spatial learning
the acquisition of knowledge about the locations of environmental objects and their relative relationships to one another. For example, many nonhuman animals are able to orient within their home range, as demonstrated by their ability when foraging to venture forth and return home in a nonrandom and efficient manner, and they can remember visual or other cues associated with landmarks in order to locate important resources. Spatial learning has been studied for decades in numerous species through the use of Morris water mazes, radial mazes, T mazes, and other labyrinthine tasks. Although the hippocampus is essential to spatial learning, the cortex of the parietal lobe, the precuneus, and other brain structures are selectively involved in the process as well.