ArticleBiology letters2026
Memory on ice: spatial memory is retained over a 9-month hibernation period in Columbian ground squirrels.
Article in Biology letters, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed.
- Memory on ice: spatial memory is retained over a 9-month hibernation period in Columbian ground squirrels.Biology letters · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
9 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Memory allows animals to utilize ecologically relevant information, yet whether it endures through prolonged metabolic shutdown is poorly understood. We tested spatial memory retention in a long-term, free-living hibernator, the Columbian ground squirrel (Urocitellus columbianus), using a field-based spatial maze over two consecutive active seasons. Ten individuals were tested before and after a 9-month hibernation period and compared with eight naive individuals. Maze-solving performances-time to exit, path sinuosity and navigational errors-were analysed over 10 consecutive trials using Bayesian nonlinear learning curves to separate retained memory from relearning. Strikingly, post-hibernation individuals with prior exposure to the task significantly outperformed naive individuals by 41-98% across all metrics, with initial performance after hibernation approaching pre-hibernation asymptotes. We show that spatial memory survives prolonged hibernation in the wild, supporting the hypothesis that neural plasticity during hibernation reflects adaptive retention rather than memory loss.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.