Acoustic recordings data from an echoic environment and a toolkit for its analysis

Kazakov, Alex; Jankowski, Maciej M.; Nelken, Israel

doi:10.1016/j.dib.2018.10.148

Cited by 2 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 2 publications

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“…The acoustics of the arena were studied in detail (Kazakov et al, 2018). In short, the arena produces two major reflections, one from the floor and the other from the wall behind the animal.…”

Section: Auditory Stimulationmentioning

confidence: 99%

The RIFF: an automated environment for studying the neural basis of auditory-guided complex behavior

Jankowski

Polterovich

Kazakov

et al. 2021

Preprint

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Behavior consists of the interaction between an organism and its environment, and is controlled by the brain. However, while brain activity varies at fast, sub-seconds time scales, behavioral measures tend to be temporally coarse, often limited just to the success or failure in a trial. The large gap between the temporal resolutions at which brain and behavior are observed likely impedes our understanding of the neural mechanisms underlying behavior. To overcome this problem, we developed the RIFF: an interactive arena for rats that has multiple feeding areas, multiple sound sources, and high-resolution tracking of behavior, with concomitant wireless electrophysiological recordings. The RIFF can be flexibly programmed to create arbitrarily complex tasks that the rats have to solve. It records unrestrained rat behavior together with neuronal data from chronically implanted electrodes. We present here a detailed description of the RIFF. We illustrate its power with results from two exemplary tasks. Rats learned within two days a complex task that required timed movement, and developed anticipatory behavior. Rats found solution strategies that differed between animals but were stable within each animal. We report auditory responses in and around primary auditory cortex as well as in the posterior insular cortex, but show that often the same neurons were also sensitive to non-auditory parameters such as rat location and body orientation. These parameters are crucial for state assessment and the selection of future actions. Our findings show that the complex, unrestrained behavior of rats can be studied in a controlled environment, enabling novel insights into the cognitive capabilities and learning mechanisms of rats. This combination of electrophysiology and detailed behavioral observation opens the way to a better understanding of how the brain controls behavior.

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Section: Auditory Stimulationmentioning

confidence: 99%

The RIFF: an automated environment for studying the neural basis of auditory-guided complex behavior

Jankowski

Polterovich

Kazakov

et al. 2021

Preprint

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

An automated, low-latency environment for studying the neural basis of behavior in freely moving rats

et al. 2023

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Background Behavior consists of the interaction between an organism and its environment, and is controlled by the brain. Brain activity varies at sub-second time scales, but behavioral measures are usually coarse (often consisting of only binary trial outcomes). Results To overcome this mismatch, we developed the Rat Interactive Foraging Facility (RIFF): a programmable interactive arena for freely moving rats with multiple feeding areas, multiple sound sources, high-resolution behavioral tracking, and simultaneous electrophysiological recordings. The paper provides detailed information about the construction of the RIFF and the software used to control it. To illustrate the flexibility of the RIFF, we describe two complex tasks implemented in the RIFF, a foraging task and a sound localization task. Rats quickly learned to obtain rewards in both tasks. Neurons in the auditory cortex as well as neurons in the auditory field in the posterior insula had sound-driven activity during behavior. Remarkably, neurons in both structures also showed sensitivity to non-auditory parameters such as location in the arena and head-to-body angle. Conclusions The RIFF provides insights into the cognitive capabilities and learning mechanisms of rats and opens the way to a better understanding of how brains control behavior. The ability to do so depends crucially on the combination of wireless electrophysiology and detailed behavioral documentation available in the RIFF.

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Acoustic recordings data from an echoic environment and a toolkit for its analysis

Cited by 2 publications

References 2 publications

The RIFF: an automated environment for studying the neural basis of auditory-guided complex behavior

The RIFF: an automated environment for studying the neural basis of auditory-guided complex behavior

An automated, low-latency environment for studying the neural basis of behavior in freely moving rats

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