This work was supported by the NINDS grant #NS054148.

All procedures involving animals were approved by the Michigan State University Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC).
1. Experimental Setup
<ol>
	<li>Use an operant conditioning box which consists of a five-hole nosepoke wall on one side and a food delivery trough on the opposite side.
	<ol>
		<li>The center nosepoke hole is considered as a &#34;fixation&#34; hole and the four other holes (two on each side of the fixation hole) are considered motor target holes. Each hole is equipped with a tri-color LED and an infrared beam emitter-detector system that detects when the animal enters and retracts from the fixation hole.</li>
		<li>Use a programmable tone generator to generate single frequency tones with millisecond precision and connect it to a speaker mounted inside the operant box. Control the tone generator and nosepokes through the behavioral tracking system using the appropriate software. Use a hardware and software system that provides millisecond timescale monitoring of behavioral events and control of cues and responses. 
		Note: The amplitude of both tone and noise cues should be kept around 60 &#177; 3 dB SPL.</li>
	</ol>
	</li>
</ol>
2. Early Habituation
<ol>
	<li>Restrict the subject&#39;s food intake gradually to ~5 g&#160;per 100 g&#160;of the subject&#39;s normal weight (e.g. over the course of 3 days). The subject should maintain 85-90% of their ad libitum weight.</li>
	<li>Habituate the subject to handling by the experimenter and familiarize the subject with the apparatus from the first day of starting the food deprivation protocol. Start handling the animal and place it in the operant conditioning box while providing food pellets in the pellet trough to encourage the subject to explore the cage and get familiar with the reward delivery location.</li>
</ol>
3. Subject Training
<ol>
	<li>General notes
	<ol>
		<li>The task suggested here needs precise coordination between perception of an auditory cue, minimizing movements during the delay period and movement execution.</li>
		<li>Gradually train the subject step-by-step to prepare them for the final desired behavior.</li>
		<li>Make sure that at the end of each step, the subject maintains &#62;75% behavioral performance for at least three consecutive sessions before progressing to the next stage.</li>
		<li>Once the final stage is reached, keep the subject on the protocol for a week to ensure the performance is maintained at the desirable level.</li>
	</ol>
	</li>
	<li>Start: Familiarize the subject with the nosepoke holes, food delivery port and the association between the flashing holes and reward.
	<ol>
		<li>Select one out of the four targets on a random schedule.</li>
		<li>Play the Go cue (a white auditory noise) and keep the LED inside the hole flashing (0.3 sec pulse duration).</li>
		<li>Set the software to reward the subject upon visits to the hole.</li>
		<li>Time-out the trial after 30 sec&#160;if the hole is not visited and start a new trial.</li>
		<li>Do not reward any visits to the incorrect holes.</li>
	</ol>
	</li>
	<li>Target Selection: Punish erroneous visits to the nonselected holes.
	<ol>
		<li>Upon visits to incorrect holes, terminate the trial followed by 5 sec&#160;of black-out. 
		Note: During a black-out epoch, the fixation hole LED is turned off in the cage. This means that the subject cannot initiate a trial and needs to wait until the fixation hole LED starts flashing.</li>
		<li>Select a new hole and start a new trial.</li>
	</ol>
	</li>
	<li>Nosepoke: Train the subject to poke inside the fixation hole to start a trial.
	<ol>
		<li>Flash a yellow LED inside the fixation hole.</li>
		<li>Upon visiting the fixation hole immediately play the Go cue and start a new trial.</li>
		<li>Penalize incorrect visits by 5 sec&#160;of black-out.</li>
	</ol>
	</li>
	<li>Delay: Teach the subject to maintain their nose inside the fixation hole for a set period of time (delay period) that is increased gradually as training progresses.
	<ol>
		<li>Wait for the subject to visit the fixation hole.</li>
		<li>Terminate the trial if the subject retracts within 500 msec. Otherwise, play the Go cue.</li>
		<li>Penalize premature retractions by a black-out period for 7 sec.</li>
		<li>Reward the correct visits by delivering a food pellet.</li>
	</ol>
	</li>
	<li>Two Cues (with Light): Increase and randomize the delay period length and introduce the auditory instruction cue.
	<ol>
		<li>Increase the length of the delay period to an average of 1.5 sec.</li>
		<li>Choose a random delay period length at each trial based on a uniform density between 1.3-1.8 sec.</li>
		<li>Introduce the instruction cue as a single frequency auditory tone pulsed in triplets, with a pulse duration of 150 msec and interpulse interval of 100 msec.
		<ol>
			<li>Play the instruction cue immediately after the subject enters the fixation hole.</li>
			<li>Assign two instruction cues to each of the targets.</li>
			<li>Only use one cue associated for each target at this stage.</li>
		</ol>
		</li>
		<li>Let the subject use both auditory and visual cues to select the target hole.</li>
	</ol>
	</li>
	<li>Two Cues (without Light): Train the subject to only use auditory cues.
	<ol>
		<li>Turn off the flashing LEDs inside the target holes so that the subject would only use auditory instruction cues.</li>
	</ol>
	</li>
	<li>Four Cues: Introduce the two other cues to the sequence of randomly presented instruction cues and repeat sections 3.5.3-3.6.1.</li>
</ol>
4. Behavioral Data Analysis
<ol>
	<li>Success Rate: Define success rate as the percentage of correct visits to the targets divided by the total number of trials.
	<ol>
		<li>Measure the success rate at each stage of training.</li>
	</ol>
	</li>
	<li>Error types:
	<ol>
		<li>Premature retraction: measure the percentage of trials timed-out due to early retractions from the fixation hole.</li>
		<li>Comission error: Calculate the percentage of failed trials when the subject visits an uninstructed target</li>
		<li>Omission Error: Calculate the percentage of errors when the subject does not visit any of the targets after trial initiation.</li>
	</ol>
	</li>
	<li>Measured variables:
	<ol>
		<li>Reaction Time (RT): For each trial, measure the delay between the onset of the Go cue and the subject retracting from the fixation hole.</li>
		<li>Time to Target (TT): Measure the duration between the subject retraction from the fixation hole and entering the target hole.</li>
	</ol>
	</li>
</ol>

