ArticleLearning & behavior2017
Optimisation of cognitive performance in rodent operant (touchscreen) testing: Evaluation and effects of reinforcer strength.
Article in Learning & behavior, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 22 papers.
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Who cites it
22 citing papers in PubMed, 39 citations in OpenAlex.
- Citric acid water as an alternative to food restriction to motivate task performance in mice during touchscreen testing.Lab animal · 2026Article
- Integrating optical neuroscience tools into touchscreen operant systems.Nature protocols · 2025Review
- Training Schedule Affects Operant Responding Independent of Motivation in the Neuroligin-3 R451C Mouse Model of Autism.Genes, brain, and behavior · 2025Article
- Time-on-task-related decrements in performance in the rodent continuous performance test are not caused by physical disengagement from the task.NPP - digital psychiatry and neuroscience · 2025Article
- Cross-species translational paradigms for assessing positive valence system as defined by the RDoC matrix.Journal of neurochemistry · 2025Review
- Assessing cognitive flexibility in mice using a custom-built touchscreen chamber.Frontiers in behavioral neuroscience · 2025Article
- Conditioned overconsumption is dependent on reinforcer type in lean, but not obese, mice.Appetite · 2024Article
- Prefrontal engrams of long-term fear memory perpetuate pain perception.Nature neuroscience · 2023Article
- Article
- Use of an Automated Mouse Touchscreen Platform for Quantification of Cognitive Deficits After Central Nervous System Injury.Methods in molecular biology (Clifton, N.J.) · 2023Article
- Refinements to rodent head fixation and fluid/food control for neuroscience.Journal of neuroscience methods · 2022Review
- Motivational disturbances in rodent models of neuropsychiatric disorders.Frontiers in behavioral neuroscience · 2022Review
- Cognitive behavioral markers of neurodevelopmental trajectories in rodents.Translational psychiatry · 2021Article
- Using touchscreen-delivered cognitive assessments to address the principles of the 3Rs in behavioral sciences.Lab animal · 2021Review
- Coexistence of perseveration and apathy in the TDP-43Translational psychiatry · 2020Article
- Blockade of muscarinic acetylcholine receptors facilitates motivated behaviour and rescues a model of antipsychotic-induced amotivation.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2019Article
- Assessment of mGluR5 KO mice under conditions of low stress using a rodent touchscreen apparatus reveals impaired behavioural flexibility driven by perseverative responses.Molecular brain · 2019Article
- A Touchscreen Motivation Assessment Evaluated in Huntington's Disease Patients and R6/1 Model Mice.Frontiers in neurology · 2019Article
- Translational tests involving non-reward: methodological considerations.Psychopharmacology · 2019Review
- Validation and optimisation of a touchscreen progressive ratio test of motivation in male rats.Psychopharmacology · 2018Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 4 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Operant testing is a widely used and highly effective method of studying cognition in rodents. Performance on such tasks is sensitive to reinforcer strength. It is therefore advantageous to select effective reinforcers to minimize training times and maximize experimental throughput. To quantitatively investigate the control of behavior by different reinforcers, performance of mice was tested with either strawberry milkshake or a known powerful reinforcer, super saccharin (1.5% or 2% (w/v) saccharin/1.5% (w/v) glucose/water mixture). Mice were tested on fixed (FR)- and progressive-ratio (PR) schedules in the touchscreen-operant testing system. Under an FR schedule, both the rate of responding and number of trials completed were higher in animals responding for strawberry milkshake versus super saccharin. Under a PR schedule, mice were willing to emit similar numbers of responses for strawberry milkshake and super saccharin; however, analysis of the rate of responding revealed a significantly higher rate of responding by animals reinforced with milkshake versus super saccharin. To determine the impact of reinforcer strength on cognitive performance, strawberry milkshake and super saccharin-reinforced animals were compared on a touchscreen visual discrimination task. Animals reinforced by strawberry milkshake were significantly faster to acquire the discrimination than animals reinforced by super saccharin. Taken together, these results suggest that strawberry milkshake is superior to super saccharin for operant behavioral testing and further confirms that the application of response rate analysis to multiple ratio tasks is a highly sensitive method for the detection of behavioral differences relevant to learning and motivation.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.