Editing Spatial memory (section)

===Animal research===
Certain species of [[Tit (bird)|paridae]] and [[corvidae]] (such as the [[black-capped chickadee]] and the [[Aphelocoma|scrub jay]]) are able to use spatial memory to remember where, when and what type of food they have cached.<ref name = "Bird">{{cite journal | last1 = Bird | first1 = L. R. | last2 = Roberts | first2 = W. A. | last3 = Abroms | first3 = B. | last4 = Kit | first4 = K. A. | last5 = Crupi | first5 = C. | year = 2003 | title = Spatial memory for food hidden by rats (''Rattus norvegicus'') on the radial maze: studies of memory for where, what, and when | journal = Journal of Comparative Psychology | volume = 117 | issue = 2| pages = 176–187 | doi = 10.1037/0735-7036.117.2.176 | pmid = 12856788 }}</ref> Studies on rats and squirrels have also suggested that they are able to use spatial memory to locate previously hidden food.<ref name = "Bird" /> Experiments using the radial maze have allowed researchers to control for a number of variables, such as the type of food hidden, the locations where the food is hidden, the retention interval, as well as any odor cues that could skew results of memory research.<ref name = "Bird" /> Studies have indicated that rats have memory for where they have hidden food and what type of food they have hidden.<ref name = "Bird" /> This is shown in retrieval behavior, such that the rats are selective in going more often to the arms of the maze where they have previously hidden preferred food than to arms with less preferred food or where no food was hidden.<ref name = "Bird" />

The evidence for the spatial memory of some species of animals, such as rats, indicates that they do use spatial memory to locate and retrieve hidden food stores.<ref name = "Bird" />

A study using [[GPS tracking]] to see where [[domestic cats]] go when their owners let them outside reported that cats have substantial spatial memory. Some of the cats in the study demonstrated exceptional long term spatial memory. One of them, usually traveling no further than {{convert|200|m|ft|abbr=on}} to {{convert|250|m|ft|abbr=on}} from its home, unexpectedly traveled some {{convert|1250|m|ft|abbr=on}} from its home. Researchers initially thought this to be a GPS malfunction, but soon discovered that the cat's owners went out of town that weekend, and that the house the cat went to was the owner's old house. The owners and the cat had not lived in that house for well over a year.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/08/140807-cat-tracker-pets-animals-science-gps/ | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140810080737/http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/08/140807-cat-tracker-pets-animals-science-gps/ | url-status=dead | archive-date=August 10, 2014 | title=Watch: How Far Do Your Cats Roam? | date=August 8, 2014 | access-date=August 23, 2016 | author=Jennifer S. Holland | work=National Geographic}}</ref>