DETAILS

For more information about the ever expanding amount of published research using our Touch Screen Systems, visit the DOWNLOADS and SCIENCE sections! For more news about the system, check out our news page!

Look to Lafayette Instrument Company for a "Science above Hardware" approach not found from any other supplier. The fully validated chambers described below are supported by ready to run ABET II Touch Paradigms including images, and a Whisker ® Server-based Controller for up to four test chambers. Plus, we provide the ability for the user to write their own scheduling, with web-based training. ABET II Touch software gives you ease of use, programming power, data analysis, versatility, and flexibility.

Not just a touch screen, everything about the Bussey-Saksida chamber is different
Not just another square sheet metal box, the Bussey-Saksida chamber has a unique trapezoidal wall shape to focus the animal's attention and is made from machined parts that simply slot together. The chamber can also be configured to a modular square chamber with panels, levers, lights, and a range of other operator
This equipment can run both autoshaping and a variety of operant tasks in the same chamber, with chamber configuration from autoshaping to one of the other proven paradigms in seconds Not just a touch screen, this is the ultimate modular chamber for high throughput. For example, do Visual Discrimination and Reversal in the morning and Five Choice Serial Reaction Time Task in the afternoon
To enable such a high throughput, the chamber can be taken apart and reassembled in seconds for easy cleaning

Get up and running quickly, with the Easy-Install Kit and buy proven tasks pre-programmed in ABET II Touch or get programming yourself quickly and easily with web-enabled online help from Campden Instruments and Lafayette Instrument Company
Translational research: test rodents on tasks virtually identical to tasks used to test human populations
The Bussey-Saksida Chambers and WhiskerServer ® originate from the department of Prof. Trevor Robbins, Experimental Psychology, University of Cambridge, England

TOUCH SCREEN PARADIGMS

Visit DOWNLOADS for videos of these tasks.

Visual Discrimination and Reversal (VDR)
Paired Associate Learning (PAL)
Location Discrimination (LD)
Visuospatial Conditional Learning (VCL)
5-choice Serial Reaction Time Task (5-CSRT)
Trial-Unique Nonmatching-to-Location (TUNL) [rat only at this time]
Autoshaping
Extinction

VISUAL DISCRIMINATION AND REVERSAL TASK (VDR)
Age-related impairments in the R6/2 Huntington's disease mouse model

Morton, Skillings, Bussey & Saksida (2006) Nature Methods

PAIRED ASSOCIATE LEARNING TASK (PAL)
Intra-hippocampal infusions of MK-801 impair performance of the PAL task

But perhaps the most promising data from this task comes from our studies using donepezil, an acetylcholinesterase inhibitor that is a commonly prescribed drug for AD in the UK. Donepezil enhanced performance on PAL in a dose-dependent manner. This result shows that PAL is able to detect cognitive enhancements, as well as impairments.

LOCATION DISCRIMINATION TASK (LD)

McTighe, Mar, Romberg, Bussey & Saksida (2009) NeuroReport

Neurogenesis knock-down impairs pattern separation in the Location Discrimination Task

Clelland, Choi, Romberg, Clemenson, Fragniere, Tyers, Jessberger, Saksida, Barker, Gage & Bussey (2009) Science

Dorsal hippocampal lesions impair pattern separation in the Location Discrimination Task

McTighe, Mar, Romberg, Bussey & Saksida (2009) NeuroReport

AUTOSHAPING

Data from C57/Bl6 mice on the Autoshaping task. A stimulus (white rectangle) is shown on either the left or right of the screen for (usually) 10 seconds. Over trials the animal learns that the CS+ predicts reward and makes increasingly more responses to the CS+, and fewer responses to the CS-.

INCLUDES

Touch Screen
Chamber Base with non-shock perforated floors
Trapezodal Walls
Feeder Reward Area
Liquid Pump Feeder
Speaker
House Light
White Noise / Tone Generator
SAC

FEATURES

Add to the chamber, many options for different shaped walls and configurations, different floors, pellet or liquid reward, ambulatory I/R beams, I/R observation systems, and sound attenuation cubicles
ABET II Touch software resides on the WhiskerServer Controller. One Controller can control up to 4 chambers
Paradigms from Bussey’s lab [Cognitive Systems Neuroscience Laboratory, University of Cambridge, England] are available as pre-programmed ABET II Touch schedules
Touch screen units are modified and optimized for use with rodents; all technology is research-validated and scientifically proven in Bussey's Lab
Easy-Installation Kit keeps the wiring neat and tidy to get you up and running quickly and impress your regulatory inspector
Beginner packages includes the starter chamber, trapezoidal walls, perforated floor, reward trough, touch screen and sound attenuating cubicle with slide out tray

Chamber shown with modular panel walls (Model 80614-3)
and corresponding reward trough (Model 80614-17).

SPECIFICATIONS

ANIMAL WORKING AREA

46mm Wide at Feeder, 238mm Wide at Screen x 170mm Deep (241.4 Sq. cm or 37.5 Sq. in)
Working Area is 230mm in Height

SOUND ATTENUATION CUBICLE (SAC)

Attenuation: Approx. 35dB
Weight: 33 kg (empty)
External Dimensions: 565mm Wide x 545mm Tall x 532mm Deep
Internal Dimensions: 505mm Wide x 485mm Tall x 532mm Deep

SCIENCE

LECTURE POSTER

Lecture Poster put together for Prof. Tim Bussey and the Distinguished Lecture Series located at Seoul National University on September 21, 2011.

PROFILE OF PROF. TIM BUSSEY

Prof. Tim Bussey's profile at the University of Cambridge.

TOUCHSCREENS AT WESTERN UNIVERSITY

Details on the usage of Bussey-Saksida Touchscreen Chambers at Western University.

TOUCHSCREEN TESTING AT UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE

Improving cognitive testing on animals to treat human disorders: Technology developed at the University of Cambridge is transforming the way cognitive tests are performed on animals, leading to more directed experiments and ultimately aiding development of new drugs to treat schizophrenia and other neurocognitive disorders.

START RUNNING AND WATCH YOUR BRAIN GROW, SAY SCIENTISTS

Guardian article on recent research indicating why regular exercise benefits brain cell growth.

PHYSICAL EXERCISE HELPS BRAINS GROWN, MOUSE STUDY FINDS

BBC Article on recent research indicating why regular exercise benefits memory.

RUNNING COULD HELP JOG MEMORY AND HELP BRAIN GROW, SAYS CAMBRIDGE STUDY

BBC Article on recent research indicating why regular exercise benefits brain power. Based on a Cambridge University study.

PAIRWISE DISCRIMINATION FOLLOWED BY REVERSAL IN C57BL6/J USING MOUSE TOUCH SCREEN OPERANT BOXES

Abstract and graph presented at British Association for Psychopharmacology (BAP) 2010.

CUSTOM SYSTEM INTEGRATIONS AVAILABLE ON REQUEST

Featured application plans to use touch screens with microdialysis for sampling in the extracellular space. As shown in the image our design enables the lines to the animals to be as short as possible (the entry point to the chamber are at the side at the connection panel with the cooling fan) and the carousel can be rolled in and out on a shelf.