Open-field Δ-ambulation as a selection tool for bidirectional responses in maze learning in Mus musculus L.

This paper presents the results of a bidirectional selective breeding experiment involving 1,287 mice. It was conducted by means of Δ-ambulation—that is, by summing positive and negative learning-associated alterations in open-field ambulation over a 5-day period of training. Δ-ambulation remained constant, but a selection response was found in maze running times and error scores over generations and sexes in the two diverging, intralinearly homogenous, strains of mice.