Water maze (neuroscience)

{{Other uses|Water maze (disambiguation){{!}}Water maze}}

A water maze is a device used to test an animal's memory in which the alleys are filled with water, providing a motivation to escape.{{cite book |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gGACD7imeroC&pg=PA145 |chapter=5: The Morris Water Maze (is not a maze) |isbn=978-0-86377-807-0 |editor1-last=Foreman |editor1-first=Nigel |editor2-last=Gillett |editor2-first=Raphael |year=1998 |author1-last=Schenk |author1-first=Françoise |title=Handbook of Spatial Research Paradigms and Methodologies |volume=2: Clinical and Comparative Studies |pages=145–188 |publisher=Psychology Press |location=East Sussex, United Kingdom}}

Many different mazes exist, such as T- and Y-mazes,{{cite journal |vauthors=van Abeelen JH, Schetgens TM |title=Inheritance of discrimination learning ability and retention in BA and DBA mice |journal=Behavior Genetics |volume=11 |issue=2 |pages=173–177 |date=March 1981 |pmid=7271683 |doi=10.1007/BF01065628|s2cid=29310788 }} Cincinnati water mazes,{{Cite journal |last1=Vorhees |first1=Charles V. |last2=Williams |first2=Michael T. |title=Cincinnati water maze: A review of the development, methods, and evidence as a test of egocentric learning and memory |journal=Neurotoxicology and Teratology |volume=57 |pages=1–19 |doi=10.1016/j.ntt.2016.08.002 |pmc=5056837 |pmid=27545092|year=2016 }} and radial arm mazes.{{cite journal |vauthors=Hyde LA, Hoplight BJ, Denenberg VH |title=Water version of the radial-arm maze: learning in three inbred strains of mice |journal=Brain Research |volume=785 |issue=2 |pages=236–244 |date=March 1998 |pmid=9518631 |doi=10.1016/S0006-8993(97)01417-0 |s2cid=21857767 }} Water mazes have been used to test discrimination learning and spatial learning abilities. The Morris water navigation task is often called a "water maze task", but this is erroneous as it is not, properly speaking, a maze. The development of these mazes has aided research into, for example, hippocampal synaptic plasticity, NMDA receptor function, and looking into neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease.