چکیده:
Introduction: Decision-making in animal models is important in behavioral neuroscience. Animal versions of the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) are useful for studying choice under uncertainty and the conflict between immediate reward and long-term outcome. Accurate implementation of such paradigms requires controlled behavioral systems. However, commercial systems are often expensive and depend on specialized parts. In addition, they usually offer limited repairability and flexibility. Therefore, this technical/methodological study aimed to design, construct, and functionally validate a low-cost, repairable, and locally constructible five-choice operant platform for the rat gambling task (rGT) as a representative decision-making paradigm, with potential adaptability to other five-choice-based behavioral tasks and compatibility with simultaneous electrophysiological recording.
Methods: Based on a five-choice design, a custom operant chamber was developed. The system included LED- and infrared-equipped nose-poke holes, a reward magazine, an automatic pellet dispenser, a control unit, and a user-friendly MATLAB-based control interface. A rotary tether system was also designed for simultaneous LFP recording in freely moving animals. Behavioral events were synchronized with electrophysiological data by sending event markers from the microcontroller to the recording system. System performance was evaluated in male Wistar rats during a 60-minute rGT session by examining task execution, reward delivery, behavioral response recording, and synchronization of behavioral events with electrophysiological signals.
Results: The designed system allowed stable and accurate execution of the rGT, automatic recording of behavioral responses, controlled reward delivery, and temporal synchronization of behavioral data with electrophysiological signals. Behaviorally, animals showed a gradual increase in the percentage of advantageous choices during the session, suggesting within-session improvement in task performance. At the same time, clear inter-individual differences in performance were observed, with some animals reaching high levels of advantageous choice whereas others remained near chance level or showed low levels of advantageous choice by the end of the session. In addition, representative recordings showed that behavioral event markers could be precisely aligned with LFP signals.
Conclusion: The present system can be used as a practical, low-cost, repairable, and expandable alternative to commercial systems for performing the rat gambling task. In addition, its modular and flexible design allows adaptation for other five-choice-based behavioral paradigms and for combined behavioral and electrophysiological studies.
Methods: Based on a five-choice design, a custom operant chamber was developed. The system included LED- and infrared-equipped nose-poke holes, a reward magazine, an automatic pellet dispenser, a control unit, and a user-friendly MATLAB-based control interface. A rotary tether system was also designed for simultaneous LFP recording in freely moving animals. Behavioral events were synchronized with electrophysiological data by sending event markers from the microcontroller to the recording system. System performance was evaluated in male Wistar rats during a 60-minute rGT session by examining task execution, reward delivery, behavioral response recording, and synchronization of behavioral events with electrophysiological signals.
Results: The designed system allowed stable and accurate execution of the rGT, automatic recording of behavioral responses, controlled reward delivery, and temporal synchronization of behavioral data with electrophysiological signals. Behaviorally, animals showed a gradual increase in the percentage of advantageous choices during the session, suggesting within-session improvement in task performance. At the same time, clear inter-individual differences in performance were observed, with some animals reaching high levels of advantageous choice whereas others remained near chance level or showed low levels of advantageous choice by the end of the session. In addition, representative recordings showed that behavioral event markers could be precisely aligned with LFP signals.
Conclusion: The present system can be used as a practical, low-cost, repairable, and expandable alternative to commercial systems for performing the rat gambling task. In addition, its modular and flexible design allows adaptation for other five-choice-based behavioral paradigms and for combined behavioral and electrophysiological studies.
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