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The authors declare&#160;no competing financial interests.

Rats have been widely used in neuroscience research for over a century. Since Thorndike&#39;s introduction of the concept of the law of effect in cats34, operant conditioning has been the standard approach to test different aspects of animal behavior. Many neuroscience experiments involving decision making and motor preparation include a delay period between the instruction cues and the action interval. It is desirable to minimize movements during these delay periods to reduce any confounds to the neural data ...

Studying the relation between neurophysiology and behavior is the ultimate goal in systems neuroscience. Historically, there has been a tradeoff between animal model choice and behavioral repertoire1-5. While simple organisms like sea slugs6 or squids7 have been used extensively to study properties of single ion channels, neurons and simple neural circuits, higher order species are needed to study more complex functions such as spatial navigation, decision making8-11 and cognitive control12-14. Despite being a standard animal model for human like behavior, use of nonhuman primates prompts cost and ethical considerations that precludes their use across a wide range of experiments in a single laboratory setting15-18. Simpler animal models such as rodents are generally preferred19, provided they have similar neural substrates underlying the behaviors of interest.
There's ample evidence suggesting that rodents share similar cortical and subcortical structures as those found in primates20-22. Rodents are also known to integrate information across multiple sensory modalities to guide their action23-25, for example, by coordinating whisking and sniffing during exploratory behavior26 or by integrating auditory and visual/olfactory events25,27.
Here we describe a framework for operant conditioning of rodents used to test cognitive tasks28-32. In this framework, subjects are required to fixate inside a nosepoke hole and maintain their snout inside the hole until the presentation of a go cue. The behavioral task is a five-hole nosepoke design that is conventionally used for 5-choice serial reaction time task studies. During the delay period, a range of instruction cues is presented to guide the subject to perform an action. This framework can easily be modified to suit a wide range of experiments in which training the subject to minimize its overt movement over a brief interval is needed. This permits studying the extent to which spiking activity of individual neurons is affected by specific cues during this interval. The protocol can minimize the training time and can reduce across-subject learning variability. A schematic flowchart of the task is shown in Figure 1.

