Introduction:
The virtual opto-kinetic system, OptoMotry, which enabled spatial visual behavior -acuity and contrast sensitivity- to be rapidly quantified in laboratory rodents.
At the heart of OptoMotry-AT is an Assisted Testing software engine that enables the software to be run in 3 modes; a manual-tracking mode, an auto-tracking mode, and an auto-judging mode. In manual mode, OptoMotry-AT works like previous versions of OptoMotry, with the experimenter controlling the centering of the virtual cylinder and making tracking judgements, while the software automatically handles procedural elements of the experiment. This mode may be preferred by experienced users and is the most flexible option for testing different strains and ages of mice and rats rapidly. The auto tracking mode of OptoMotry-AT is ideal for researchers who use black-coated mouse strains, such as C57-BL6, but prefer to manually assess tracking behavior. In this mode OptoMotry-AT will automatically identify the viewing position and gaze of the mouse as it moves, select trial epochs when tracking is feasible, blank the stimulus between trials, and provide positional cues and video overlays to aid the user in making tracking judgements. In addition, based on the animal’s viewing position, the software can continually position visual stimuli in a specific visual field. This is particularly useful when evaluating the effects of retinal manipulations in the monocular region of each eye of a mouse in order to do within-animal control experiments, or when comparisons of visual function between monocular and binocular visual fields is desired. The auto judging mode has all of the features of the auto tracking mode but will also use the positional cues and tracking movement kinematics of a C57-BL6 mouse to make automatic assessments the presence or absence of stimulus tracking. This mode is particularly useful for the screening of retinal mutants, or when objectively determining whether a mouse can track a particular visual stimulus is paramount.
Key features of OptoMotry-AT:
- Ventilated testing apparatus
- Accessible testing arena for animal handling and cleaning
- Powerful all-in-one computer workstation with cart
- High-resolution, video-based testing
- Automatic system calibration
- Multiple psychophysical testing procedures
- Individual subject and group testing architecture
- Real-time graphical and audio feedback of experimental progress
- Audio and visual animal alert system
- Powerful data management system and export features
- Video capture and export
