Automated system for training and assessing string-pulling behaviors in rodents.

ABSTRACT: String-pulling tasks have been used for centuries to study coordinated bimanual motor behavior and problem solving. String pulling is rapidly learned, ethologically grounded, and has been applied to many species and disease conditions. Typically, training of string-pulling behaviors is achieved through manual shaping and baiting. Furthermore, behavioral assessment of reaching, grasping, and pulling is often performed through labor intensive manual video scoring. No system, to our knowledge, currently exists for the automated shaping and assessment of string-pulling behaviors. Here we describe the PANDA system (Pulling And Neural Data Analysis), an inexpensive hardware and software system that utilizes a continuous string loop connected to a rotary encoder, feeder, microcontroller, high-spe

SUBMITTER: Jordan GA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10349952 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature