An incremental training method with automated, extendable maze for training spatial behavioral tasks in rodents.

ABSTRACT: We present a training procedure and maze equipped with sensors and automated feeders for training spatial behavioral tasks in rodents. The maze can be transformed from an enclosed box to a maze of variable dimensions. The modularity of the protocol and setup makes it highly flexible and suitable for training a wide variety of spatial tasks, and facilitates incremental training stages of increasing maze size for more efficient learning. The apparatus, in its software and hardware, is able to adapt to animal performance, adjusting task challenges and difficulty. Two different methods of automatic behavioral scoring are evaluated against manual methods. Sensors embedded in the maze provide information regarding the order of reward locations visited and the time between the activation of the c

SUBMITTER: Holleman E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6715809 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature