Our Methods – HIVE LAB

Techniques

All of our implants are made in house and are fully customizable. We record using Intan Technologies acquisition boards and headstages, and open source Open Ephys Software.

: These are the screws, nuts, 23 gauge, and 19 gauge that are in the disc

: An assembled driver

: We construct a plastic disk from a mold

: Drivers are inserted into the disk

: Bundle of 30 gauges

: Bundle into the disk

: Connect the tetrodes

: Pin the tetrodes

: Gold plating

: Finished product

Our lab specializes in massive multisite neuronal recordings. Our main concentration is on the ACC, but we also record from dorsal CA1, the VTA, retrosplenial cortex, and the dorsal striatum. Multisite recordings allow us to record large numbers of single neurons and field potentials simultaneously in these different brain areas.

This recording method allows us to examine information encoding in these different areas, as well as discover how information flows between areas, and in general how these areas interact during our diverse array of behavioral tasks.

Acronyms: initial trial interval (ITI), nose poke (NP), feedback send delivery (FS)

A) Schematic of the behavioral apparatus and task sequence. The schematic represents the initial port payout probabilities, which were initially set to 25% at the 25/75 port and 75% at the 75/25 port. The payout probabilities for the 25/75 and 75/25 ports were then switched at the experimenter-deﬁned switch point of the session. A trial at the 50/50 port is depicted in the top panel. The bottom panel illustrates the four main stages of a trial: cue light on, NP, feedback scent delivery, and either reward delivery or no reward. The average time from cue light on to NP was 6.9 ± 0.31 s across all ports and animals.

B) Animals were implanted with 16 tetrodes aimed bilaterally at the ACC. The tracks end at the approximate electrode tip locations denoted by the arrowheads.