Memory Alone Does Not Account for the Way Rats Learn a Simple Spatial Alternation Task

Animal behavior provides context for understanding disease models and physiology. However, that behavior is often characterized subjectively, creating opportunity for misinterpretation and misunderstanding. For example, spatial alternation tasks are treated as paradigmatic tools for examining memory; however, that link is actually an assumption. To test this assumption, we simulated a reinforcement learning (RL) agent equipped with a perfect memory process. We found that it learns a simple spatial alternation task more slowly and makes different errors than a group of male rats, illustrating that memory alone may not be sufficient to capture the behavior. We demonstrate that incorporating spatial biases permits rapid learning and enables the model to fit rodent behavior accurately. Our results suggest that even simple spatial alternation behaviors reflect multiple cognitive processes that need to be taken into account when studying animal behavior. Memory is a critical function for cognition whose impairment has significant clinical consequences. Experimental systems aimed at testing various sorts of memory are therefore also central. However, experimental designs to test memory are typically based on intuition about the underlying processes. We tested this using a popular behavioral paradigm: a spatial alternation task. Using behavioral modeling, we show that the straightforward intuition that these tasks just probe spatial memory fails to account for the speed at which rats learn or the types of errors they make. Only when memory-independent dynamic spatial preferences are added can the model learn like the rats. This highlights the importance of respecting the complexity of animal behavior to interpret neural function and validate disease models.