The Barnes circular maze was designed to test spatial learning in rats, but has been adapted for mice [1]. There are strain differences in the speed at which mice learn this maze, and many mice do not seem to learn a spatial strategy for finding the escape hole. Because this maze has a wall, facilitating thigmotaxic behavior, mice appear to use a serial search strategy. We examined the behavior of mice in the Pompl design and in two other designs of the Barnes maze: a Barnes design, with no circular wall around the perimeter, and a divided design, with a circular wall and dividers between each escape hole. The behavior of male CD-1 albino mice was examined in each maze during acquisition trials, reversal learning trials and a probe trial.

Very few mice used a spatial strategy in any of the mazes. In the Pompl design, mice began with a random search strategy and then switched to a serial search strategy in over 70% of trials. Spatial search was used in less than 10% of trials. In the Barnes design, a random search strategy was replaced by serial search patterns, but spatial searches were used in only about 20% of the trials. In the divided design, random search patterns were used throughout, with very few serial or spatial search patterns.

These results indicate that the design of the Barnes maze influences the learning strategy used by mice, and suggest that many mice do not develop a spatial learning strategy. We discuss possible solutions to this problem.

References

1. Pompl et al. (1999). J. Neurosci., 87, 87-95.

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