Innovative use of the water maze to assess neurocognitive abilities in laboratory rodents

R. D’Hooge

Laboratory of Biological Psychology, University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium

The water maze was described by Richard Morris more than twenty years ago to assess spatial learning and memory in laboratory rats. In the meanwhile, it has become one of the most frequently used laboratory tools in contemporary behavioral neuroscience. Many methodological variations of the task have been and are being used by research groups in many different applications. Novel training protocols and measuring procedures have been proposed, and water maze performance has been related to various experimental manipulations. The symposium will address some of these innovative variations of the task and their contribution to our understanding of the neurobiological of learning and memory. The speakers will illustrate the continuing value of the water maze and its technical variations, but will also stress the continuing need for methodological innovation and alternative approaches.

Paper presented at Measuring Behavior 2005 , 5^th International Conference on Methods and Techniques in Behavioral Research, 30 August - 2 September 2005, Wageningen, The Netherlands.

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