Open-field Delta-ambulation as a selection tool for bidirectional responses in maze learning in Mus musculus L.

This paper presents the results of a bidirectional selective breeding exper iment involving 1,287 mice. It was conducted by means of Delta-ambulation-t hat is, by summing positive and negative learning-associated alterations in open-field ambulation over a 5-day period of training. Delta-ambulation re mained constant, but a selection response was found in maze running times a nd error scores over generations and sexes in the two diverging, intralinea rly homogenous, strains of mice.