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Virtual Morris Water Task: Procedures and Protocols for the Assessment of Spatial Navigation and Memory.

Conor Thornberry^1,2, Jose M Cimadevilla³, Sean Commins⁴

¹Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland.

Current Protocols

|February 27, 2026

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Standardizing the virtual Morris water task is crucial for human spatial cognition research. This paper provides protocols to ensure consistent methods and reliable results across studies.

Area of Science:

Cognitive Psychology
Neuroscience
Human-Computer Interaction

Background:

The Morris water maze is a benchmark for animal spatial navigation.
Virtual reality has enabled the translation of the Morris water task for human studies.
Existing virtual Morris water task variations lack standardization, hindering result comparison.

Purpose of the Study:

To address the lack of standardized protocols for the virtual Morris water task in human research.
To provide guidelines for consistent methodology and data analysis.
To facilitate replication and comparison of results across different research labs.

Main Methods:

The study proposes standardized protocols for the virtual Morris water task.
Recommendations cover environmental design, testing procedures, reporting guidelines, and data analysis.

Keywords:

Morris water maze learning memory spatial navigation virtual reality

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The protocols aim to ensure consistency in researching human spatial cognition.

Main Results:

The paper presents a set of recommended practices and procedures.
These guidelines are designed to improve the reliability and comparability of virtual Morris water task studies.
The proposed protocols facilitate the investigation of specific cognitive processes.

Conclusions:

Standardization of the virtual Morris water task is essential for its advancement as a "gold standard" in human spatial cognition research.
The provided protocols will aid researchers in conducting consistent and reproducible studies.
Adoption of these guidelines will enhance the collective understanding of human spatial memory and navigation.