An automated psychoacoustic testing apparatus for use in cats.
Animal behavioral studies make a significant contribution to hearing research and provide vital information which is not available from human subjects. Animal psychoacoustics is usually extremely time consuming and labor intensive; in addition, animals may become stressed, especially if restraints or negative reinforcers such as electric shocks are used. We present a novel behavioral experimental system that was developed to allow efficient animal training in response to acoustic stimuli. Cats were required to perform a relatively simple task of moving toward and away from the device depending on whether the members of a tone pair were different or the same in frequency (go/no-go task). The experimental setup proved to be effective, with all animals (N = 7) performing at above 90% correct on an easy task. Animals were trained within 2-4 weeks and then generated a total of 150-200 trials per day, distributed within approximately 8 self initiated sessions. Data collected using this system were stable over 1 week and repeatable over long test periods (14 weeks). Measured frequency discrimination thresholds from 3 animals at 3 different reference frequencies were comparable with previously published results. The main advantages of the system are: relatively simple setup; large amounts of data can be generated without the need of researcher supervision; multiple animals can be tested simultaneously without removal from home pens; and no electric shocks or restraints are required.
Bionics Institute, La Trobe University, Australia; Department of Electronic Engineering, La Trobe University, Australia.
Yuri B
YB
Benovitski
Bionics Institute, La Trobe University, Australia; Department of Medical Bionics, University of Melbourne, Australia.
Peter J
PJ
Blamey
Bionics Institute, La Trobe University, Australia; Department of Electronic Engineering, La Trobe University, Australia.
Graeme D
GD
Rathbone
Bionics Institute, La Trobe University, Australia; Department of Medical Bionics, University of Melbourne, Australia; Department of Otolaryngology, University of Melbourne, Australia. Electronic address: jfallon@bionicsinstitute.org.
James B
JB
Fallon
D000161:Acoustic Stimulation / Q000295:instrumentation*; D000821:Animal Feed; D000818:Animals; D001309:Auditory Threshold; D057205:Automation, Laboratory; D001522:Behavior, Animal; D002415:Cats; D003463:Cues; D004867:Equipment Design; D008144:Loudness Perception; D008422:Materials Testing; D023421:Models, Animal; D009043:Motor Activity; D010897:Pitch Discrimination; D011571:Psychoacoustics; D012054:Reinforcement, Psychology; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013997:Time Factors