| MadSci Network: Neuroscience |
Hi Matt! What an interesting idea for an experiment! Some old papers on rodent behavior in mazes suggests that odors can have an influence on the choices rodents make in a particular type of maze -- for instance, does a particular odor reduce the number of incorrect choices. But, since I'm not sure what your maze looks like, it's hard to tell whether that result might apply to your situation. Indeed, a mouse might run faster if the cheese smells really good. "Really good" to a mouse may not equate to "stronger smelling" in human terms, though, since the mouse's sense of smell is so much better than ours. Or, the cheese might just make the mouse take a better path through the maze, instead of bumbling around with incorrect choices. You might want to try two things: trying to time the mouse's speed along a straight path (is it running faster), and trying to discern whether a mouse takes a more direct path. One way to do this is to run the mouse in the maze several times, and see if it "learns" the correct route more quickly. To look up old research on mice and mazes, you can use MEDLINE, an index of journals. MEDLINE can be accessed for free here: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed To learn more about the senses, try one of my favorite science sites: http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/introb.html have fun! Amanda Kahn amandak@phy.ucsf.edu
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