<aside> 👉 NOTE: Mice should be food-deprived for this behaviour, so check the food restriction protocol.

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Table of Contents

Apparatus

• Animals were tested in a clear Plexiglass cage (28 cm long x 17 cm wide x 12 cm high) with a removable black opaque center divider (customized home cages).
• Animals were placed into the resting chamber, at the beginning of each session. One trial included the lifting of the divider, animals entering the test chamber, and returning to the resting chamber.

Odour sets

• Two odours. Each odorant was diluted in mineral oil to achieve a target theoretical vapor-phase partial pressure above the scented dishes of sand.
• To prepare the scented sand to be used, mix 400 µL of the 1.0 Pa odorant for every 100 g of play sand.

Behavioral testing

• Pre-training on these animals can be done using the Pre-training for digging protocol.

Training Day

<aside> 👉 NOTE: The training phase begins two days after shaping is completed and consists of 20 trials for each mouse.

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• Place a mouse into the resting chamber.
• Place two dishes of sand scented with a novel odor-pair in the test chamber, where a reward pellet is buried in one of the dishes.
• Once the testing chamber is ready, lift the opaque barrier and introduce the mouse into the test chamber. Immediately return the mouse to the resting chamber, if the mouse digs in the unrewarded dish first (record these trials as a “0”). If the mouse digs in the rewarding odor first, allow it to retrieve the pellet and return it to the resting chamber. Record these trials as a “1.” If the trial lasts 1 min without the mouse retrieving the reward, send the mouse back to the resting chamber.
• Clean and refill dishes and begin the next trial. Repeat the same for 20 trials.

Testing Day

<aside> 👉 Memory testing can be performed at any duration of interest to the researcher.

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