Meeting Abstract
The modern field of Animal Behavior was born through collaboration between behaviorists and ethologists. Today we can still learn a lot about the natural behavior of animals using the controlled and quantifiable approaches pioneered by behaviorism. In order to study the neural mechanisms that have allowed the evolution of the behaviorally fascinating mouth-brooding form of parental care, the Renn lab needs to quantify hunger without actually feeding the fish. We use the emerging model for social behavior, A. burtoni, an east African cichlid fish, and have constructed an Arduino robot to train and measure behavior. While our previous research presented at SICB demonstrated successful training of feeding behavior in response to an LED light, those fish became overtrained, in that they ceased to exhibit normal swimming and social behaviors. In our current research we have introduced a Variable Schedule program which offers randomized food reinforcement, unlike the previous protocol that distributed the food every time the sensor was tripped. The Variable Schedule program was introduced after initial training on a Fixed Schedule program for two weeks. We use behavioral observations with JWatcher to quantify normal swimming and social behavior, allowing the Arduino Robot to then quantify feeding behavior as latency to approach the LED. This protocol will allow us to collect brain samples for gene expression studies of hunger and satiety cues from animals of a known hunger level without corrupting brain chemistry by feeding the animals.
