Mouse Uses Memory to Navigate a Maze

Topic

Resource Type

Level

High School — General High School — AP/IB College

Duration

00:02:15

Saved By

3 Users

Description

This video shows a demonstration of how a mouse navigates a Barnes maze, which is a tool used in studies of spatial learning and memory.

The Barnes maze measures a mouse’s ability to learn and remember the position of a target location by using visual cues located around the maze. This video shows an example of a mouse that learns and remembers the position of an escape tunnel and can quickly navigate to it. When the tunnel is moved to a new location, the mouse has to relearn where it is.

This clip is from a 2008 Holiday Lecture Series, Making Your Mind: Molecules, Motion, and Memory.

Key Terms

demonstration, hippocampus, laboratory technique, learning, method, psychology

Primary Literature

Barnes, C.A. "Memory deficits associated with senescence: a neurophysiological and behavioral study in the rat." Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology 93, 1 (1979): 74–104.