Canadian Centre for Behavioural Neuroscience, University of Lethbridge

The rotorod test is used to assess motor status in the walking movement of hemi-Parkinson analogue rats.

In a piloting scent tracking task, the ability of the rats to return to a refuge with food using visual an odor trail or using dead reckoning in infrared light, the integrated record of previous movements, demonstrates that the hippocampus is necessary for dead reckoning.

The ladder rung walking task is a new test to assess skilled walking and measure both forelimb and hindlimb placing, stepping, and inter-limb co-ordination.

This protocol describes how to use frame-by-frame video analysis to quantify idiosyncratic reach-to-grasp movements in humans. A comparative analysis of reaching in sighted versus unsighted healthy adults is used to demonstrate the technique, but the method can also be applied to the study of developmental and clinical populations.