Figure 3. The perceptually ambiguous corridor arena and a schematic of the theoretically optimal navigation performance possible.

A virtual rat is used to demonstrate the optimal navigation performance in the arena. The three columns show (in order from left to right) the plan view of the arena with rat location, the rat's view of the arena at each location, and the optimal probabilistic representation of the rat's location and orientation. Note the ‘blocker’ partitions that block the cues from sight once they have been passed (no such blockers were required for the robot due to its limited field of view). (a–b) Two equally weighted location hypotheses are maintained and updated until a second cue is sighted in (c), leading to a single correct location hypothesis. The curved arrows show the reward locations for the behavioral experiment.