An open source device for operant licking in rats

PeerJ

article

Matthew Longley¹  Ethan L. Willis²  Cindy X. Tay³  Hao Chen⁴ 

[1] Undergraduate Program, University of Memphis;Maters’ Program, Department of Bioinformatics, University of Memphis;Undergraduate Program, Duke University;Department of Pharmacology, University of Tennessee Health Science Center

关键词: Operant behavior;    Behavior testing device;    Open source;    Single board computer;    Licking response;    Environment variables;   

DOI  :  10.7717/peerj.2981

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: Inra

【 摘 要 】

We created an easy-to-use device for operant licking experiments and another device that records environmental variables. Both devices use the Raspberry Pi computer to obtain data from multiple input devices (e.g., radio frequency identification tag readers, touch and motion sensors, environmental sensors) and activate output devices (e.g., LED lights, syringe pumps) as needed. Data gathered from these devices are stored locally on the computer but can be automatically transferred to a remote server via a wireless network. We tested the operant device by training rats to obtain either sucrose or water under the control of a fixed ratio, a variable ratio, or a progressive ratio reinforcement schedule. The lick data demonstrated that the device has sufficient precision and time resolution to record the fast licking behavior of rats. Data from the environment monitoring device also showed reliable measurements. By providing the source code and 3D design under an open source license, we believe these examples will stimulate innovation in behavioral studies. The source code can be found at http://github.com/chen42/openbehavior.

【 授权许可】

CC BY