Scanbox has long supported the use of GigE cameras for behavior, but integrating USB3 cameras which support an external trigger is also possible. As an example, consider the Mako-U series. Wire up the camera To use one of these cameras you have to be using a trigger cable. Different manufacturers offer cables that differ in…
Read MoreAll articles filed in I: Behavior Monitoring
Simultaneous imaging with port and behavior cameras
If you have one of the new systems (aka as the pizza box) you can now acquire imagery simultaneously from the port camera and the behavior cameras. During 2p imaging the behavior cameras are triggered at the beginning of a frame (TTL OUT 1x f.r.) or at the beginning and middle of a frame (TTL…
Read MoreA simple lick-o-meter and liquid reward delivery system
Some behavioral experiments reward correct performance. A typical response is a lick of a spout and the reward is a fixed volume of water. One simple way to achieve this is by using an Arduino board along with the capacitive sensing library. The diagram below summarizes the parts used. Just connect a 1 Mohm resistor between pins…
Read MoreUsing the quadrature encoder to track locomotion
Scanbox allows you to acquire the position of a rotating platform at each frame of the microscope. To do so, you need a quadrature encoder to be mounted on the axis of your platform. We use the US Digital HS-360-IE-S, but any quadrature encoder will do as well. The encoder needs to be wired to an Arduino…
Read MoreBlanking the laser between trials
Sometimes, during long behavioral sessions, it is advantageous to turn off the laser between trials to minimize damage while keeping the microscope scanning. To do this without introducing any additional noise that may influence the behavioral state we use the Pockels cell. Scanbox now allows one to blank the laser by sending a command over…
Read MoreAn active treadmill to control locomotion
As documented in several publications, active locomotion can strongly modulate cortical activity. I explained earlier how Scanbox uses a quadrature encoder to be able to control, in real time, an external stimulus that depends on the state of locomotion. In this way, we can design experiments in which stimuli are delivered during periods of locomotion or rest. However, if either locomotion…
Read MoreScanbox closes the loop with a quadrature encoder
If you have downloaded the latest version of Scanbox you may have noticed there is a new “Quadrature Encoder” panel and wondered what is does. In addition to ball tracking, you now have the option of tracking the 1D movement of a circular platform. The position of the platform is monitored by an optical quadrature encoder…
Read MoreEye Tracking
In addition to tracking the movement of the ball one may want to track eye position along with pupil size. Once again, we use a Dalsa Genie GigE camera to image the eye. Conveniently, it turns out that if you are imaging near 920 nm, there is sufficient light that makes its way through the brain and out of the pupil. Thus, the…
Read MoreBall Tracking
One common way to track the movement of the ball is to use optical mice. Some disadvantages of the method is that mice need to be positioned carefully near the ball surface in each experiment, that at least least two of them are needed to recover all 3 rotation parameters, and that it is not trivial…
Read More
Scanbox 