Experiments

Instructions

1
To better characterize long term memory in wild-type mice, perform single sample t-tests on the four quadrants as a post-hoc analysis.
2
Perform a one-tailed single sample t-test to assess whether the fraction of time spent in the target quadrant by wild-type mice is greater than the theoretical value 25%. Conversely, perform a one-tailed single sample t-test to assess whether the fraction of time spent in the opposite quadrant by wild-type mice is lower than the theoretical value 25%. For adjacent quadrants perform two-tailed single sample t-tests.

Methodologies

We compared the distribution obtained for each group to a uniform distribution in the probe test of the standard reference memory task and we found that the Dirichlet distribution obtained for wild-type mice was significantly different from a uniform distribution (p = 0.0021), whereas the one obtained for 3xTg mice did not differ from a uniform distribution (p = 0.26). We also propose a module, included in the Dirichlet package, to draw charts showing at the same time mean values with uncertainties and inter-individual variability according to Dirichlet distribution.

A new statistical method to analyze Morris Water Maze data using Dirichlet distribution