What is the Cincinnati Water Maze?

The Cincinnati Water Maze (CWM) is a complex aquatic maze designed to evaluate egocentric (taxon) navigation and spatial learning in rats. Unlike the Morris Water Maze, which primarily tests allocentric (map-based) navigation using distal cues, the CWM's serial T-maze structure forces animals to rely on internally referenced, turn-based strategies to reach the escape platform. Its water-filled design naturally eliminates scent trails between trials, providing a rigorous assessment of route-based spatial learning that is sensitive to hippocampal, striatal, and prefrontal lesions.

Key Features

• 9 Interconnected T-Mazes: The 2 × 2 m arena contains a training corridor leading into 9 sequential T-maze choice points, requiring animals to make correct turn sequences (rather than use external landmarks) to locate the goal.
• IR-Transparent Material: The entire maze is constructed from infrared-transparent polycarbonate, enabling tracking and recording experiments in complete darkness to eliminate visual guidance and prevent distal cue use.
• Water-Filled Design: Water eliminates scent trails between trials and provides a motivationally consistent environment across all subjects, removing odor-mediated short-cutting strategies.
• Integrated Drain and Overflow: Built-in drain, overflow system, and lockable wheels make cleaning and repositioning between sessions efficient and practical in any lab setting.
• Comprehensive Scoring: Errors (wrong turns), latency to goal, and path length can all be automatically scored with compatible video-tracking software.