1: Introduction and Background

Both visual discrimination (VD) and reversal learning (RL) in neurological studies are very important to study animals’ cognitive abilities.   

• Reversal Learning:  

Reversal learning requires an animal to learn to discriminate two different stimuli but reverse its responses to these stimuli every time it has reached a learning criterion. Thus, different from pure discrimination experiments, reversal learning experiments require the animal to respond to stimuli flexibly, and the reversal learning performance can be taken as an illustration of the animal’s cognitive abilities. (1)

• Visual Discrimination:

As for visual discrimination task, which is a task used extensively in the elucidation of cognitive impairment produced by lead, is a test in which the formerly correct stimulus becomes the incorrect one, and vice versa. (2)

2: Advantages of Touch Panel Operant System in Reversal Learning and Visual Discrimination

Our Touch panel operant training system has standard mazes that come with video tracking and automated data collection and analysis. It also contains several key features that make it a wise choice for rodent behavior, specifically mouse behavioral testing. The unique trapezoidal design creates a space for animals to focus more on the screen ahead during rodent behavior testing.

In addition to improved sensitivity, our chamber was designed in a trapezoidal shape instead of a square, making it easier for the animal to focus on the screen ahead. Our touch panel chambers are compatible with in vivo electrophysiology and optogenetics techniques, as well as with miniature head-mounted microscopes. 

3: Example of Research

The team of Tatsuhiro Ayabe, Rena Ohya and Yasuhisa Ano used our touch panel-based operant system integrated with visual discrimination (VD) and reversal learning (RD) protocols.

During the VD task, vertical and horizontal stripes were shown on the screen as visual stimuli where vertical stripes were used as the correct response to half of the mice while horizontal stripes were used as the incorrect response to the other half of the mice (Figure 1). A trial started when the mouse touched the reward magazine. If the mouse was recorded poking at the vertical stripes (correct stimulus), it would be rewarded, and a 2-second inter-trial interval (ITI) would follow up. If the mouse poked at the horizontal stripes (incorrect stimulus), there would be no reward and a 5-second darkness would take place, followed up by a 5-second ITI. If the mouse touched the reward magazine again after each ITI, a new trial began. If the mouse failed to poke either stimulus in 30 seconds, the trial would be pruned. 60 minutes before the test session, the Iso-α-acids solution (1 mg/kg body weight) or distilled water (DW) would be administered through oval gavage. 30 minutes before the test session, scopolamine (0.8 mg/kg body weight) or saline would be intraperitoneally administered (Figure 2). Mice were expected to have a correct response rate that was above 80% (post-VD training) so that they would perform the VD test without drug treatments until that correct rate was achieved before they started performing the RD task.

Figure 2

After the treatment of scopolamine and iso-α-acid, both treated groups would perform the RD task. For the RD task, the visual stimuli were switched in the opposite order compared to the VD task, where horizontal stripes were used as the correct response and vertical stripes were used as the incorrect response. Only Iso-α-acids solution (1 mg/kg body weight) or distilled water (DW) would be administered through oval gavage 60 minutes before the test session for the RD task, and the scopolamine would not be administered to mice. DW and IAA solution was administered 17 times and scopolamine was treated 7 times in total during all experiment periods. The number of correct response changes was obtained by calculating the difference between the correct rate of each daily trial and the correct response rate of the first trial so that the efficiency of mice changing their previous memory conditions could be evaluated.

See the full publication

4. Applicable tasks for the Touch Panel Operant System

References:

(1): Bublitz, Alexander, et al. “Reversal of a Spatial Discrimination Task in the Common Octopus (Octopus Vulgaris).” Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience, vol. 15, 2021, https://doi.org/10.3389/fnbeh.2021.614523.

(2): Slikker, William, and Cheng Wang. “Chapter 31.” Handbook of Developmental Neurotoxicology, Academic Press, 1998, pp. 539–557. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-648860-9.X5000-6

(3): Ayabe, T., Ohya, R., & Ano, Y. (2019). Hop-Derived Iso-α-Acids in Beer Improve Visual Discrimination and Reversal Learning in Mice as Assessed by a Touch Panel Operant System. Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience, 13, 67.

Today I’m going to demonstrate the unique features of our touch panel operant chamber system.

