Editing Morris water navigation task (section)

== Weaknesses ==
When the searching times for the platform in the target quadrant are reduced in the probe trial, this is seen as direct evidence that the spatial memory of the rat must be impaired. However, many times the reason for a lengthier amount of time spent looking for the platform, or the lack of searching in the target quadrant, has nothing to do with an effect on the rat's spatial memory, but is actually due to other factors. A large study of performance in mice concluded that almost half of all variance in performance scores was due to differences in [[thigmotaxis]], the tendency of animals to stay close to the walls of the pool. About 20% of the variability was explained by differing tendencies of mice to float passively in the water until "rescued" by the experimenter. Differences in spatial memory were only the third factor, explaining just 13% of the variation between animals' performance.<ref name=Wolfer>{{cite journal |last=Wolfer |first=DP |author2=Stagljar-Bozicevic, M |author3=Errington, ML |author4= Lipp, HP  |title=Spatial Memory and Learning in Transgenic Mice: Fact or Artifact? |journal=News in Physiological Sciences |year=1998 |volume=13 |issue=3 |pages=118–123 |doi=10.1152/physiologyonline.1998.13.3.118 |pmid=11390774|s2cid=10771826 |doi-access=free }}</ref>