Experimental Studies
Informative experimental studies of learning and movement derive from both field and laboratory settings (Jacobs & Menzel 2014). For example, experimental resource manipulations demonstrate that hummingbirds can learn abstract concepts like spatial position (Henderson et al.2006) and can encode spatial location on the basis of surrounding landmarks (Flores-Abreu et al. 2012). In another field system, Preisler et al . (2006) tracked elk movements in relation to experimental treatments involving all-terrain vehicles (ATV) driven through a landscape. They found that the probability of elk responding to ATVs was much higher when the animal was on an ATV route, even if the ATV was far away. These data suggest that these animals have learned to associate ATV presence with their routes.
In laboratory settings, radial mazes and water mazes (e.g., Leonard and McNaughton 1990) have been widely used to study how quickly rodents can learn movement routes and improve their efficiency. Other kinds of laboratory arenas built for insects, have demonstrated for example that pesticide exposure can impair spatial learning of the distribution of resources in bumblebees (Stanley et al. 2015).
Sometimes field and laboratory experiments can be combined with great benefit, including comparisons among three classic model systems (homing pigeons, bees, and rats; (Jacobs & Menzel 2014)). For example, experimental lesioning studies of young homing pigeons, followed by release in unfamiliar areas, demonstrate that immature birds are very good at learning movement routes and that there is a consolidation phase during which experiences (e.g., encounters with landmarks) are neurally encoded (Bingman et al. 2005).