Y-Maze Spontaneous Alternation: Principles & Protocol
The Y-Maze Test is built on rodents’ spontaneous exploration of novel space. Three equal-length arms at 120° form a Y-shaped apparatus. Alternation rate—the percentage of consecutive three-arm visits without repeating an arm—indexes spatial working memory and novelty-driven exploration.
It is widely used for hippocampal–prefrontal working-memory mechanisms, cognitive deficits in neurodegeneration (e.g., AD) and neurodevelopmental models (e.g., schizophrenia), short-term memory and exploration pharmacology, and gene or lesion effects on spatial cognition.
Alternation rate is the key working-memory readout, but traditional 2D tools often mis-count entries and require manual checks. The system outputs distance, time, arm entries, alternations, total entries, and alternation rate with high reliability.
Capture, analyze, export parameters, and generate figures in one workflow—common regional metrics plus advanced indices such as alternation rate, with bar plots and heatmaps for fast interpretation.
Import videos from most maze systems—including third-party recordings—to re-analyze prior experiments and recover significance that noisy tracking may have missed.
| Parameter | Description | Unit |
|---|---|---|
| sample_name | Sample name | — |
| group_label | Group label | — |
| total_distance | Total distance | cm |
| average_speed | Average speed | cm/s |
| xxx_distance | Distance in a region | cm |
| xxx_distance_ratio | Region distance ratio | % |
| xxx_average_speed | Average speed in a region | cm/s |
| xxx_time | Time in a region | s |
| xxx_time_ratio | Region time ratio | % |
| xxx_number_of_entries | Entries into a region | count |
| outside_distance | Distance outside regions | cm |
| outside_distance_ratio | Outside distance ratio | % |
| outside_time | Time outside regions | s |
| outside_time_ratio | Outside time ratio | % |
| Parameter | Description | Meaning | Unit |
|---|---|---|---|
| number_of_alternations | Number of spontaneous alternations | Consecutive entries into three different arms count as one alternation; used to compute alternation rate for spatial working memory | count |
| total_entry_number | Total arm entries | Number of times the animal enters arm zones | count |
| alternation_ratio | Alternation rate | Alternations / (total arm entries − 2) × 100% | % |