Definition The radial arm maze, originally developed by David Olton, is an apparatus that taps into natural foraging abilities of rodents and can be used to test different types of memory, including short-term (working), longterm (reference), nonspatial and spatial memory. The arena consists of a number of arms (typically ranging from 4 to 16) that extend from a central hub, and food is placed in the ends of some or all of the arms. The food cannot be seen from the central platform. Versions that test spatial memory require rats or mice to navigate through the environment using allocentric spatial cues placed around the maze. Thus, animals must recall which arms had been entered or remain to be entered using the location of each arm relative to the different cues around the maze. Numerous studies have shown that rats do indeed use a spatial strategy to solve this task, as elaborate control experiments have been used to ensure that the rats do not simply use their sense of smell either to sense unclaimed food objects or to sense their own tracks.