The touchscreen operant platform for testing working memory and pattern separation in rats and mice.
Open accessAbstract
The automated touchscreen operant chamber for rats and mice allows for the assessment of multiple cognitive domains within the same testing environment. This protocol presents the location discrimination (LD) task and the trial-unique delayed nonmatching-to-location (TUNL) task, which both assess memory for location. During these tasks, animals are trained to a predefined criterion during ∼20-40 daily sessions. In LD sessions, touching the same location on the screen is rewarded on consecutive trials, followed by a reversal of location-reward contingencies. TUNL, a working memory task, requires animals to 'nonmatch' to a sample location after a delay. In both the LD and TUNL tasks, spatial similarity can be varied, allowing assessment of pattern separation ability, a function that is thought to be performed by the dentate gyrus (DG). These tasks are therefore particularly useful in animal models of hippocampal, and specifically DG, function, but they additionally permit discernment of changes in pattern separation from those in working memory.
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The hippocampus, and particularly the dentate gyrus, is crucial in selecting and separating similar events in space and time.
“Also, the hippocampus, and particularly the DG, is crucial in selecting and separating similar events in space and time, and hence pattern separation is a main function attributed to the hippocampus (Yassa and Stark, 2011; Oomen et al., 2013, 2014).”
From Aerobic Exercise as a Tool to Improve Hippocampal Plasticity and Function in Humans: Practical Implications for Mental Health Treatment (2016) · cites this paper as Oomen et al., 2013
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References 78 · Cited by 193
- Authors
- Oomen, C. A., Hvoslef-Eide, M., Heath, C. J., Mar, A. C., Horner, A. E., Bussey, T. J., & Saksida, L. M.
- Affiliations
- University of Cambridge (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Oomen, Charlotte A
- Venue
- Nature Protocols
- Published
- 2013-09-19
- Volume
- 8
- Issue
- 10
- Pages
- 2006-2021
- ISSN
- 1750-2799 (ISSN-L)
- 1754-2189
- PMC
- PMC3982138
- OpenAlex
- W2022759245
- Cited by
- 193
- References
- 78
- Citations by year
- 2026: 13 · 2025: 11 · 2024: 15 · 2023: 10 · 2022: 11 · 2021: 17 · 2020: 17 · 2019: 13 · 2018: 18 · 2017: 21 · 2016: 17 · 2015: 20 · 2014: 7 · 2013: 3
- FWCI
- 8.56
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Nature Protocols (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Scholarship@Western (Western University) (submittedVersion)
- Open Research Online - ORO (The Open University) (submittedVersion)
- Radboud Repository (Radboud University) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Wellcome Trust (089703/Z/09/Z, 089703)
- Medical Research Council (MC_G1000734)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory and Neural Mechanisms
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Developmental Neuroscience › Neurogenesis and neuroplasticity mechanisms
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Cognitive Abilities and Testing
- Keywords
- working memory, pattern separation, spatial discrimination, dentate gyrus, hippocampus, spatial memory, reversal learning, rats, mice, animal models of memory
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Laboratory Animal Science, Memory, Pattern Recognition, Visual, Software, User-Computer Interface, Mice, Rats
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