Time-Place learning

Time-place learning (TPL) is the process by which animals link events (e.g. finding food, encountering a predator) with the location and time of occurrence. It enables them to decide which locations to visit or avoid based on previous experience and knowledge of the current time of day. TPL provides animals with an experience based daily schema which optimizes resource localization (food, mates) and predator avoidance, increasing survival chances. TPL requires spatial memory and a sense of time. The latter may be based on external time-cues (Zeitgebers), or internally generated circadian rhythms ("biological clock"). TPL may fundamentally underlie episodic memory.