<table><tbody><tr><td>5-holed Nose Poke with 3 Stim Cue Light Rat Cage</td><td>Coulbourn</td><td>H21-06M/R</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Test cage</td><td>Coulbourn</td><td>H10-11R-TC</td><td>&amp;nbsp;</td></tr><tr><td>Graphic State Software</td><td>Coulbourn</td><td></td><td>&amp;nbsp;</td></tr><tr><td>Programmable tone/noise generator</td><td>Coulbourn</td><td>A12-33</td><td>&amp;nbsp;</td></tr><tr><td>Dustless precision pellets</td><td>Bio-Serv</td><td>F0165</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Speaker module</td><td>Coulbourn</td><td>H12-01R</td><td>&amp;nbsp;</td></tr></tbody></table>

a fully automated rodent conditioning protocol for sensorimotor integration and cognitive control experiments

Rodents have been traditionally used as a standard animal model in laboratory experiments involving a myriad of sensory, cognitive, and motor tasks. Higher cognitive functions that require precise control over sensorimotor responses such as decision-making and attentional modulation, however, are typically assessed in nonhuman primates. Despite the richness of primate behavior that allows multiple variants of these functions to be studied, the rodent model remains an attractive, cost-effective alternative to primate models. Furthermore, the ability to fully automate operant conditioning in rodents adds unique advantages over the labor intensive training of nonhuman primates while studying a broad range of these complex functions.
Here, we introduce a protocol for operantly conditioning rats on performing working memory tasks. During critical epochs of the task, the protocol ensures that the animal's overt movement is minimized by requiring the animal to 'fixate' until a Go cue is delivered, akin to nonhuman primate experimental design. A simple two alternative forced choice task is implemented to demonstrate the performance. We discuss the application of this paradigm to other tasks.

The suggested framework enables training the subject on a range of cognitive tasks. Here we implemented an instructed delay task designed to investigate the mechanisms of goal-directed actions in the rodent prefrontal cortex. Figure 1 shows a flowchart of the experimental design.
To ensure that the subject understands the task requirement at every step, performance measures should be continuously assessed. Figure 2 shows an example performance of one subject a...

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A Fully Automated Rodent Conditioning Protocol for Sensorimotor Integration and Cognitive Control Experiments

A fully automated protocol for rodent operant conditioning is proposed. The protocol relies on precise temporal control of behavioral events to investigate the extent to which this control influences neural activity underlying sensorimotor integration and cognitive control experiments.

Rodents have been traditionally used as a standard animal model in laboratory experiments involving a myriad of sensory, cognitive, and motor tasks. ...

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10.5K Views.  Michigan State University. A fully automated protocol for rodent operant conditioning is proposed. The protocol relies on precise temporal control of behavioral events to investigate the extent to which this control influences neural activity underlying sensorimotor integration and cognitive control experiments.

Video: A Fully Automated Rodent Conditioning Protocol for Sensorimotor Integration and Cognitive Control Experiments

Automated, Quantitative Cognitive/Behavioral Screening of Mice: For Genetics, Pharmacology, Animal Cognition and Undergraduate Instruction

We describe a high-throughput, high-volume, fully automated, live-in 24/7 behavioral testing system for assessing the effects of genetic and pharmacological manipulations on basic mechanisms of cognition and learning in mice. A standard polypropylene mouse housing tub is connected through an acrylic tube to a standard commercial mouse test box. The test box has 3 hoppers, 2 of which are connected to pellet feeders. All are internally illuminable with an LED and monitored for head entries by infrared (IR) beams. Mice live in the environment, which eliminates handling during screening. They obtain their food during two or more daily feeding periods by performing in operant (instrumental) and Pavlovian (classical) protocols, for which we have written protocol-control software and quasi-real-time data analysis and graphing software. The data analysis and graphing routines are written in a MATLAB-based language created to simplify greatly the analysis of large time-stamped behavioral and physiological event records and to preserve a full data trail from raw data through all intermediate analyses to the published graphs and statistics within a single data structure. The data-analysis code harvests the data several times a day and subjects it to statistical and graphical analyses, which are automatically stored in the &#34;cloud&#34; and on in-lab computers. Thus, the progress of individual mice is visualized and quantified daily. The data-analysis code talks to the protocol-control code, permitting the automated advance from protocol to protocol of individual subjects. The behavioral protocols implemented are matching, autoshaping, timed hopper-switching, risk assessment in timed hopper-switching, impulsivity measurement, and the circadian anticipation of food availability. Open-source protocol-control and data-analysis code makes the addition of new protocols simple. Eight test environments fit in a 48 in x 24 in x 78 in&#160;cabinet; two such cabinets (16 environments) may be controlled by one computer.

Fully automated system for measuring physiologically meaningful properties of the mechanisms mediating spatial localization, temporal localization, duration, rate&#160;and probability estimation, risk assessment, impulsivity, and the accuracy and precision of memory, in order to assess the effects of genetic and pharmacological manipulations on foundational mechanisms of cognition in mice.

