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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2020 May 13.
Published in final edited form as: Compr Physiol. 2016 Sep 15;6(4):1897–1934. doi: 10.1002/cphy.c150042

Table 7.

Behavioral tests that are commonly used to assess learning and memory in rodents. CS = conditioned stimulus; US = unconditioned stimulus.

Behavioral
paradigm
Description Type of
memory
tested
Indicator of
learning/memor
y
References
Eyeblink conditioning Rodents or humans learn to associate a predictive cue (CS) with an eyeblink-eliciting stimulus (US) Associative Percentage of CS-US trials that elicit a conditioned eyeblink response (50, 51, 495, 596)
Fear conditioning Rodent learns to associate a predictive cue or context (CS) with an aversive stimulus (US) Associative Amount of time spent in a conditioned freezing response (112, 113, 153, 235)
Morris water maze Rodent learns to find a hidden escape platform that is located in a fixed position in a pool of water Spatial Time to escape, path length (65, 121, 353)
Radial arm water maze Rodent learns to find a hidden escape platform that is located at the end of one of the maze arms. Spatial working memory Number of incorrect arm entries (136, 228, 398, 597)
Delayed alternation T-maze Rodents must remember which arm was entered in the most recent trial and then enter the opposite arm Working memory Proportion of correct responses (32, 453, 609, 610)