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| Abstract Title:
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| Rats learn visual discriminations in the presence of distractors
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| Graduate Student Presenter:
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Philip Meier
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| Name of the Author(s) and Affiliation(s):
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Philip Meier; UC San Diego; Erik Flister, UC San Diego; Pamela Reinagel, UC San Diego
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Rats rapidly learn and reliably perform two-alternative-forced choice visual discriminations. Performance is typically above chance after 2-4 days and remains over 85% after 2-8 days. We present data from a rat trained to discriminate the orientation of a grating, as well as the complete shaping history for a rat trained to discriminate the position of a target in the presence of distractors.
We calculate Bayesian estimates of knowledge, bias(5) and psychometric functions(2). Our acuity estimates are close to previous measurements (1.0 cycles/degree)(4). Large trial volume and optimal inference techniques enabled us to use the method of constant stimuli rather than resort to adaptive procedures. We quantify how distractor position and target orientation differentially affect task performance.
Naive male Long-Evans rats (P35) are trained in an automated operant chamber using 3 beam-break lick ports mounted in a cockpit or on a transparent wall adjacent to a CRT monitor. A PC running the Psychophysics Toolbox(1,3) and custom Matlab code detects licks, presents visual stimuli, provides auditory feedback, and controls water rewards. Rats earn water exclusively by performing trials. Task complexity is increased automatically as subjects achieve performance criteria.
The first and second author contributed equally. This work was supported by by Vision and Learning in Humans and Machines, NSF IGERT at UCSD (PM) and the James S. McDonnell Foundation (EF).
1. Brainard, 1997
2. Kuss, Jäkel & Wichmann, 2005
3. Pelli, 1997
4. Prusky, West & Douglas, 2000
5. Smith, Wirth, Suzuki, Brown, 2007
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