We describe a high-throughput, high-volume, fully automated, live-in 24/7 behavioral testing system for assessing the effects of genetic and ...

Automated Visual Cognitive Tasks for Recording Neural Activity Using a Floor Projection Maze

Neuropsychological tasks used in primates to investigate mechanisms of learning and memory are typically visually guided cognitive tasks. We have developed visual cognitive tasks for rats using the Floor Projection Maze1,2&#160;that are optimized for visual abilities of rats permitting stronger comparisons of experimental findings with other species.
In order to investigate neural correlates of learning and memory, we have integrated electrophysiological recordings into fully automated cognitive tasks on the Floor Projection Maze1,2. Behavioral software interfaced with an animal tracking system allows monitoring of the animal's behavior with precise control of image presentation and reward contingencies for better trained animals. Integration with an in vivo electrophysiological recording system enables examination of behavioral correlates of neural activity at selected epochs of a given cognitive task.
We describe protocols for a model system that combines automated visual presentation of information to rodents and intracranial reward with electrophysiological approaches. Our model system offers a sophisticated set of tools as a framework for other cognitive tasks to better isolate and identify specific mechanisms contributing to particular cognitive processes.

We describe protocols for training rats for chronic electrophysiological recordings in fully automated cognitive tasks on a Floor Projection Maze.

Neuropsychological tasks used in primates to investigate mechanisms of learning and memory are typically visually guided cognitive tasks. We have ...

Operant Procedures for Assessing Behavioral Flexibility in Rats

Executive functions consist of multiple high-level cognitive processes that drive rule generation and behavioral selection. An emergent property of these processes is the ability to adjust behavior in response to changes in one&#8217;s environment (i.e., behavioral flexibility). These processes are essential to normal human behavior, and may be disrupted in diverse neuropsychiatric conditions, including schizophrenia, alcoholism, depression, stroke, and Alzheimer&#8217;s disease. Understanding of the neurobiology of executive functions has been greatly advanced by the availability of animal tasks for assessing discrete components of behavioral flexibility, particularly strategy shifting and reversal learning. While several types of tasks have been developed, most are non-automated, labor intensive, and allow testing of only one animal at a time. The recent development of automated, operant-based tasks for assessing behavioral flexibility streamlines testing, standardizes stimulus presentation and data recording, and dramatically improves throughput. Here, we describe automated strategy shifting and reversal tasks, using operant chambers controlled by custom written software programs. Using these tasks, we have shown that the medial prefrontal cortex governs strategy shifting but not reversal learning in the rat, similar to the dissociation observed in humans. Moreover, animals with a neonatal hippocampal lesion, a neurodevelopmental model of schizophrenia, are selectively impaired on the strategy shifting task but not the reversal task. The strategy shifting task also allows the identification of separate types of performance errors, each of which is attributable to distinct neural substrates. The availability of these automated tasks, and the evidence supporting the dissociable contributions of separate prefrontal areas, makes them particularly well-suited assays for the investigation of basic neurobiological processes as well as drug discovery and screening in disease models.

The ability to assess executive functions such as behavioral flexibility in rats is useful for investigating the neurobiology of cognition in both intact animals and disease models. Here we describe automated tasks for assessing strategy shifting and reversal learning, which are particularly sensitive to disruptions in prefrontal cortical networks.

Executive functions consist of multiple high-level cognitive processes that drive rule generation and behavioral selection. An emergent property of these ...

The Rodent Psychomotor Vigilance Test (rPVT): A Method for Assessing Neurobehavioral Performance in Rats and Mice

The human Psychomotor Vigilance Test (PVT) is a widely used procedure for measuring changes in fatigue and sustained attention. The present article describes a rodent version of the PVT&#8212;termed the &#34;rPVT&#34;&#8212;that measures similar aspects of attention (i.e., performance accuracy, motor speed, premature responding, and lapses in attention). Data are presented that demonstrate both the short- and long-term usefulness of the rPVT when employed with laboratory rats. Rats easily learn the rPVT, and learning to perform the basic procedure takes less than two weeks of training. Once acquired, rat performances in the rPVT show a high degree of similarity to these same performance measures in the human PVT, including similarities in, lapses in attention, reaction times, vigilance decrements across session time (i.e., the human &#34;time-on-task&#34; effects), and the response-stimulus interval (RSI) effect described for humans. Thus the rPVT can be an extremely valuable tool for assessing the effects of a wide range of variables on sustained attention quite similar to human PVT performances, and thus can be useful for developing novel treatments for neurobehavioral dysfunctions.

