Thursday, August 3, 2017

Week 3 - 6/19/2017

Week 3

During my third week I was a lot more involved with the testing of the rats. I worked with the Templeton project rats for the figure 8 maze and the NICHES on the attention task, which will be detailed in next week’s blog. My main focus this week will be to explain the figure 8 locomotive test I completed on the Templeton project rats.

I have used programs before to analyze statistics, but I have never used programs to conduct experiments so I thought the whole process was pretty neat. In this program, a case file has to be created and the rat ID's have to be matched to the box I would load them into. This is the most intensive part of this program because I have to make sure the ID’s match the correct box as this is how we are able to track the data of the rat.

While the program is pretty old, the boxes are in good condition. Like the name of the test entails, it is a figure 8 maze that has sensors throughout that track the rat’s movement. Once I setup the program, I place the rats in the figure 8 maze for an hour and then take them out. Recording the data is a more precarious task because there are quite a few steps that need to be taken in order to get the data, and then the data has to be recorded on a sheet and then put in a folder on the computer. Once that is done, I transfer the data from my sheet onto an excel sheet with the rest of the experimental data on an up-to-date computer. This task is one of my favorites to complete because I enjoy being able to work with the computer and program, even if it can be difficult at times and is older.

I also think this test is really fascinating because it is able to assess whether or not the rats are hyperactive and have ADHD or ADD. This week definitely felt amazing as I really felt I had made my first major contribution to helping out with research! I am really looking forward to what the next weeks have in store for me.


Figure 8 maze boxes
Figure 8 maze box
Figure 8 maze box open





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