The 3D Vertical Maze: A new model system for studying the interactions between social and spatial cognition.

Background: Evolutionary biology and neuroscience evidence supports the theory that spatial cognition and social cognition share neural mechanisms. Although rodent models are widely used to study either spatial or social cognition, few studies have explored the interactions between these domains, possibly because measures across tasks differ.

New method: We introduce the automated 3-dimensional Vertical Maze (VM), a new model system designed to measure multiple aspects of spatial and social behavior and cognition. The VM features a standard 3-chamber maze positioned above three-level columns allowing for presentation of conspecifics as either demonstrators or discriminative stimuli at different spatial distances and different social familiarity levels. The presentation of demonstrators below the perforated floors of the 3-chamber level encourages rats to use multisensory cues to judge distance, direction, and social identity of conspecifics.

Results: Using the VM, we found that rats showed normal social preferences whether demonstrators were presented at the near, middle, or far distance. In an operant spatial distance discrimination task, rats readily learned to associate a reward with the spatial distance of a demonstrator.

Comparison with existing methods: This new paradigm advances the field by permitting the presentation of social information (conspecifics) at different spatial distances allowing more direct comparison of behavioral measures across social and spatial information domains.

Conclusions: The VM is an effective tool for studying both spatial and social cognition opening new avenues for investigating the neural and cognitive foundations of spatial and social behavior and for exploring the possibility of shared mechanisms across these cognitive domains.