The Rodent Psychomotor Vigilance Test rPVT: A Method for Assessing Neurobehavioral Performance in Rats and Mice

A rat version of the human Psychomotor Vigilance Test (PVT) is described that measures aspects of attention similar to those measured with the human PVT, including aspects of human vigilance such as performance accuracy, motor speed, premature responding, and lapses in attention.

The human Psychomotor Vigilance Test (PVT) is a widely used procedure for measuring changes in fatigue and sustained attention. The present article ...

A Fully Automated and Highly Versatile System for Testing Multi-cognitive Functions and Recording Neuronal Activities in Rodents

We have developed a fully automated system for operant behavior testing and neuronal activity recording by which multiple cognitive brain functions can be investigated in a single task sequence. The unique feature of this system is a custom-made, acoustically transparent chamber that eliminates many of the issues associated with auditory cue control in most commercially available chambers. The ease with which operant devices can be added or replaced makes this system quite versatile, allowing for the implementation of a variety of auditory, visual, and olfactory behavioral tasks. Automation of the system allows fine temporal (10 ms) control and precise time-stamping of each event in a predesigned behavioral sequence. When combined with a multi-channel electrophysiology recording system, multiple cognitive brain functions, such as motivation, attention, decision-making, patience, and rewards, can be examined sequentially or independently.

In this report, we present a fully automated and highly versatile system capable of simultaneously testing multi-cognitive behaviors and recording neuronal activities for rodents.

We have developed a fully automated system for operant behavior testing and neuronal activity recording by which multiple cognitive brain functions can be ...

Neuroscience

An Automated T-maze Based Apparatus and Protocol for Analyzing Delay- and Effort-based Decision Making in  Free Moving Rodents

Many neurological and psychiatric patients demonstrate difficulties and/or deficits in decision making. Rodent models are helpful to produce a deeper understanding of the neurobiological causes underlying the decision-making problems. A cost-benefit based T-maze task is used for measuring decision making in which rodents choose between a high reward arm (HRA) and a low reward arm (LRA). There are two paradigms of the T-maze decision-making task, one in which the cost is a time delay and the other in which it is physical effort. Both paradigms require a tedious and labor-intensive management of experimental animals, multiple doors, pellet reward, and arm choice recordings. In the current work, we invented an apparatus based on traditional T-maze with full automation for pellet delivery, door management and choice recordings. This automated setup can be used for the evaluation of both delay- and effort-based decision making in rodents. With the protocol described here, our lab investigated the decision-making phenotypes of multiple genetically modified mice. In the representative data, we showed that the mice with ablated medial habenular showed aversions of both delay and effort and tended to choose the immediate and effortless reward. This protocol helps to decrease the variability caused by experimenter intervention and to enhance experiment efficiency. In addition, chronic silicon probe or microelectrode recording, fiber-optic imaging and/or manipulation of neural activity can be easily applied during the decision-making task using the setup described here.

This article introduces an automated T-maze apparatus that we invented, and a protocol based on this apparatus for analyzing delay-based decision making and effort-based decision making in free moving rodents.

Many neurological and psychiatric patients demonstrate difficulties and/or deficits in decision making. Rodent models are helpful to produce a deeper ...

Automated, Long-term Behavioral Assay for Cognitive Functions in Multiple Genetic Models of Alzheimer's Disease, Using IntelliCage

Multiple factors&#8212;such as aging and genes&#8212;are frequently associated with cognitive decline. Genetically modified mouse models of cognitive decline, such as Alzheimer&#39;s disease (AD), have become a promising tool to elucidate the underlying mechanisms and promote the therapeutic advances. An important step is the validation and characterization of expected behavioral abnormality in the models, in the case of AD, cognitive decline. The long-term behavioral investigations of laboratory animals to study the effect of aging demand substantial efforts from researchers. The IntelliCage system is a high-throughput and cost-effective test battery for mice that eliminates the need for daily human handling. Here, we describe how the system is utilized in the long-term phenotyping of a genetic Alzheimer&#39;s disease model, specifically focusing on the cognitive functions. The experiment employs repeated battery of tests that assess spatial learning and executive functions. This cost-effective age-dependent phenotyping allows us to identify the transient and/or permanent effects of genes on various cognitive aspects.

