The Dry Morris Water Maze is a dry land version of the Morris Water Maze (MWM). The task is used in the assessment of spatial learning and memory. Much like the Morris Water Maze, the Dry Morris Water Maze is a hidden-goal task that requires the food-deprived subjects to locate the hidden food rewards. This food-motivated task is less stress-inducing than the conventional MWM which uses the fear of drowning to motivate the subject to find the hidden platform. This task requires the use of hippocampal-based learning to remember and locate the hidden rewards. This ability can be affected by lesions and drugs.