Dataset Information

A virtual reality time reproduction task for rodents.

ABSTRACT: Estimates of the duration of time intervals and other magnitudes exhibit characteristic biases that likely result from error minimization strategies. To investigate such phenomena, magnitude reproduction tasks are used with humans and other primates. However, such behavioral tasks do not exist for rodents, one of the most important animal orders for neuroscience. We, therefore, developed a time reproduction task that can be used with rodents. It involves an animal reproducing the duration of a timed visual stimulus by walking along a corridor. The task was implemented in virtual reality, which allowed us to ensure that the animals were actually estimating time. The hallway did not contain prominent spatial cues and movement could be de-correlated from optic flow, such that the animals could not learn a mapping between stimulus duration and covered distance. We tested the reproduction of durations of several seconds in three different stimulus ranges. The gerbils reproduced the durations with a precision similar to experiments on humans. Their time reproductions also exhibited the characteristic biases of magnitude estimation experiments. These results demonstrate that our behavioral paradigm provides a means to study time reproduction in rodents.

SUBMITTER: Henke J

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9399742 | biostudies-literature | 2022

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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A virtual reality time reproduction task for rodents.

Henke Josphine J Flanagin Virginia L VL Thurley Kay K

Frontiers in behavioral neuroscience 20220810

Estimates of the duration of time intervals and other magnitudes exhibit characteristic biases that likely result from error minimization strategies. To investigate such phenomena, magnitude reproduction tasks are used with humans and other primates. However, such behavioral tasks do not exist for rodents, one of the most important animal orders for neuroscience. We, therefore, developed a time reproduction task that can be used with rodents. It involves an animal reproducing the duration of a t ...[more]

PMID: 36035022

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Project description:Virtual reality (VR) environments are a powerful tool to investigate brain mechanisms involved in the behavior of animals. With this technique, animals are usually head fixed or secured in a harness, and training for cognitively more complex VR paradigms is time consuming. A VR apparatus allowing free animal movement and the constant operator-independent training of tasks would enable many new applications. Key prospective usages include brain imaging of animal behavior when carrying a miniaturized mobile device such as a fluorescence microscope or an optetrode. Here, we introduce the Servoball, a spherical VR treadmill based on the closed-loop tracking of a freely moving animal and feedback counterrotation of the ball. Furthermore, we present the complete integration of this experimental system with the animals' group home cage, from which single individuals can voluntarily enter through a tunnel with radio-frequency identification (RFID)-automated access control and commence experiments. This automated animal sorter functions as a mechanical replacement of the experimenter. We automatically trained rats using visual or acoustic cues to solve spatial cognitive tasks and recorded spatially modulated entorhinal cells. When electrophysiological extracellular recordings from awake behaving rats were performed, head fixation can dramatically alter results, so that any complex behavior that requires head movement is impossible to achieve. We circumvented this problem with the use of the Servoball in open-field scenarios, as it allows the combination of open-field behavior with the recording of nerve cells, along with all the flexibility that a virtual environment brings. This integrated home cage with a VR arena experimental system permits highly efficient experimentation for complex cognitive experiments.NEW & NOTEWORTHY Virtual reality (VR) environments are a powerful tool for the investigation of brain mechanisms. We introduce the Servoball, a VR treadmill for freely moving rodents. The Servoball is integrated with the animals' group home cage. Single individuals voluntarily enter using automated access control. Training is highly time-efficient, even for cognitively complex VR paradigms.

Dataset Information

A virtual reality time reproduction task for rodents.

Publications

A virtual reality time reproduction task for rodents.

Similar Datasets

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