The 5-Choice Serial Reaction Time Task: A Task of Attention and Impulse Control for Rodents

Summary

This protocol describes the 5-choice serial reaction time task, which is an operant based task used to study attention and impulse control in rodents. Test day challenges, which are modifications of the standard task, increase flexibility of the task and can be combined with other manipulations to more fully characterize behavior.

Abstract

This protocol describes the 5-choice serial reaction time task, which is an operant based task used to study attention and impulse control in rodents. Test day challenges, modifications to the standard task, can be used to systematically tax the neural systems controlling either attention or impulse control. Importantly, these challenges have consistent effects on behavior across laboratories in intact animals and can reveal either enhancements or deficits in cognitive function that are not apparent when rats are only tested on the standard task. The variety of behavioral measures that are collected can be used to determine if other factors (i.e., sedation, motivation deficits, locomotor impairments) are contributing to changes in performance. The versatility of the 5CSRTT is further enhanced because it is amenable to combination with pharmacological, molecular, and genetic techniques.

Introduction

The 5-choice serial reaction time task (5CSRTT) was developed by Trevor Robbins and colleagues at the University of Cambridge in order to understand the behavioral deficits displayed by people diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)^1,2. It is based upon continuous performance tasks used to study attention in humans³; with attention being defined as the ability to allocate and sustain the focus of cognitive resources on specific stimuli or information while ignoring other information⁴. Although the task was originally designed for use with rats^1,2, a mouse version has also been developed^5,6.<....

Protocol

This procedure requires the use of animals; these procedures were approved by the Oberlin College Institutional Animal Care and Use committee and are in accordance with the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals⁴⁶.

1. 5CSRTT Apparatus

1. A schematic of the 5CSRTT apparatus is provided in Figure 1.
   1. The 5CSRTT apparatus consists of an operant conditioning chamber (30.5 x 24.1 x 29.2 cm) with 2 Plexiglas sidewalls, and a stainless steel grid floor.
   2. The aluminum front wall is rounded and contains five nose poke apertures (2.5 x 2.2 x 2.2 cm each); each ape....

Results

Manipulations of the 5CSRTT that Probe Visuospatial Attention

One approach to varying the attentional demands of the task is to alter the duration of the stimulus. As the stimulus duration decreases, % accuracy decreases (Figure 3A) and % omissions increase (Figure 3B; adapted from 12). Thus shorter stimulus durations increase the attentional demands of the task and longer stimulus durations decrease the attentional demands of the task. Chang.......

Discussion

The 5CSRTT is a widely used task to assess attention and impulse control in rodents. Attention is most commonly measured by accuracy of responding^1,7,10. Because accuracy of responding does not include omissions and because both correct and incorrect responses have the same response requirement (i.e., a nose poke in an aperture), accuracy is not influenced by locomotor ability, motivation or sedation. The % omissions can also be used as a measure of attention because well trained rodents will.......

Materials

List of materials used in this article

Name	Company	Catalog Number	Comments
Five Hole Nose Poke Wall Chamber Package	Med-Associates	MED-NP5L-D1	Alternatively one could use the standard package (Catalog #:MED-NP5L-B1) Deluxe
Dustless Precision Pellet	Bio-Serv	F0021	45 mg Purified