Multiple T Maze Research

The Multiple T Maze:
The purpose of this experiment is to test the animals spatial cognition and their ability to retain short term information. The experiment involves a maze made up of multiple T-Junctions, and is fairly easy to measure spatial cognition and information retaining as there is a clear right and wrong answer for each junction. Each intersection must remain the same length and scale in order to ensure the test measures the animals ability to recall information based upon their actions as opposed to a visual stimulus. Multiple T-mazes are constructed to question response learning vs. place learning and of cognitive direction and mapping (1). The spatial memory of the animal is what is responsible for recording information about their environment as well as its spatial orientation.[2] It is this spatial cognition that allows the animal to navigate its way through the various types of mazes and challenges presented to it by the experimenters. The animals ability to retain short term information should also allow it to navigate the same maze multiple …show more content…
If they are exposed to a stimulus they must quickly decide whether or not that situation is beneficial or threatening to them. It's likely that they would be exposed to that same stimulus multiple times in a short amount of time, developing their ability to retain short term information.
However, I understand that humans began to domesticate chickens from around 7000 BC (4). This has provided them with enough time to become more and more desensitised to potentially harmful stimuli, but one could argue that even though they have become "domesticated", they were still exposed to a similar lifestyle that a wild chicken may have faced. It's only until recently that many chickens have been kept in safer and safer environments, and as such I don't believe this will have too large of an impact on my