An Open-Source, Fully Customizable 5-Choice Serial Reaction Time Task Toolbox for Automated Behavioral Training of Rodents

The 5-choice serial reaction time task (5-CSRTT) is a behavioral test often used to study visuospatial attention and impulsiveness in rodents. The task requires animals to allocate attention to a horizontal array of five small apertures equipped with light sources and, within a limited time window, nose-poke one illuminated target aperture to get a food reward at the food magazine located in the opposite wall of the chamber. The task considers behavioral control measures such as response accuracy and reaction times and allows to infer selective attention and impulsivity. Task difficulty can be controlled by modifying the stimulus duration and task design in general. Commercially available apparatus usually consists of an experimental chamber and particular software to specify task parameters, but due to fixed hard- and software, they pose many limitations on changes in the general experimental design and specific task requirements and the related data output. This article explains a fully customizable alternative based on an easy-to-use single-board microcontroller and standard electrotechnical components, an open-access Arduino script, and a Matlab-toolbox for hardware control and behavioral task specifications, respectively. The toolbox includes an optional staircase procedure, enabling automated behavioral training. The complete hardware setup, which can be installed in customized chambers, and the freely adaptable software encourage non-standardized task and chamber design. The design of the system and the open-source code for hardware control and experimental setup are described.