Behavior Automation

项目概要：核心3，行为自动化 工作记忆，即在头脑中暂时保存多条信息的能力， 操纵，是几乎所有认知能力的核心。这个多成分的研究项目 旨在全面剖析这种能力的神经回路机制， 大脑区域项目的各个部分在概念上是一致的，部分原因是它们都是 涉及啮齿动物训练，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。生产足够 这些实验的主题，这个核心将扩大现有的高通量大鼠训练 由技术人员运行的设施，并将其用于小鼠。这次扩建将使该项目的 啮齿动物训练能力。为此，我们将利用该项目的专业知识 在开发和管理这样的复杂认知任务的训练设施， 现有的虚拟现实基础设施、软件和硬件。一旦这个设施开始运作， 核心将管理它并根据需要排除故障。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， 尽可能的无差错。因为鼠标虚拟化最关键和最耗时的方面 训练是确保头部固定的动物正确地对准球和突出物， 系统，核心将开发一个基于图像配准的自动对准系统， 驱动器，以取代目前的手动对齐。它将开发软件工具， 标准化的技术员程序，以确保啮齿动物培训的一致性， 错误，检测硬件故障，并监控动物的健康状况。这个集中的设施 将通过减少实验室间动物训练的变异性来提高严谨性和可重复性， 提高数据采集率，腾出人员专注于设计和实施 创造性的实验从长远来看，整个神经科学界都将从中受益 努力，因为软件和硬件工具和管理协议将产生 免费提供，沿着其文档。这些工具将使其他研究人员能够 在自己的实验室中引入针对受控认知任务的自动化培训， 从而提高整个领域行为研究的效率、严谨性和可重复性 神经科学

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.