Title: Standard Operating Procedure – Trial-Unique Nonmatching-to-Location Task (TUNL)
Author: Howland Lab
Date: 10/19/2020
Version: 1
Abstract:The TUNL task is an automated, touchscreen-based measure of visuospatial working memory (WM) in rodents that is commonly used to assess the effects of pharmacological manipulation. Housed within a sound attenuating chamber, a masked touchscreen surface and opposing reward delivery system are used to quantify and motivate behaviour. In the case of the TUNL task, a custom mask exposes 14 square regions that will be illuminated by the digital screen as directed by TUNL specific ABETII software. The full task is divided into two distinct phases: a sample phase and a test phase. The sample phase is initiated by disruption of an infrared (IR) beam spanning the entrance of the reward collection tray which will subsequently cause the presentation of a light stimulus at one of the possible 14 locations. If the rodent nose pokes the illuminated square, a sucrose pellet will be dispensed, and collection will initiate the test phase. This phase begins with a delay period where no light stimuli is present, and the rodent must remember the spatial location of the previous stimulus by utilizing WM processes. Following this delay, the sample (familiar) square and a novel square will be illuminated simultaneously; further, the critical test of this task is if the rodent is able to differentiate and correctly select the novel stimulus. If an incorrect selection is made, a correction trial, which is an exact repeat of the attempted sample and test phases, will ensue until the trial is completed successfully. The location of stimulus presentation between trials is pseudorandom in order to minimize searching strategies that may enhance performance but are not as reliant on WM.
DOI: 10.58064/67rz-kh33
Link to Full SOP: ratTUNLv1
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