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Cabrera-Moreno J, Jeanson L, Jeschke M, Calapai A. Group-based, autonomous, individualized training and testing of long-tailed macaques ( Macaca fascicularis) in their home enclosure to a visuo-acoustic discrimination task. Front Psychol 2022; 13:1047242. [PMID: 36524199 PMCID: PMC9745322 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1047242] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/17/2022] [Accepted: 11/08/2022] [Indexed: 09/10/2023] Open
Abstract
In recent years, the utility and efficiency of automated procedures for cognitive assessment in psychology and neuroscience have been demonstrated in non-human primates (NHP). This approach mimics conventional shaping principles of breaking down a final desired behavior into smaller components that can be trained in a staircase manner. When combined with home-cage-based approaches, this could lead to a reduction in human workload, enhancement in data quality, and improvement in animal welfare. However, to our knowledge, there are no reported attempts to develop automated training and testing protocols for long-tailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis), a ubiquitous NHP model in neuroscience and pharmaceutical research. In the current work, we present the results from 6 long-tailed macaques that were trained using an automated unsupervised training (AUT) protocol for introducing the animals to the basics of a two-alternative choice (2 AC) task where they had to discriminate a conspecific vocalization from a pure tone relying on images presented on a touchscreen to report their response. We found that animals (1) consistently engaged with the device across several months; (2) interacted in bouts of high engagement; (3) alternated peacefully to interact with the device; and (4) smoothly ascended from step to step in the visually guided section of the procedure, in line with previous results from other NHPs. However, we also found (5) that animals' performance remained at chance level as soon as the acoustically guided steps were reached; and (6) that the engagement level decreased significantly with decreasing performance during the transition from visual to acoustic-guided sections. We conclude that with an autonomous approach, it is possible to train long-tailed macaques in their social group using computer vision techniques and without dietary restriction to solve a visually guided discrimination task but not an acoustically guided task. We provide suggestions on what future attempts could take into consideration to instruct acoustically guided discrimination tasks successfully.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jorge Cabrera-Moreno
- Cognitive Hearing in Primates (CHiP) Group, Auditory Neuroscience and Optogenetics Laboratory, German Primate Center, Leibniz-Institute for Primate Research, Göttingen, Germany
- Göttingen Graduate School for Neurosciences, Biophysics and Molecular Biosciences, University of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
- Auditory Neuroscience and Optogenetics Laboratory, German Primate CenterLeibniz-Institute for Primate Research, Göttingen, Germany
- Institute for Auditory Neuroscience and InnerEarLab, University Medical Center Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Lena Jeanson
- Cognitive Hearing in Primates (CHiP) Group, Auditory Neuroscience and Optogenetics Laboratory, German Primate Center, Leibniz-Institute for Primate Research, Göttingen, Germany
- Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, German Primate Center, Leibniz-Institute for Primate Research, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Marcus Jeschke
- Cognitive Hearing in Primates (CHiP) Group, Auditory Neuroscience and Optogenetics Laboratory, German Primate Center, Leibniz-Institute for Primate Research, Göttingen, Germany
- Auditory Neuroscience and Optogenetics Laboratory, German Primate CenterLeibniz-Institute for Primate Research, Göttingen, Germany
- Institute for Auditory Neuroscience and InnerEarLab, University Medical Center Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
- Leibniz-ScienceCampus Primate Cognition, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Antonino Calapai
- Cognitive Hearing in Primates (CHiP) Group, Auditory Neuroscience and Optogenetics Laboratory, German Primate Center, Leibniz-Institute for Primate Research, Göttingen, Germany
- Auditory Neuroscience and Optogenetics Laboratory, German Primate CenterLeibniz-Institute for Primate Research, Göttingen, Germany
- Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, German Primate Center, Leibniz-Institute for Primate Research, Göttingen, Germany
- Leibniz-ScienceCampus Primate Cognition, Göttingen, Germany
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Abstract
There is a growing need for new translational animal models designed to capture complex behavioral phenotypes implicated in addiction and other neuropsychiatric conditions. For example, a complete understanding of the effects of commonly abused drugs, as well as candidate medications, requires assessments of their effects on learning, memory, attention, and other cognition-related behavior. Modern touch-sensitive technology provides an extremely flexible means to expose an experimental subject to a variety of complex behavioral tasks designed to assay dimensions of cognitive function before, during, and after drug administration. In addition to tailored variants of gold-standard cognitive assessments, touchscreen chambers offer the ability to develop novel tasks based upon the researcher's needs. This methods perspective presents (i) a brief review of previous touchscreen-based animal studies, (ii) a primer on the construction of a touch-sensitive experimental chamber, and (iii) data from a proof-of-concept study examining cross-species continuity in performance across a diverse assortment of animal subjects (rats, marmosets, squirrel monkeys, and rhesus macaques) using the repeated acquisition task - a modern variant of a traditional animal model of learning. Taken together, the procedures and data discussed in this review illustrate the point that contemporary touchscreen methodology can be tailored to desired experimental goals and adapted to provide formal similarity in cognition-related tasks across experimental species. Moreover, touchscreen methodology allows for the development of new translational models that emerge through laboratory and clinical discovery to capture important dimensions of complex behavior and cognitive function.
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