String-pulling for food by the rat: Assessment of movement, topography and kinematics of a bilaterally skilled forelimb act
| Autor: | Ashley A. Blackwell, Jenny R. Köppen, Ian Q. Whishaw, Douglas G. Wallace |
|---|---|
| Rok vydání: | 2018 |
| Předmět: |
medicine.medical_specialty
animal structures Health (social science) Experimental and Cognitive Psychology Kinematics Education Task (project management) 03 medical and health sciences 0302 clinical medicine Physical medicine and rehabilitation Developmental and Educational Psychology medicine 0501 psychology and cognitive sciences 050102 behavioral science & comparative psychology Communication Kinesiology Animal locomotion Movement (music) business.industry 05 social sciences GRASP body regions Neuropsychology and Physiological Psychology medicine.anatomical_structure Trajectory Forelimb Psychology business 030217 neurology & neurosurgery |
| Zdroj: | Learning and Motivation. 61:63-73 |
| ISSN: | 0023-9690 |
| Popis: | A variety of behavioral tests have been developed to assess skilled forelimb function in the rat, including tests that assess use of a single limb in reaching for food and placing it in the mouth for eating. The present study describes bilateral hand use in string-pulling to obtain a food reward. The movement consists of alternating forelimb movements in which a limb is advanced to grasp a string and withdraw it toward the body in order to retrieve a food reward. The movements of aim, advance, grasp, pull and push are associated with hand shape changes including collect, overgrasp, grasp and release. The topography and kinematics of limb and hand movement are assessed by digitizing methods that derive trajectory, distance, and velocity measures. The task is acquired by a rat within a few days of training, features few missed grasps, shows improvements with practice, and yields dozens of independent reaches by each hand in a single test session. The present analysis provides simple methods for describing each independent forelimb and hand movement and its topographic and kinematic properties. The similarities between string-pulling and other rat forelimb movements are discussed in relation to the idea that rat forelimb movements are conserved in tasks such as string-pulling, walking, reaching for food and grid walking. The task is also discussed with respect to its potential to investigate neural and cognitive bases of fine motor control. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
| Externí odkaz: |
|
Full Text from ScienceDirect