Inheritance of discrimination learning ability and retention in BA and DBA mice

Male house mice from two inbred strains, DBA/2 and BA, and their F₁ and F₂ crosses and backcrosses, B₁ and B₂, were tested for black-white discrimination learning and 24-hr response retention in a water maze. The BA strain exhibited an inferior learning performance. Nonparametric and biometrical genetic analyses provided only weak evidence of unifactorial inheritance of acquisition, but somewhat stronger evidence in the case of retention.