Male and female rats were extensively trained in a Morris pool to find a hidden platform in the presence of a configuration formed by 2 landmarks and the effects of varying the salience of one of the landmarks were studied. The two landmarks could be either of different salience (i.e., B and c, Group Bc) or of the same salience (i.e., b and c, Group bc) and they were relatively far (110 cm) and equidistant from the hidden platform. Rats in Group Bc ended up being faster to reach the platform than rats in Group bc, and males were always faster to find the platform than females. No sex differences were found on subsequent test trials without the platform (i.e., when a different measure was used). The results showed a clear salience effect: The best rats’ performance was when the more salient landmark, B, was present, either by itself or in compound with landmark c. A final test trial, a conflict test, was also conducted with the two landmarks in compound although reversing their relative positions, in order to test the preference for the geometry they formed, a straight line (independently of the landmarks’ identities), vs. the landmarks identities, B or b. All rats showed a preference for the geometry formed by the two landmarks, independently of their identities.

雄性和雌性大鼠在莫里斯池中接受了广泛的训练，以在存在由 2 个地标形成的配置的情况下找到隐藏的平台，并研究了改变其中一个地标的显着性的影响。这两个地标可能具有不同的显着性（即 B 和 c，Bc 组），也可能具有相同的显着性（即 b 和 c，bc 组）并且它们相对较远（110 厘米）并且与隐藏平台等距。Bc 组的老鼠最终比 bc 组的老鼠更快地到达平台，并且雄性总是比雌性更快地找到平台。在没有该平台的后续测试试验中（即，当使用不同的测量时）没有发现性别差异。结果显示出明显的显着效应：最好的大鼠表现是当更显着的地标 B 存在时，单独或与地标 c. 最后的测试试验，也就是冲突测试，虽然颠倒了它们的相对位置，但也对复合中的两个地标进行了测试，以测试对它们形成的几何形状的偏好，一条直线（独立于地标的身份），与地标身份，B 或 b。所有大鼠都表现出对由两个地标形成的几何形状的偏好，与其身份无关。