CONICET | Buscador de Institutos y Recursos Humanos

Spatial orientation ability is a limiting factor for survival. Finding the right place to hide or where to find food can be the difference between living and dying. We, as mammals, orientate ourselves in space using multiple environmental cues of the surrounding world, and we set spatial relationships between them. Amphibians also have the capacity of spatial orientation, but it is still unknown how they perform this behavior. Ours previous studies showed that toads can use intra-maze visual cues to orientate. The goal of the present work is to determine if they can use extra-maze cues and what is the relevance they have in the orientation process. We trained toads (Rhinella arenarum) in a water finding orientation task using a transparent open field (to provide access to the context visual cues of the training room). After acquisition it was tested the relevance of the visual cues by hiding them with an opaque curtain. Tests revealed that animals use extra-maze visual cues to find the reinforcer inside the open field and that cues near the reinforcer are more relevant for orientation than those located far. Ours results show that amphibians are capable of using visual environmental cues for orientation, being cues near the goal more relevant to reach the spatial goal.