What is unique about our chambers is that they contain infrared sensors located at the top of the touchscreen itself that improve the accuracy of touch responses from small rodents.

Unlike the touch screen technology that most of our smartphones and computer screens use, called projective capacitance, the infrared sensors inside the touch screen improve accuracy by eliminating the need for a minimum force required to generate a response. This means that even nose poke’s from mice will register a response.

In addition to improved sensitivity, our touch panel was designed in a trapezoidal shape instead of a square, making it easier for the animal to focus on the screen ahead.

Our touch panel chambers are compatible with in vivo electrophysiology and optogenetics techniques, as well as with miniature head-mounted microscopes.

Chambers can be purchased singly or in a package of four for a more cost-effective option. In addition, the chambers come with our Operant TaskStudio software package, an extremely user-friendly software platform that enables customers to design and execute their own tasks or choose from a variety of pre-programmed tasks.

Check out more about our software in our next video. To learn more about our Touch Panel operant system please check out our product website or connect with an expert.

If you are new to behavioral neuroscience, choosing the right behavioral test for your experiment can be a challenging task. Luckily our touch panel operant conditioning chambers are extremely flexible and allow users to run a variety of operant tests in laboratory animals. Today I’m going to talk about 4 common tasks used with our operant conditioning chambers and what they measure so you can hit the ground running with your experiments.

The first is the Visual Discrimination task:

This task involves learning that one of the two shapes displayed on the screen is correct. Touching the correct stimulus is rewarded with a liquid or food reward and touching the incorrect stimulus is punished with a timeout where the mouse or rat cannot start another trial. Once the mouse or rat learns the correct stimulus, the stimuli are reversed so that the previously rewarded stimuli now results in punishment. This type of reversal learning requires the mouse or rat to inhibit automatic responses that require the prefrontal cortex. This task is a great measure of cognitive flexibility and is a great tool for examining animal models of many neuropsychiatric disorders like schizophrenia or autism.

The second is the paired associative learning task:
Paired Associate Learning (PAL) displayed on screen.

In this task, mice or rats learn and remember which of three objects goes in which of three spatial locations. On each trial, two different objects are presented; one is in the correct location; the other in the incorrect location. The rat or mouse must choose which stimulus is in the correct location. This task relies on the hippocampus and can be used to test hippocampal dysfunction commonly seen in Alzheimer’s disease.

The third task is the visuomotor conditional learning task:
Visuomotor Conditional Learning (VMCL) on screen.

This task is a stimulus-response task. The rat or mouse must learn that two stimuli go with two different locations. When the first stimulus, stimulus A, is presented the rat or mouse must always respond to location A. When the second stimulus, stimulus B, is presented, the rat or mouse must always respond to location B. This type of test is useful for examining motor dysfunction in rat and mouse models of Parkinson’s disease and Huntington’s disease.

The fourth and final task is the 5-choice serial reaction time task:
5-Choice Serial Reaction Time (5CSRT) displayed on screen.

This task requires the mouse or rat to respond to a brief visual stimulus presented randomly in one of 5 locations. The stimulus is flashed and then disappears after a set interval requiring that the mouse or rat retain the location of the stimulus in memory. The stimulus is brief, requiring the mouse or rat to pay attention to the screen at all times. This task is used to measure attention span and impulsivity control in mice and rats and is useful for animal models of ADHD and schizophrenia.

In this post, we describe four common tasks you can use with your operant training chambers, and what exactly they measure. All of these tasks are easy to program with our Touch Panel operant chambers and TaskStudio software.

Learn more about our chambers and their unique specifications here.

Two-Choice Visual Discrimination Task:

This task involves learning that one of the two shapes displayed on the screen is correct. Touching the correct stimuli is rewarded and touching the incorrect stimuli is punished with a timeout where the mouse or rat cannot start another trial. Once the mouse or rat learns the correct stimuli, they are reversed so that the previously rewarded stimuli now results in punishment. This type of reversal learning requires the mouse or rat to inhibit automatic responses that require the prefrontal cortex. This task is a great measure of cognitive flexibility and is a great tool for examining animal models of many neuropsychiatric disorders.

