Radial Maze Behavioral Task
Win-Shift Radial Maze
Training Procedures 
During radial maze training, the rats are placed in the center of the
maze with the entrance to 4 baited arms open. The remaining four non-baited
arms are blocked by removable clear Plexiglass doors.After entering the
open arms and consuming all of the pellets in the maze, the rats are returned
to their home cage for a brief delay. They are then returned to the maze
for a retention test.During the "win-shift" retention test,
each of the 8 arms are open, however, pellets are now placed only in the
arms that were previously blocked. Entries into the new baited arms are
recorded as correct responses while visits to unbaited arms are scored
as errors. Repeated entry into any arm is also considered an error. All
subjects begin training with a 5 min delay between training and the "win-shift"
retention test. After reaching a criterion of 80% correct (4 out of 5
correct responses) for two consecutive days, the animals are moved to
a 15 min training retention interval. After achieving the 80% criterion
for two consecutive days with the 15 min interval, subjects are moved
to the testing phase of the study on the following day. On the test day,
subjects are placed on the maze with the 4 arms blocked and 4 arms open
and baited. After consuming the pellets in the 4 baited arms, subjects
are removed from the maze and given a drug treatment and retained in the
testing room for 18 hours before being administered the retention test.
The procedures for the 18 hour retention test are identical to those used
with the 5 and 15 min delay with all arms open but with food found only
in the previously blocked arms. The number of errors or the mean percentage
of correct responses the animals make in locating the pellets in the 4
new baited arms serve as indices of retention.
Cedric
Williams
The University of Virginia
Psychology Department