The present study was performed to examine the influence of EMC-D virus on water-maze task performance in DBA/2 mice inoculated with 10(3) PFU/ml and BALB/c mice inoculated with 10(5) PFU/ml of EMC-D virus. In both strains, the latency to accomplish the task was shortened during successive 8 days of testing. However, the shortening of latency in the inoculated group was significantly smaller than that in the control group. Pathological studies showed that in both studies St. pyramidale hippocampi was commonly degenerated, but the degeneration of the spinal cord was shown only in DBA/2 mice. Therefore, the disturbance of water-maze task performance in mice infected with EMC-D virus might be partially due to the dysfunction of memory for working process or cognition of orientation other than underlying decreased ability in locomotion.