The odor span task (OST) infers working memory capacity (WMC) by requiring rodents to discriminate between previously presented and session-novel odors to obtain a hidden food reward. Here, rats’ responses to session-novel odors and food rewards were assessed to determine whether rats use mitigating strategies in the OST. Rats accurately responded to session-novel odors but also reliably responded to the food reward alone and performed at chance when both a session-novel odor and food reward were presented in separate locations. The inclusion of unscented sand in the cups holding the food reward significantly reduced the rats’ responses to the food reward alone. Collectively, these results demonstrate the need for rigorous tests of potential mitigating strategies and hold wide implications for rodent odor discrimination-based behavioral tasks.

中文翻译：

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大鼠气味广度任务中新奇奖励交叉提示的证据：对基于气味的奖励激励任务的影响

气味跨度任务（OST）通过要求啮齿动物区分先前呈现的气味和会话新颖的气味来推断工作记忆容量（WMC），以获得隐藏的食物奖励。在这里，评估了老鼠对新奇气味和食物奖励的反应，以确定老鼠是否在 OST 中使用缓解策略。老鼠对会话新颖的气味做出了准确的反应，但也对单独的食物奖励做出了可靠的反应，并且当会话新颖的气味和食物奖励出现在不同的位置时，老鼠会随机做出反应。在装有食物奖励的杯子中加入无味的沙子显着降低了老鼠对单独食物奖励的反应。总的来说，这些结果表明需要对潜在的缓解策略进行严格的测试，并对基于啮齿动物气味辨别的行为任务具有广泛的影响。