Strain differences between C57Bl/6 and DBA/2 mice (<i>Mus musculus</i>) in delayed matching and nonmatching-to-position tasks: impact of sample responses and delay intervals

Both strains acquired the tasks. However, DBA/2 mice exhibited a smaller decline in accuracy with increasing delay intervals in the DNMTP task compared to C57BL/6 mice. DBA/2 mice also demonstrated more stable performance across both tasks, whereas C57BL/6 mice showed a more pronounced accuracy decline in the DNMTP task than in the DMTP task. In addition, enhancing response requirements during sample trials improved performance in DBA/2 mice for both tasks, a trend that was not observed in C57BL/6 mice. These findings suggest that task-specific variables, such as response modality (<i>e.g</i>., lever pressing <i>vs</i>. nose poking) and prior training history, can significantly influence strain performance. Overall, these results emphasize the need for considering strain-specific traits and experimental conditions when interpreting behavioral data, particularly for DBA/2 mice, frequently used as models for hippocampal dysfunction.