For habituation and assessment of visual ability, mice were given four trials in a visual platform stage. During this stage, extra-maze cues were removed and the platform (12cm in diameter) was made visible above the water surface with a flag attached to the platform. Mice were randomly placed into the pool in one of four possible locations and were given up to 60s per trial to find the platform. If a mouse failed to locate the platform in 60s, it was placed on the platform for 10s before being removed and allowed to rest (30-s inter-trial interval) before starting the next trial.
