Equivalent performance in the water maze by rats with an inborn high or low learning capacity in a shuttle box...

The learning capacity of rats with an inborn high performance (HP) and low performance (LP) in an avoidance shuttle box paradigm, was evaluated in the Morris water maze. Escape latencies evaluated in HP and LP rats indicate that acquisition and retention of spatial information were not different from control animals. When a free swim trial was carried out, all groups showed a significant preference towards the target quadrant. Our results suggest that the altered hippocampal physiology described in HP and LP rats does not influence the performance of a spatial tasks such as the Morris water maze.