Knowledge Base

Acquiring Data

Protocol

In a typical water maze test, an animal is put in the maze at a predefined position at the rim of the pool, facing the wall. Lower the animal gently into the water (e.g. in a paper cup), avoiding stress as much as possible.

Before you start data acquisition, make sure the appropriate arena settings profile, depending on the starting location of the animal, is selected in the Acquisition Settings window.

Training Trials

In training trials, the animal starts swimming and the trial stops when the animal has found the platform or when the maximum trial duration has been reached.

Probe Trials

After the training trials, a probe trial is conducted in which the escape platform is removed from the pool and the animal allowed to swim for 60 sec. Thus typically each animal is tested n times (training) + 1 time (probe). Each test corresponds to a trial in EthoVision XT.

Reversal Training Trials

In reversal learning tasks, after one location has been thoroughly trained, the platform is moved to a different quadrant of the pool. Because it is hidden, it is not apparent that anything has changed until the animal fails to find the platform in its usual place. The focus is on how the animal reacts to this change and how quickly it learns the new location.

In EthoVision XT, mark different types of trials with an independent variable in the Trial List. For example:

• Type with values Training and Probe
• Platform Position with values SouthWest, NorthWest, etc.

Source: EthoVision XT 18 - Application Manual, Noldus Information Technology