プロトコル
プラットフォームを見つける学習
壁に沿って泳ぐところから、まっすぐプラットフォームへ向かうまで。
動物が水迷路を覚えていく様子を見守るのは、行動神経科学のささやかな楽しみの1つです。最初の試行では、出口を求めて壁沿いに泳ぎます。やがて真ん中を探り始めます。そのうちプラットフォームにぶつかり、よじ登って立ち上がり、あたりを見回します。数日後には、どこから入れてもまっすぐそこへ泳いでいきます。元のノートはその道のりを見事に描いています：
学習
At first the rat will swim around the side. After a while it understands there is no way out by doing that. Then it searches more to the center. If it does not find the platform after approximately two minutes, lift it out & dry it. If it really does not get the point, you can gently guide it to the platform. It gets on the platform & usually rears and looks around. This is something else to learn, that there is an escape platform. You can leave it for ~ 15 seconds, to orientate. It is looking into the room.
There must be visual cues on the room walls. It needs at least 3 different cues, e.g. 3 different posters, (so it can 'triangulate'), always visible from inside the pool. These cues should be extra-maze i.e. well outside of the pool. If they are close to the poolside, then the rat could be doing association between the cue & the platform. After some training swims, the rat will go direct to the platform. After ~15 seconds you lift it off the platform and gently dry it (better - put it in a litter of tissues, so it can dry itself). Rats can do several swims per day. Now you can use a different start-point. An informed rat does not try to back-track to the old start point. It goes direct to the platform. Because it has a spatial map in its hippocampus? The training sequence and test sequence are something that you as the scientist have to decide on. Obviously you are going to use Controls and Experimental rats.
原文（英語）：watermaze.org Part I, General Information。Richard Bakerによる原資料より。変更せずに掲載。Copyright Richard Baker© 2013. All Rights Reserved.
わかっているラットは、前のスタート地点に引き返そうとはしません。まっすぐプラットフォームへ向かいます。
この最後の一文は、学習が空間的かどうかを確かめるすてきなテストになります。スタート地点を変えて、動物がそれでもプラットフォームへ向かうかを見てください。詳しくはスタート位置と放し方で。