Evaluating aged mice in three touchscreen tests that differ in visual demands: Impaired cognitive function and impaired visual abilities

Touchscreen learning deficits in Ube3a, Ts65Dn and Mecp2 mouse models of neurodevelopmental disorders with intellectual disabilities

“…Here we focus on operant touchscreen learning and memory approaches that could circumvent many procedural confounds. The small operant chambers require minimum locomotion, the sensitive touchscreen requires minimal motor skills, enhanced visual images can be used for low-vision mice who are not completely blind, software programs can define the training schedules to vary the levels of cognitive challenge, and available tasks can interrogate specific brain regions and neuroanatomical circuitry (Bussey et al, 1997; Brigman and Rothblat 2008; Brigman et al, 2005, 2008; Talpos et al, 2010; Bussey et al, 2012; McTighue et al, 2013; Silverman et al, 2015; Yang et al, 2015; Leach et al, 2016; Nichols et al, 2017; Buscher et al, 2017). …”

“…The small operant chambers require minimum locomotion, the sensitive touchscreen requires minimal motor skills, enhanced visual images can be used for low-vision mice who are not completely blind, software programs can define the training schedules to vary the levels of cognitive challenge, and available tasks can interrogate specific brain regions and neuroanatomical circuitry. [24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35] We tested 3 mouse models of neurodevelopmental disorders with intellectual disabilities on a touchscreen visual discrimination task, in concert with other learning and memory tasks, along with measures of rotarod motor coordination and balance and open field exploratory locomotion. (1) Angelman syndrome is caused by a maternally inherited deletion at chromosome 15q11-q13, in which the key mutation is in the UBE3A gene, [36][37][38] which codes for an E3 ubiquitin ligase.…”

Optimizing touchscreen measures of rodent cognition by eliminating image bias

“…Clarifying these experimental difficulties, however, will rely not only on accurate image selection, but also on a better understanding of rodent visual perception. Considering the important role of visual ability in learning and memory in mice, particularly in tasks such as these, the findings that visual abilities differ among strains 53 and decline with age 54 , and the intriguing yet underappreciated research on species differences in visual perception in mice and humans [55][56][57] , much more research is needed to ensure that visual stimuli used in mouse behavioral tests are species-appropriate and do not introduce salient confounding factors. For example, the touchscreen method has been reported to be effective in testing rodents thought to have poor enough vision to prohibit learning visual cognitive tasks 18 .…”

Using touchscreen-delivered cognitive assessments to address the principles of the 3Rs in behavioral sciences

“…Given that the touchscreen system is also highly versatile with respect to the characteristics of the visual stimuli an animal can interrogate (e.g. stimuli size, shape, color and location can be easily modified and adapted), a number of studies have been performed to establish important baseline characteristics of the rodent visual system in the touchscreen apparatus [70][71][72] . Such studies have identified key similarities and differences between the rodent and human visual systems, which are critical to the design and interpretation of studies using the touchscreen apparatus to challenge various aspects of the rodent visual system [73][74][75][76] .…”