Abstract
We describe a low-cost system designed to document bodily movement and neural activity and deliver rewards to monkeys behaving freely in their home cage. An important application is to studying brain-machine interface (BMI) systems during free behavior, since brain signals associated with natural movement can differ significantly from those associated with more commonly used constrained conditions. Our approach allows for short-latency (<500 ms) reward delivery and behavior monitoring using low-cost off-the-shelf components. This system interfaces existing untethered recording equipment with a custom hub that controls a cage-mounted feeder. The behavior monitoring system uses a depth camera to provide real-time, easy-to-analyze, gross movement data streams. In a proof-of-concept experiment we demonstrate robust learning of neural activity using the system over 14 behavioral sessions.
Highlights
Neuroscience research has often used non-human primates as the best animal model for behavioral and cognitive studies due to their similarities to humans (Anderson, 2008)
Relationships between neural activity and behavior can be studied in controlled environments to elucidate, for example, how motor cortex neuron firing is related to muscle activity (Fetz and Finocchio, 1975) or how populations of neurons relate to complex reach and grasp movements (Vargas-Irwin et al, 2010)
We present a novel system for studying operant conditioning paradigms and brain-machine interface (BMI) systems in an untethered environment
Summary
Neuroscience research has often used non-human primates as the best animal model for behavioral and cognitive studies due to their similarities to humans (Anderson, 2008). Relationships between neural activity and behavior can be studied in controlled environments to elucidate, for example, how motor cortex neuron firing is related to muscle activity (Fetz and Finocchio, 1975) or how populations of neurons relate to complex reach and grasp movements (Vargas-Irwin et al, 2010) In these experiments the monkey typically sits in a specially designed chair or box used for restraint and transport. For studying behavior during neural recordings, experiments use mechanical systems such as joysticks (Ifft et al, 2012) or torque-tracking devices (Moritz and Fetz, 2011), implanted muscle activity recordings (Fetz and Finocchio, 1975; Griffin et al, 2008), or video monitoring systems (Chen et al, 2009; Vargas-Irwin et al, 2010) These systems offer the benefit of being heavily constrained, enabling precise documentation of controlled movements and tasks. These systems limit the animal’s natural movement, restricting the types of movements that can be studied and the real-world relevance of the results
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