Elevated plus maze

The validity of the model has been criticized as non-classical clinical anxiolytics produce mixed results in the EPM test.

Despite this, the model is still commonly used for screening putative anxiolytics and for general research into the brain mechanisms of anxiety.

[6] The relationship between the EPM and other tests of exploratory activity (open-field and emergence) have been analyzed in two mouse strains.

Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors and tricyclic antidepressants, which are commonly employed in clinical settings to treat anxiety disorders, also do not lead to a stable anxiolytic effect on EPM.

[5] This raises the possibility that EPM is a suitable model for testing GABA-related compounds, such as benzodiazepines or direct GABAA agonists, but not for other drugs.

In the EPM test, animals may spend up to 30% of their time in the ambiguous central start area or return to it often, making it difficult to evaluate the biological significance of anxiety related behaviour.

Depending on what the rodents were treated with during the training sessions, they would learn at different rates giving information on how the brain stores memories.

In this test, one of the enclosed arms is paired with aversive stimuli (e.g. bright light, loud white noise).

It has a completely different design compared to the t-maze, but instead of using a battery of different behaviour models this test can be used to measure a variety of dependent and independent variables.

[15] Participants who partook in the study were placed on a 3.5 by 3.5 meters wide and 0.3m high wooden cross while wearing a virtual reality headset.

[15] Similar to the observed rodent behavior on an EPM, participants reported higher anxiety on open arms while also avoiding those more.