Touchscreen-based Visual Discrimination and Reversal Tasks for Mice to Test Cognitive Flexibility

Karly M Turner; Christopher G Simpson; Thomas H J Burne

doi:10.21769/BioProtoc.2583

Touchscreen-based Visual Discrimination and Reversal Tasks for Mice to Test Cognitive Flexibility

Bio Protoc. 2017 Oct 20;7(20):e2583. doi: 10.21769/BioProtoc.2583.

Authors

Karly M Turner¹, Christopher G Simpson¹, Thomas H J Burne^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Queensland Brain Institute, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, QLD, Australia.
² Queensland Centre for Mental Health Research, Park Centre for Mental Health, Richlands, QLD, Australia.

Abstract

Reversal learning can be used to examine deficits in cognitive flexibility, which have been linked to a number of neuropsychiatric disorders including schizophrenia and addiction. However, methods of examining reversal learning have varied substantially between species. Touchscreen technology has allowed researchers to explore cognitive deficits with a platform that is translatable across rodents, non-human primates and human subjects. Here we describe a method for measuring visual discrimination and reversal learning in mice using automated touchscreen-based operant chambers.

Keywords: Cognition; Mice; Reversal; Touchscreen; Visual discrimination.