they depended on the registration and computation of cues which had been generated during the outward journey. Deprived of visual cues, they resorted to route-based information, i.e.
When the arena and nest box were rotated before the start of the trial (so that the hamsters started the outward journey from different points in absolute space), the animals returned directly to the point of departure of each particular hoarding trip when tested under infra-red light.
The experiments took place under different visual conditions and involved conflicting spatial information, which the animal could collect either en route, during the outward journey to the food source, or on site, at the point of departure of the return trip. The orientation of golden hamsters during their return from a food source at the centre of an experimental arena to their nest at the arena's periphery was examined. In particular, auditory cues support place navigation when associated with a visual one. Thus rats can combine information from different sensory modalities to achieve a place navigation task. The deletion of the two auditory or of the one visual cue did disrupt the spatial performance. A multimodal configuration of two auditory cues and one visual cue allowed correct place navigation. Replacing the auditory beacons by one single visual beacon did support taxon navigation. One auditory beacon directly associated with the goal location did not support taxon navigation (a beacon strategy allowing the animal to find the goal just by swimming toward the cue). Three auditory cues did not allow place navigation whereas three visual cues in the same positions did support place navigation. We controlled cue availability by conducting the experiment in total darkness. To address the important issue of whether rats are able to achieve a place navigation task relative to auditory beacons, we designed a place learning task in the water maze. However, most experimental literature concerning spatial orientation almost exclusively emphasizes the use of visual landmarks. Rats, like other crepuscular animals, have excellent auditory capacities and they discriminate well between different sounds.