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.

SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT 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.

动物的行为为理解疾病模型和生理提供了背景。但是，该行为通常具有主观特征，从而为误解和误解创造了机会。例如，空间交替任务被视为检查内存的范例工具；但是，该链接实际上是一个假设。为了测试此假设，我们模拟了配备完善记忆过程的强化学习（RL）代理。我们发现它比一组雄性大鼠学习简单的空间交替任务的速度更慢，并且会犯不同的错误，这说明仅靠记忆可能不足以捕获行为。我们证明，合并空间偏差允许快速学习，并使模型能够准确拟合啮齿动物的行为。

重要性声明记忆是认知的关键功能，认知功能受损会对临床产生重大影响。因此，旨在测试各种内存的实验系统也很重要。但是，用于测试内存的实验设计通常基于对基本过程的直觉。我们使用一种流行的行为范例：空间交替任务对此进行了测试。使用行为建模，我们证明了这些任务只是探测空间记忆的直觉无法解释老鼠学习的速度或犯错误的类型。只有添加与记忆无关的动态空间偏好时，模型才能像老鼠一样学习。这突出了尊重动物行为复杂性以解释神经功能和验证疾病模型的重要性。