title: Y-maze avoidance: an automated and rapid associative learning paradigm in zebrafish.
abstract: Adult zebrafish are gaining attention in behavioral neuroscience. By combining video tracking and computer-controlled visual cue presentations on a liquid crystal display screen under the tank, we have developed a new method by which zebrafish can be trained to avoid one arm of a Y-shaped tank by presenting a specific color on the floor paired with an electric shock. Within two hours, zebrafish learn to choose the correct arm at an efficiency of 89.0%. In addition, we also developed a graphical user interface to modify the paradigm assessment parameters such as shape of the tank and time schedules.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory for Developmental Gene Regulation, Neural Growth and Regeneration Research Group, RIKEN Brain Science Institute, 2-1 Hirosawa, Wako, Saitama 351-0198, Japan; Department of Life Science, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, The University of Tokyo, 3-8-1 Komaba, Meguro, Tokyo 153-8902, Japan.
authors.forename: Ryo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Aoki
authors.affiliation: Department of Life Science, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, The University of Tokyo, 3-8-1 Komaba, Meguro, Tokyo 153-8902, Japan.
authors.forename: Takashi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Tsuboi
authors.affiliation: Laboratory for Developmental Gene Regulation, Neural Growth and Regeneration Research Group, RIKEN Brain Science Institute, 2-1 Hirosawa, Wako, Saitama 351-0198, Japan. Electronic address: hitoshi@brain.riken.jp.
authors.forename: Hitoshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Okamoto
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001245:Association Learning; D001362:Avoidance Learning; D018782:Maze Learning; D023421:Models, Animal; D015027:Zebrafish
keywords: Adult zebrafish; Automated position detection; Aversive learning paradigm; MATLAB