Over the last decade, touchscreen methods for rodents have become an efficient and powerful diagnostic tool. They are widely used for cognitive testing and therapeutic screening of rodent models for translational research. It permits behavioural, lesion, and pharmacological studies.
Our touchscreen system can be used as a stand-alone product or can be integrated with the IDsorter into our automation solutions based on RFID-technology. The IDsorter allows the testing of tens of individuals at high-throughput rates with 24/7 automation without experimenter intervention. This minimizes human-animal handling and reduces labour costs.
The Touchscreen Chamber presents stimuli on a monitor and an infra-red beam grid sensor registers nose-poke responses from the animal. Rewards can be liquids or food pellets. We offer a number of tests to study reward, learning, attention, impulsivity, extinction and other paradigms. Touchscreen demo video
TouchscreenChamber for Rats
Automated system for group housed rats
TouchscreenChamber complete
TouchscreenChamber with opened lid
TouchscreenChamber with removed lid and sidewall.
The opening in the wall is used for the connection to a group housing cage by an IDsorter,
| Application | Task (see download Paradigms for more explanations) |
|---|---|
| ADHD | 5-Choice Serial Reaction Time Task (5-CSRTT) |
| Extinction (EXT) | |
| Alzheimer's Disease | 5-Choice Serial Reaction Time Task (5-CSRTT) |
| Paired associate learning (PAL) | |
| Pattern Discrimination (PD; formerly Location Discrimination) | |
| Trial-Unique-Nonmatching-to-Location (TUNL) | |
| Two-Choice “Morph” Visual Discrimination (MVD) | |
| Depression | 5-Choice Serial Reaction Time Task (5-CSRTT) |
| Pattern Discrimination (PD; formerly Location Discrimination) | |
| Trial-Unique-Nonmatching-to-Location (TUNL) | |
| Huntington's Disease | Instrumental conditioning |
| 5-Choice Serial Reaction Time Task (5-CSRTT) | |
| Two-Choice Visual Discrimination Learning and Reversal (2VDLR) | |
| Visuomotor Conditional Learning (VMCL) | |
| Lesions of the cortex | Transverse Patterning Task (TPT) |
| Lesions of the prefrontal cortex | Multidimensional Shifts (MULTI) |
| OCD | 5-Choice Serial Reaction Time Task (5-CSRTT) |
| Extinction (EXT) | |
| Three-Choice Visual Discrimination Learning and Reversal (3VDLR) | |
| Parkinson's Disease | Two-Choice Visual Discrimination Learning and Reversal (2VDLR) |
| Visuomotor Conditional Learning (VMCL) | |
| Schizophrenia | 5-Choice Serial Reaction Time Task (5-CSRTT) |
| Extinction (EXT) | |
| Paired associate learning (PAL) | |
| Pattern Discrimination (PD; formerly Location Discrimination) | |
| Trial-Unique-Nonmatching-to-Location (TUNL) | |
| Two-Choice Visual Discrimination Learning and Reversal (2VDLR) | |
| Three-Choice Visual Discrimination Learning and Reversal (3VDLR) |
| Power | |
|---|---|
| Power input voltage | 100-240 V AC |
| Monitor | |
|---|---|
| Screen diagonal | 10.1 ’’ |
The Touchscreen Chamber consists of a screen with an infrared-frame, a mask and reward system on the opposite side to the screen.
A mask covers the screen through which the animal can make a nose-poke toward the screen.
The area in front of the chamber allows space for an IDsorter.
A lid ensures that the animal remains inside the chamber.
A Touchscreen without a mask.
Positive reward system. Nose poke sensor with liquid and/or pellet reward.