This paper describes a protocol for cognitive assessments for genetic models of the Alzheimer&#39;s disease using the IntelliCage system, which is a high throughput automated behavioral monitoring system with operant conditioning.

Multiple factors&#8212;such as aging and genes&#8212;are frequently associated with cognitive decline. Genetically modified mouse models of cognitive ...

Three Laboratory Procedures for Assessing Different Manifestations of Impulsivity in Rats

The present article provides a guide for the conduction and analysis of three conditioning-based protocols to evaluate impulsivity in rats. Impulsivity is a meaningful concept because it is associated with psychiatric conditions in humans and with maladaptive behavior in non-human animals. It is believed that impulsivity is composed of separate factors. There are laboratory protocols devised to assess each of these factors using standardized automated equipment. Delay discounting is associated with the incapacity to be motivated by delayed outcomes. This factor is evaluated through intertemporal choice protocols, which consist&#160;of presenting the individual with a choice situation involving an immediate reward and a larger but delayed reward. Response inhibition deficit is associated with the incapacity to withhold prepotent responses. Differential reinforcement of low rates (DLR) and feature-negative discrimination protocols assess the response inhibition deficit factor of impulsivity. The former imposes a condition to a motivated individual in which most wait a minimum period of time for a response to be rewarded. The latter evaluates the capacity of individuals to refrain from food seeking responses when a signal of the absence of food is presented. The purpose of these protocols is to construct an objective quantitative measure of impulsivity, which serves to make cross-species comparisons, allowing the possibility of translational research. The advantages of these particular protocols include their easy set-up and application, which stems from the relatively small amount of equipment needed and the automated nature of these protocols.

We present three protocols that assess different forms of impulsivity in rats and other small mammals. Intertemporal choice procedures evaluate the tendency to discount the value of delayed outcomes. Differential reinforcement of low rates and feature-negative discrimination evaluate response inhibition capacity with and without punishment for inappropriate responses, respectively.

The present article provides a guide for the conduction and analysis of three conditioning-based protocols to evaluate impulsivity in rats. Impulsivity is ...

Operant Protocols for Assessing the Cost-benefit Analysis During Reinforced Decision Making by Rodents

Reinforcement-guided decision making is the ability to choose between competing courses of action based on the relative value of the benefits and their consequences. This process is integral to the normal human behavior and has been shown to be disrupted by neurological and psychiatric disorders such as addiction, schizophrenia, and depression. Rodents have long been used to uncover the neurobiology of human cognition. To this end, several behavioral tasks have been developed; however, most are non-automated and are labor-intensive. The recent development of the open-source microcontroller has enabled researchers to automate operant-based tasks for assessing a variety of cognitive tasks, standardizing the stimulus presentation, improving the data recording and consequently, improving the research output. Here, we describe an automated delay-based reinforcement-guided decision-making task, using an operant T-maze controlled by custom-written software programs. Using these decision-making tasks, we show the changes in the local field potential activities in the anterior cingulate cortex of a rat whilst it performs a delay-based cost-and-benefit decision-making task.

A cost-benefit analysis is a weighing-scale approach that the brain performs during the course of decision making. Here, we propose a protocol to train rats on an operant-based decision-making paradigm where rats choose higher rewards at the expense of waiting for 15 s to receive them.

Reinforcement-guided decision making is the ability to choose between competing courses of action based on the relative value of the benefits and their ...

A Flexible Platform for Monitoring Cerebellum-Dependent Sensory Associative Learning

Climbing fiber inputs to Purkinje cells provide instructive signals critical for cerebellum-dependent associative learning. Studying these signals in head-fixed mice facilitates the use of imaging, electrophysiological, and optogenetic methods. Here, a low-cost behavioral platform (~$1000) was developed that allows tracking of associative learning in head-fixed mice that locomote freely on a running wheel. The platform incorporates two common associative learning paradigms: eyeblink conditioning and delayed tactile startle conditioning. Behavior is tracked using a camera and the wheel movement by a detector. We describe the components and setup and provide a detailed protocol for training and data analysis. This platform allows the incorporation of optogenetic stimulation and fluorescence imaging. The design allows a single host computer to control multiple platforms for training multiple animals simultaneously.

We have developed a single platform to track animal behavior during two climbing fiber-dependent associative learning tasks. The low-cost design allows integration with optogenetic or imaging experiments directed towards climbing fiber-associated cerebellar activity.

Climbing fiber inputs to Purkinje cells provide instructive signals critical for cerebellum-dependent associative learning. Studying these signals in ...