Auditory cued spatial learning in mice.

Spatial learning based on auditory cues was examined by C57BL mice in dry versions of the Morris water maze task in a dark room. One speaker was placed outside of the maze in the first task and two speakers emitting different sounds were placed outside the maze in the second task. The mice could learn the position of food in both tasks. Performance was disrupted when the auditory cue was removed, but they performed well when the position of the sound and food were shifted to a fixed spatial relationship. Results demonstrate the ability of auditory cued spatial navigation in mice.