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j.neuroscience.2014.12.025
REVIEW
USING RATS FOR VISION RESEARCH
P. REINAGEL *
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INTRODUCTION
The development of the visually behaving macaque
model revolutionized visual neuroscience, allowing
neurophysiology to be directly linked with behavior on a
trial-by-trial basis. Immense progress has been made in
this preparation, and we expect it will remain the best or
only preparation for many visual studies. Several
*Address: Section of Neurobiology, Division of Biology, University of
California, San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive #0357, La Jolla, CA 92093,
United States.
E-mail address: preinagel@ucsd.edu
Abbreviation: 2AFC, two-alternative forced choice.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroscience.2014.12.025
0306-4522/ 2014 IBRO. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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Fig. 1. Small animals tested for visual behavior. (A) Long-Evans hooded rat in pilot test, performing 2AFC orientation discrimination. (B)
Performance of one of the rats as a function of spatial frequency (8437 trials over 18 days). (C) California Ground Squirrel in pilot test, performing
2AFC orientation discrimination. (D) Performance of one of the squirrels as a function of spatial frequency (797 trials over 2 days). Mice and
Octodon degus were also tested, but performed poorly under the pilot test conditions.
Please cite this article in press as: Reinagel P. Using rats for vision research. Neuroscience (2015), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/
j.neuroscience.2014.12.025
Fig. 2. Rats tested in a anker detection task. (A) Rat performing the
task, which was to report the presence or absence of a central grating
patch while ignoring the anking patches. (B) Average performance
(% correct) of rats as a function of anker conguration. When
ankers were collinear (red), detection was selectively impaired
(N = 7 rats). (C) Dierence in performance between the collinear
condition and a conguration with non-collinear ankers at the same
locations. For six individual rats (blue), performance was signicantly
lower when ankers were collinear. For one rat the dierence was not
signicant (gray). (Image and gures reproduced from Meier et al.,
2011).
Please cite this article in press as: Reinagel P. Using rats for vision research. Neuroscience (2015), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/
j.neuroscience.2014.12.025
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Please cite this article in press as: Reinagel P. Using rats for vision research. Neuroscience (2015), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/
j.neuroscience.2014.12.025