The Barnes Maze consists of a circular table that has holes around the circumference. This is then put in a room that has visual cues around the outside. Most of the holes lead to an open drop down to the floor, however, one of the drops leads to an escape box.
Category: Blog
What is a T Maze Test?
Research on animal rodent models, particularly mice and rats, is a common practice that underpins behavioral science studies. To accomplish this, behavioral scientists rely on different types of controlled environments to accurately observe the functioning of the animal study subjects in response to specific experimental variables.
How Does a Radial Arm Maze Test Memory?
The radial arm maze is a piece of equipment that has a circular center element which eight equally spaced arms extend from. These arms are elongated columns of equal distance and the far end may house a reward (such as food) which is not visible from the center compartment.
Understanding the Acoustic Startle Response
The acoustic startle response refers to an unconditional reflex which is manifested as a rapid contraction of skeletal and facial muscles in response to an intense and sudden startling stimulus. The acoustic startle response is especially useful for translational research as it is consistent across a range of species. It also uses neural circuitry which is simple in nature and is sensitive to a range of manipulations in experiments.
Continue reading “Understanding the Acoustic Startle Response”
What is the Locomotor Activity Test?
Locomotor activity refers to the movement and motion that is required to get from one place to another. Locomotor activities are also inextricably linked to complex human activities including motivation and learning. Locomotor activity is important for approaching or avoiding a stimuli, target or a big-picture goal and locomotor activity tendencies of seeking or avoiding are a key part of the human experience1.
The Basics of Trace Eyeblink Conditioning
Trace eyeblink conditioning is a technique that is frequently employed to understand the neural mechanisms that underly motor learning. It is classical conditioning of learning and memory which works in both human and animal subjects. This technique consists of the paired presentation of tone conditioning stimulus which starts and finishes with an air puff test which will always elicit a response.
Continue reading “The Basics of Trace Eyeblink Conditioning”
What is an Aesthesiometer?
Aesthesiometers (also sometimes spelled as esthesiometers) are used to understand the tactile sensitivity of parts of the body such as the mouth, skin or eye. Measuring the level of sensitivity is known as aesthesiometry and there are various types of aesthesiometers that work for different functions. This blog post will explore some of the types of aesthesiometers and how they are used.