Behavior Automation

项目摘要：核心3，行为自动化 工作记忆，在脑海中暂时记住多条信息的能力 操控，几乎是所有认知能力的核心。这个多组分的研究项目 旨在全面剖析这种能力的神经回路机制跨越多个 大脑区域。项目的各个部分在概念上是一致的，部分原因是它们都 涉及经过训练的啮齿动物，以执行一种基于渐进的决策任务 感官证据的积累，因此依赖于工作记忆。为了生产足够的 这些实验的对象，这个核心将扩大现有的高通量大鼠训练 由技术人员运营的设施，并对其进行改造，以适应老鼠。这一扩建将使该项目的 训练啮齿动物的能力。为此，我们将利用该项目的专业知识 在开发和管理这种针对复杂认知任务的培训设施方面处于领先地位 现有的虚拟现实基础设施、软件和硬件。一旦这个设施投入使用， 核心将根据需要对其进行管理和故障排除。它将开发新的硬件 和用于培训钻机的软件组件，以使技术人员的干预具有可重复性和 尽可能没有错误。因为鼠标虚拟的最关键和最耗时的方面 训练是确保头部固定的动物与球和投影物正确对准 系统，核心将开发一个基于图像配准和 执行机构取代了目前的手动对准。它将开发软件工具和 标准化的技术人员程序，以确保啮齿动物培训的一致性，防止培训 错误、检测硬件故障和监控动物的健康状况。这个集中式设施 将通过减少实验室间动物训练的可变性来促进严密性和重复性， 提高数据采集率，解放人员专注于设计和实施 创造性的实验。从长远来看，整个神经科学界将从中受益 努力，因为将制作软件和硬件工具以及管理协议 免费提供，以及他们的文档。这些工具将使其他研究人员能够 在他们自己的实验室里为受控良好的认知任务引入自动化培训， 提高整个领域行为研究的效率、严谨性和重复性 神经科学的研究。

Project Summary: Core 3, Behavior Automation Working memory, the ability to temporarily hold multiple pieces of information in mind for manipulation, is central to virtually all cognitive abilities. This multi-component research project aims to comprehensively dissect the neural circuit mechanisms of this ability across multiple brain areas. The individual parts of the project cohere conceptually, in part, because they all involve rodents trained to perform a type of decision-making task that is based on the gradual accumulation of sensory evidence and thus relies on working memory. To produce enough subjects for these experiments, this Core will scale up an existing high-throughput rat training facility run by technicians and adapt it for mice. This expansion will quintuple the project’s capacity for rodent training. To do so, we will take advantage of the expertise of the project leader in developing and managing such a training facility for sophisticated cognitive tasks in an existing virtual reality infrastructure, software, and hardware. Once this facility is operational, the Core will manage it and troubleshoot problems as needed. It will develop new hardware and software components for training rigs to make technician interventions as reproducible and error-free as possible. Because the most crucial and time-consuming aspect of mouse virtual training is ensuring that the head-fixed animal is properly aligned to the ball and the projection system, the Core will develop an automated alignment system based on image registration and actuators to replace the current manual alignment. It will develop software tools and standardized technician procedures to ensure consistency in rodent training, prevent training errors, detect hardware failures, and monitor the health of the animals. This centralized facility will promote rigor and reproducibility by reducing variability in animal training across labs, increase the rate of data acquisition, and free personnel to focus on designing and carrying out creative experiments. In the long run, the entire neuroscience community will benefit from this effort, as the software and hardware tools and management protocols produced will be made freely available, along with their documentation. These tools will enable other researchers to introduce automated training for well-controlled cognitive tasks in their own laboratories, leading to improved efficiency, rigor, and reproducibility in behavioral research across the field of neuroscience.