FIGURE 2 | Demonstration of oestrus cycle influence on maze learning strategy in rats.

a | Korol and colleagues³¹ trained rats over several trials to find food in a goal arm of a T-maze. A probe trial with the maze orientation reversed allowed the investigators to determine whether each rat was using a 'place' strategy to find the food (the rat goes to the place in the room where the food should be) or a 'response' strategy (the rat simply moves left or right at the maze choice point). The key finding was that whether the rats used a 'place' or 'response' strategy depended heavily on the state of the oestrus cycle. b | Percentage of rats in proestrus (P), oestrus (O) or dioestrus (D) choosing a place or response strategy during the probe trial. Interestingly, the magnitude of these behavioural effects is similar to those found in previous studies using this task and intracranial infusions of drugs into relevant brain regions, such as the hippocampus and caudate nucleus⁹⁴. Numbers on bars indicate the number of rats tested in each condition. Crosses indicate a significant difference between the cycle stages, and asterisks indicate significant difference within a stage. c | The number of trials needed in each group to reach criterion performance before the probe test, indicating that hormonal status did not affect learning speed despite its pronounced effects on strategy. Modified, with permission, from Ref. 31 © (2004) Elsevier Science.

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