Fig. 1: Automated path integration task (AutoPI).
a The main apparatus consisted of a home base, a circular arena, and a lever. The home base contained a food magazine on the wall opposite to the arena. A motorized, inverted sliding door gave access to the bridge that led to the arena. The lever was built on a motorized platform, allowing the lever box to change its position and orientation between trials. b Four main phases of a trial on the AutoPI task. The animal leaves the home base to search for the lever on the arena (Search). The mouse then presses the lever (Press) and returns to the home base (Homing). A food reward is available in the magazine (Reward). c Schematic of a testing session. A session started with seven light trials, followed by a series of trials alternating between light and dark trials. The session ended after 100 trials or when 60 min had elapsed, whichever came first. d Running path for all light trials of a test session. The black circle and the dashed gray circle represent the edge of the arena and its periphery, respectively. e Running path for all dark trials from the same testing session shown in d. f Path of the mouse during a single journey of a light trial. g Path of the mouse during three journeys of a dark trial. The three journeys are plotted in different colors. h Number of journeys per trial for light and dark trials for each mouse (n = 13 mice, two-sided Wilcoxon signed-rank test, P = 2.44 × 10-4). i Trial duration for light and dark trials (n = 13 mice, two-sided Wilcoxon signed-rank test, P = 2.44 × 10-4). j, Probability of finding the lever on journeys associated with light and dark trials (n = 13 mice, two-sided Wilcoxon signed-rank test, P = 2.44 × 10-4). k Probability of pressing the lever once the lever had been found during light and dark trials (n = 13 mice, two-sided Wilcoxon signed-rank test, P = 0.78). ***P < 0.001, ns non-significant. Source data are provided as a Source Data file.
