the complexity of behavior requires quantitative accounts of the preferences of each animal.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.