Materials availability

Here is a parts list. We'll link to required items as we find the links, and will try to update it if our parts/approaches change over time. The protocol is uploaded below. 


Attentional Engagement Task (AET)

One week prior to the task

Mice should be maintained on a reverse 12 hour dark/light cycle, and all experiments should take place during their active cycle. To increase motivation for the task, food restrict mice to approximately 85% of their free-feeding weight, at least one week prior to beginning experiments. Handle mice daily. Three days prior to beginning training, habituate to evaporated milk by placing a water bottle in their home cage for an hour per day.

Habituation

Day 1: Chamber Habituation. Paint center trial initiation port and reward ports with milk. Allow mouse to explore the chamber freely. Time: 5 minutes.

Day 2: Cue and Reward Habituation. Paint center nose poke and reward ports with milk. Load syringe pumps to dispense milk. Trials begin with the 5s light cue (visualCueIntensity = 100) in both ports and the doors open. Once the mouse pokes its nose in a reward port, milk will be dispensed (15 uL). After 10 s, the doors close, there’s a 5s delay, and another trial begins. In the sketch, use the trial sequence "Habituation2".  Time: 20 minutes.

Training

Day 3+: Trial Initiation. Paint center port with milk. Trials begin once the animal pokes its nose in the center nose port, triggering the 5s light cue (visualCueIntensity = 50) on both sides. Once the mouse pokes its nose in a reward port, milk will be dispensed. After 10 s, the doors close and the animal can initiate another trial. In the sketch, use the trial sequence "Training".  Mice have to reach a criterion of 30 trials to continue to the next phase.Time: 45 minutes.

Day 4+: Single Side Cue Training. Paint center port with milk. Trials begin once the animal pokes its nose in the center nose port, triggering the 5s light cue on one side. A correct choice will trigger reward delivery. Following an incorrect choice, the doors will close, leading to a 15s timeout, where the animal cannot initiate another trial. Trials repeat until the animal makes the correct choice. Mice have to reach a criterion of at least 70 % correct for 3 consecutive training days, or 90% correct for 2 days. Use trial sequence of 50 pseudorandom left and right cues. Time: 1 hr.

AET Testing

Testing (3 days). Following trial initiation, a visual cue of a variable length (such as 5s, 2s, 1s, 500ms, and 100 ms, or 5s, 2s, or 500 ms) indicates the correct location of the food reward. Use trial sequence and side sequence from the same set. Each day has a set that’s pseudorandomized so they get an equal amount of each side for each cue length within a trial block. of 50 pseudorandom left and right cues for the correct amount of cue lengths (5 or 3). Change “variableCue = true” and “repeatProbability = 0” Time: 1 hr or 80 trials, whichever comes first.