ABSTRACT
Rats are capable of navigating and of learning complex spatial tasks in real environments. In such navigation tasks the question remains what type of information is used by the animals to orient themselves. A computer system creates and projects virtual environments of almost 360 degrees onto a torus-shaped screen that surrounds the rat. In a real environment, 6 rats learned to navigate to find rewards in defined locations using cylinders as landmarks that were suspended from the ceiling. In a virtual environment where rats also had to navigate using suspended cylinders as landmarks, animals learned to move within this environment to a spot under a cylinder that was rewarded with sugar water. If the animals interpreted the projections of landmarks simply as two-dimensional markings on canvas, it would not have been possible for them to navigate to a target in virtual reality space in a guided and controlled way.
