Alternate without alternative: neither preference nor learning explains behaviour of C57BL/6J mice in the T-maze

Abstract

In rodents, the T-maze is commonly used to investigate spontaneous alternating behaviour, but it can also be used to investigate preference between goods. However, for T-maze preference tests with mice there is no recommended protocol and researchers frequently report reproduction difficulties. Here, we tried to develop an efficient protocol with female C57BL/6J CrL mice for preference tests. We used two different designs, adapting habituation, cues and trial timing. However, in both experiments mice did not show any preference, although we used goods which we knew mice find rewarding. Instead, they alternated choices indicating that exploratory behaviour overruled preference. We argue that this behavioural strategy has evolved as an adaptive trait in saturated conditions where there is no need to take the reward immediately. Therefore, we deem the T-maze unsuitable for preference testing with the procedures we used here.

Spontaneous alternation and stereotypical behaviour in deer mice: response to escitalopram and levetiracetam

“…Lower spontaneous alternation scores generated by rodents in a T-maze are believed to reflect a lower degree of exploratory behaviour which is often, but not without dispute (Spowart-Manning and Van Der Staay, 2004; Deacon, 2006; Deacon and Rawlins, 2006), related to impaired working memory, a predictor of cognitive ability (Johnson et al , 2013). To this end, the T-Maze can be used in different ways, for example, under untrained or trained circumstances, to assess cognitive dysfunction in animals, the choice of which is guided by the experimental question (Andrade et al , 2001; Deacon, 2006; Deacon and Rawlins, 2006; Shoji et al , 2012; Habedank et al , 2020). Since motor stereotypy devoid of direct cognitive involvement is a symptom of several neuropsychiatric disorders, for example, autism spectrum disorders (Akers et al , 2020), Parkinson’s disease (Spencer et al , 2011), and Tourette’s (Aliane et al , 2011), it was important to establish whether such behaviours in deer mice are associated with cognitive perturbations.…”

Lifetime Observation of Cognition and Physiological Parameters in Male Mice

“…So most likely they did not perceive the airpuff as a severe punishment, habituated after repeatedly being exposed to this stimulus, and accordingly developed a more relaxed attitude. Mice are known for notoriously using alternative strategies in tasks laid out by humans (Habedank et al, 2021). For example, in cognitive testing the use of semi-successful but often simpler strategies is common but often corrected for by the experimenter right away.…”

“…For further cognitive stimulation outside the IC, a T-maze test, a tone conditioning test (carried out during the first IC phase) and a labyrinth experiment (after the third IC phase) were carried out. However, the results of these tests were not sufficiently conclusive to be included in this work due to methodological problems (e.g., we only know now why the T-Maze did not work: Habedank et al, 2021). Nevertheless, it is important to mention that the control group had other experiences outside the home-cage besides the BM test (for more information about the test procedure see the supplements).…”

In search of a conditioned place preference test to assess the severity of experimental procedures

“…This group was used for experiments 1-3 (12 months of age at the start of experiment 1). This group participated beforehand in other experiments, e.g., a T-maze preference test [37] as well as development and first tests of an RFID based tracking system for home cage based choice tests [38].…”