Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2015 Nov-Dec;52(Pt A):93-108.
doi: 10.1016/j.ntt.2015.06.002. Epub 2015 Jun 9.

Reprint of "Value of water mazes for assessing spatial and egocentric learning and memory in rodent basic research and regulatory studies"

Charles V Vorhees  1 , Michael T Williams  2
Affiliations

Reprint of "Value of water mazes for assessing spatial and egocentric learning and memory in rodent basic research and regulatory studies"

Charles V Vorhees et al. Neurotoxicol Teratol. 2015 Nov-Dec.

Abstract

Maneuvering safely through the environment is central to survival of all animals. The ability to do this depends on learning and remembering locations. This capacity is encoded in the brain by two systems: one using cues outside the organism (distal cues), allocentric navigation, and one using self-movement, internal cues and sometimes proximal cues, egocentric navigation. Allocentric navigation involves the hippocampus, entorhinal cortex, and surrounding structures (e.g., subiculum); in humans this system encodes declarative memory (allocentric, semantic, and episodic, i.e., memory for people, places, things, and events). This form of memory is assessed in laboratory animals by many methods, but predominantly the Morris water maze (MWM). Egocentric navigation involves the dorsal striatum and connected structures; in humans this system encodes routes and integrated paths and when over-learned becomes implicit or procedural memory. Several allocentric methods for rodents are reviewed and compared with the MWM with particular focus on the Cincinnati water maze (CWM). MWM advantages include minimal training, no food deprivation, ease of testing, reliable learning, insensitivity to differences in body weight and appetite, absence of non-performers, control methods for performance effects, repeated testing capability and other factors that make this test well-suited for regulatory studies. MWM limitations are also reviewed. Evidence-based MWM design and testing methods are presented. On balance, the MWM is arguably the preferred test for assessing learning and memory in basic research and regulatory studies and the CWM is recommended if two tests can be accommodated so that both allocentric (MWM) and egocentric (CWM) learning and memory can be effectively and efficiently assessed.

Keywords: Cincinnati water maze; Egocentric navigation; Morris water maze; Radial-arm maze; Spatial learning and memory; Water maze.

PubMed Disclaimer

Republished from

Comment in

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

LinkOut - more resources