Environmental complexity reveals memory-guided search as the locus of learning in prey capture

Schneider, A. M.; McGregor, J. N.; Song, M.; Amme, J. L.; Zheng, S.; Wu, D.; Tu, J.; Yao, G.; Eslinger, E.; Chitalia, J.; Powers, J.; Sinha, V.; Dyer, E. L.; Levenstein, D.; Hengen, K. B.

doi:10.64898/2026.06.28.735138

bioRxiv · 10.64898/2026.06.28.735138

Environmental complexity reveals memory-guided search as the locus of learning in prey capture

Schneider, A. M.·McGregor, J. N.·Song, M.·Amme, J. L.·Zheng, S.·Wu, D.·Tu, J.·Yao, G.·Eslinger, E.·Chitalia, J.·Powers, J.·Sinha, V.·Dyer, E. L.·Levenstein, D.·Hengen, K. B.

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Abstract

Ethological behavior requires the integration of perception, memory, and decision-making, yet standard laboratory tasks are often too simplified to recruit these processes jointly. Here, mice that were expert hunters in a bare arena were challenged to capture live insect prey among objects that occlude vision and afford opportunities to hide. This revealed an axis of learning absent in an empty arena: mice improved not by refining pursuit but by reorganizing how they searched for concealed prey. An agent-based model showed that short-term memory and learning of object-specific values are sufficient to account for the behavior demonstrated by mice. A compact ethogram of object-directed actions revealed that animals selectively acquired the interactions most likely to expose prey. These results show that environmental complexity recruits memory- and value-guided search strategies. Reproducible with inexpensive materials, the paradigm and its open-source analyses offer a sensitive read-out of cognitive processes largely unobservable in conventional assays.

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Schneider, A. M., McGregor, J. N., Song, M., Amme, J. L., Zheng, S., Wu, D., Tu, J., Yao, G., Eslinger, E., Chitalia, J., Powers, J., Sinha, V., Dyer, E. L., Levenstein, D., Hengen, K. B.. 2026-07-02. Environmental complexity reveals memory-guided search as the locus of learning in prey capture. https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.06.28.735138

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