Experiments aiming to understand sensory-motor systems, cognition and behavior necessitate
training animals to perform complex tasks. Traditional training protocols require
lab personnel to move the animals between home cages and training chambers, to start
and end training sessions, and in some cases, to hand-control each training trial.
Human labor not only limits the amount of training per day, but also introduces several
sources of variability and may increase animal stress. Here we present an automated
training system for the 5-choice serial reaction time task (5CSRTT), a classic rodent
task often used to test sensory detection, sustained attention and impulsivity. We
found that full automation without human intervention allowed rapid, cost-efficient
training, and decreased stress as measured by corticosterone levels. Training breaks
introduced only a transient drop in performance, and mice readily generalized across
training systems when transferred from automated to manual protocols. We further validated
our automated training system with wireless optogenetics and pharmacology experiments,
expanding the breadth of experimental needs our system may fulfill. Our automated
5CSRTT system can serve as a prototype for fully automated behavioral training, with
methods and principles transferrable to a range of rodent tasks.