Paired Associate Learning (PAL)

In this task, mice or rats learn and remember which of three objects goes in which of three spatial locations. On each trial, two different objects are presented; one is in the correct location; the other in the incorrect location. The rat or mouse must choose which stimulus is in the correct location. This task relies on the hippocampus and can be used to test hippocampal dysfunction as seen in Alzheimer’s disease.

Visuomotor Conditional Learning (VMCL)

This task is a stimulus-response task. The rat or mouse must learn that two stimuli go with two different locations. When stimulus A is presented the rat or mouse must always respond to location A. If stimulus B is presented, the rat or mouse must always respond to location B. This type of test is useful for examining motor dysfunction in rat and mouse models of Parkinson’s disease and Huntington’s disease.

5-Choice Serial Reaction Time (5CSRT)

This task requires the rodent to respond to a brief visual stimuli presented randomly in one of 5 locations. It is used to measure attention span and impulsivity control in mice and rats and is useful for animal models of ADHD.

Bari, A., Dalley, J. W., & Robbins, T. W. (2008). The application of the 5-choice serial reaction time task for the assessment of visual attentional processes and impulse control in rats. Nature Protocols, 3(5), 759–767. doi: 10.1038/nprot.2008.41

Crawley, J. N. (2007). Whats wrong with my mouse?: behavioral phenotyping of transgenic and knockout mice. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley-Interscience.

Did you know that our wireless optogenetics system is fully compatible with our Touch Panel operant chambers?

Using our Teleopto Wireless Optogenetics system in combination with the Touch Panel operant training system, you can manipulate neuronal activity in real-time during operant behavior.

Our Touch Panel operant chamber has several key features that make it a wise choice for rodent behavior, specifically mouse behavioral testing. The unique trapezoidal design creates a space for animals to focus more on the screen ahead during rodent behavior testing. In addition, the Touch Panel operant training system contains infrared (IR) sensor technology to improve the accuracy with which the system can detect touch responses from mice and rats.  Program anywhere between two-choice and five-choice tasks with the Touch Panel operant training system. It is extremely versatile and suitable for a wide range of learning and memory paradigms for rodent behavior. 

Now with Teleopto Wireless Optogenetics, you can use 2 channel pulse receivers enabling you with more flexibility over your experimental design.

You can use our 2 channel pulse receivers for stimulation and inhibition at a single site or in combination with bilateral implants, allowing independent control of each side.

Current Teleopto customer, Hirofumi Morishita at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai is examining mechanisms of developmental critical periods in the Prefrontal Cortex.  Loosely, he is interested in examining how attentional processes are shaped during the critical period and what goes wrong in this process in neurodevelopmental and psychiatric disorders by studying attention.

Attention is a goal-directed process by which animals can pull out task-relevant sensory stimuli from noisy environments. Deficits in attention are common to many psychiatric disorders, including autism, schizophrenia, and depression. 

Currently, the Morishita lab is focused on understanding the connections between frontal and visual cortices that guide attentional processing. Previous work has demonstrated that the Anterior Cingulate Cortex (ACC) in the frontal cortex has “top-down” control of sensory processing in the Visual Cortex (VIS), but how this processing contributes to attention is not well understood.

The Morishita lab is using a variety of circuit-based techniques to monitor and manipulate neural activity in mice performing freely moving attention behavior tasks. Using Teleopto wireless optogenetics, the Morishita lab found that stimulation of top-down projection neurons in the Anterior Cingulate Cortex (ACC) during the five-choice serial reaction time task (sustained attentional task) improved attentional performance. They also found that optogenetic inactivation of top-down projection terminals of ACC neurons in the visual cortex (VIS) in mice disrupts attentional behavior in the same five-choice serial reaction time task. Their data demonstrates that recruitment of long-range prefrontal-sensory projections from the ACC to VIS cortex is essential for successful task performance on attentionally demanding tasks.

The Watanabe lab at Kyoto University is currently using the Touch Panel operant training system to measure attentional deficits in senescent mice using the five-choice serial reaction time task. They hope to better understand how neural circuits controlling attention degrade over time. Right now they are only running mouse behavioral tests, but soon they plan to incorporate neurophysiology in freely moving mice. Stay tuned for research updates from the Watanabe lab.

Are you interested in learning how you can monitor and manipulate neural circuits in freely moving animals for rodent behavior? Connect with one of our experts at AMUZA to learn more!