Spatial disorientation blocks reliable goal location on a plus maze but does not prevent goal location in the Morris maze

Cue control in spatial learning was investigated in a plus maze and a Morris maze. Rats transported in opaque containers with prior rotation to a plus maze, but not a Morris maze, could not find a goal defined by external cues. Rats transported in clear containers without rotation found the goal in both mazes. In the Morris maze, goal location was readily relearned following cue removal by rats in clear containers but not by rats in the opaque/rotation group. B. L. McNaughton et al.'s (1996) theory that during spatial learning sensory information is bound to preconfigured internal maps in the hippocampus, whose metric is self-motion and whose orientation depends on input from an inertial based head direction system, may explain this study's findings.