A Behavioral Paradigm to Study Rats Dual‐Task Performance under Head‐Direction and Body‐Location Tracking

Abstract

SUMMARYDual‐task paradigm is a behavioral procedure in which subjects are required to perform two independent tasks in parallel, each of which involves a distinct stimulus–response association that leads to a unique goal. Although dual tasks are widely used in human studies, they are seldom used in animals. One such rare case was a rat simultaneous temporal processing (STP) task, in which rats were asked to time two different intervals simultaneously . However, there are a few limitations in this paradigm, such that, for example, each of two component tasks was not clearly associated with a unique stimulus–response association. In this report, in order to better characterize temporal dual‐task performance in rats, we developed a modified version of the STP task that comprised two clearly divided component tasks, and equipped our experimental system with a novel video‐based motion tracking system. We show that even under this more rigidly controlled dual‐task setting, rats are able to time two different intervals virtually without interference, and that our tracking system can simultaneously detect head‐direction and body‐location of a rat with high accuracy. These results suggest that the present experimental paradigm should be useful for investigating cognitive processes that underlie dual‐task performance at both the behavioral and neuronal levels.