Open AccessA behavioral box for tactile tasks discrimination
Author(s) -
Jose Wanderson Silva,
Luiz Marcos Garcia Gonçalves
Publication year - 2020
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Conference proceedings
DOI - 10.5753/wtdr_ctdr.2020.14952
Subject(s) - task (project management) , computer science , software , sensory system , arduino , artificial intelligence , human–computer interaction , simulation , embedded system , engineering , psychology , neuroscience , operating system , systems engineering
Among the studies done with rodents, the behavioral ones stand out. To perform these studies, the behavioral boxes are commonly used. These are devices in which the rodents perform some task to receive a reward. These animals are considered excellent subjects for studying the tactile sensory system, since they use their whiskers to locate and discriminate objects. In this work the goal is studying the sensory system of rodents in tasks in which the animals must discriminate the width of an aperture, using only their whiskers to receive a reward. We aim to develop an automated open-hardware behavioral box to perform task of tactile discrimination in rodents. For such, we designed the box using a three-dimensional modeling software and its control is implemented with Arduino, which was tested in a computer model trhough physical simulation. All used components are low cost and can be found or developed in Brazil. The present study provides an important tool for the study of the tactile sensory system, that makes possible other laboratories to build their own behavior box for tactile studies.