Two-photon calcium imaging is now widely used to infer neuronal dynamics from changes in fluorescence of an indicator. However, state of the art computational tools are not optimized for the reliable detection of fluorescence transients from highly synchronous neurons located in densely packed regions such as the CA1 pyramidal layer of the hippocampus during early postnatal stages of development.
Syringe pumps are a necessary piece of laboratory equipment that are used for fluid delivery in behavioral neuroscience laboratories. Many experiments provide rodents and primates with fluid rewards such as juice, water, or liquid sucrose.
Operant conditioning (OC) is a classical paradigm and a standard technique used in experimental psychology in which animals learn to perform an action to achieve a reward. By using this paradigm, it is possible to extract learning curves and measure accurately reaction times (RTs).
Mice emit ultrasonic vocalizations (USV) to transmit socially-relevant information. To detect and classify these USVs, here we describe the development of VocalMat. VocalMat is a software that uses image-processing and differential geometry approaches to detect USVs in audio files, eliminating the need for user-defined parameter tuning.
The motivation to start this project arises when we started to include a new behavioral paradigm in the lab, an alternation T-mace with return arms (like the one in Wood e_t al.
This project was developed by Katherine Scott to be presented at the PyCon 2014. She developed a skinner box for her pet rats using a raspberry pi and some 3D printed parts.