A COMPUTER-AIDED PROCEDURE FOR MEASURING HEBB-WILLIAMS MAZE PERFORMANCE

We describe a shortened procedure for testing mice over a 5-day interv al on a swimming version of the Hebb-Williams maze. The mice are given 1 day of adaptation training, and are tested over the next 4 days on Hebb-Williams problems 1, 6, 12, and 5, in that order. As an animal sw ims through one of the maze problems, the computer screen shows the ma ze pattern, and an observer traces the path taken with a computer mous e. The computer program, Observe Software(TM), stores the path sequenc e, determines the error score for that trial, and sends the informatio n to a spreadsheet where it is available for statistical analyses.