ArticlePloS one2013
Rapid learning of magnetic compass direction by C57BL/6 mice in a 4-armed 'plus' water maze.
Article in PloS one, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 17 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
17 citing papers in PubMed.
- The Effect of High-Voltage Power Lines on Magnetic Orientation of Domestic Dogs.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2025Article
- A GPS assisted translocation experiment to study the homing behavior of red deer.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Effects of low-level RF fields reveal complex pattern of magnetic input to the avian magnetic compass.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Why is it so difficult to study magnetic compass orientation in murine rodents?Journal of comparative physiology. A, Neuroethology, sensory, neural, and behavioral physiology · 2022Review
- Environmental sources of radio frequency noise: potential impacts on magnetoreception.Journal of comparative physiology. A, Neuroethology, sensory, neural, and behavioral physiology · 2022Review
- Folic Acid Fortification Prevents Morphological and Behavioral Consequences of X-Ray Exposure During Neurulation.Frontiers in behavioral neuroscience · 2020Article
- Ectosymbionts alter spontaneous responses to the Earth's magnetic field in a crustacean.Scientific reports · 2019Article
- Mouse Magnetic-field Nystagmus in Strong Static Magnetic Fields Is Dependent on the Presence of Nox3.Otology & neurotology : official publication of the American Otological Society, American Neurotology Society [and] European Academy of Otology and Neurotology · 2018Article
- Expression patterns of cryptochrome genes in avian retina suggest involvement of Cry4 in light-dependent magnetoreception.Journal of the Royal Society, Interface · 2018Article
- Spontaneous magnetic alignment behaviour in free-living lizards.Die Naturwissenschaften · 2017Article
- Cryptochrome 1 in Retinal Cone Photoreceptors Suggests a Novel Functional Role in Mammals.Scientific reports · 2016Article
- Polarized light modulates light-dependent magnetic compass orientation in birds.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2016Article
- Intelligence-Augmented Rat Cyborgs in Maze Solving.PloS one · 2016Article
- Magnetoreception in the wood mouse (Apodemus sylvaticus): influence of weak frequency-modulated radio frequency fields.Scientific reports · 2015Article
- Vestibular stimulation by magnetic fields.Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences · 2015Review
- Article
- Spontaneous expression of magnetic compass orientation in an epigeic rodent: the bank vole, Clethrionomys glareolus.Die Naturwissenschaften · 2014Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Magnetoreception has been demonstrated in all five vertebrate classes. In rodents, nest building experiments have shown the use of magnetic cues by two families of molerats, Siberian hamsters and C57BL/6 mice. However, assays widely used to study rodent spatial cognition (e.g. water maze, radial arm maze) have failed to provide evidence for the use of magnetic cues. Here we show that C57BL/6 mice can learn the magnetic direction of a submerged platform in a 4-armed (plus) water maze. Naïve mice were given two brief training trials. In each trial, a mouse was confined to one arm of the maze with the submerged platform at the outer end in a predetermined alignment relative to magnetic north. Between trials, the training arm and magnetic field were rotated by 180(°) so that the mouse had to swim in the same magnetic direction to reach the submerged platform. The directional preference of each mouse was tested once in one of four magnetic field alignments by releasing it at the center of the maze with access to all four arms. Equal numbers of responses were obtained from mice tested in the four symmetrical magnetic field alignments. Findings show that two training trials are sufficient for mice to learn the magnetic direction of the submerged platform in a plus water maze. The success of these experiments may be explained by: (1) absence of alternative directional cues (2), rotation of magnetic field alignment, and (3) electromagnetic shielding to minimize radio frequency interference that has been shown to interfere with magnetic compass orientation of birds. These findings confirm that mice have a well-developed magnetic compass, and give further impetus to the question of whether epigeic rodents (e.g., mice and rats) have a photoreceptor-based magnetic compass similar to that found in amphibians and migratory birds.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.