TY - JOUR
T1 - The effect of the inter-phase delay interval in the spontaneous object recognition test for pigs
AU - Kornum, Birgitte Rahbek
AU - Thygesen, Kristin Sjølie
AU - Nielsen, Thomas Rune
AU - Knudsen, Gitte Moos
AU - Lind, Nanna Marie
PY - 2007/8/6
Y1 - 2007/8/6
N2 - In the neuroscience community interest for using the pig is growing. Several disease models have been developed creating a need for validation of behavioural paradigms in these animals. Here, we report the effect of different inter-phase delay intervals on the performance of Göttingen minipigs in the spontaneous object recognition test. The test consisted of a sample and a test phase. First, the pigs explored two similar objects. After a 10-min, 1-h, or 24-h delay two different objects were presented; one familiar from the sample phase and one novel. An exploration-time difference between the novel and the familiar object was interpreted as recognition of the familiar object. We scored the exploration times both manually and automatically, and compared the methods. A strong discrimination between novel and familiar objects after a 10-min inter-phase delay interval and no discrimination after 24h were found in our set-up of the spontaneous object recognition test. After a 1-h delay, the pigs still showed a significant habituation to the familiar object, but no discrimination was observed. Discrimination between the two objects was mainly confined to the first half of the test phase, and we observed a high between-subject variation. Furthermore, automatic tracking was valid for determination of habituation and discrimination parameters but lead to an overestimation of individual measurements. We conclude that the spontaneous object recognition test for pigs is sensitive to increasing inter-phase delay intervals, and that automatic data acquisition can be applied.
AB - In the neuroscience community interest for using the pig is growing. Several disease models have been developed creating a need for validation of behavioural paradigms in these animals. Here, we report the effect of different inter-phase delay intervals on the performance of Göttingen minipigs in the spontaneous object recognition test. The test consisted of a sample and a test phase. First, the pigs explored two similar objects. After a 10-min, 1-h, or 24-h delay two different objects were presented; one familiar from the sample phase and one novel. An exploration-time difference between the novel and the familiar object was interpreted as recognition of the familiar object. We scored the exploration times both manually and automatically, and compared the methods. A strong discrimination between novel and familiar objects after a 10-min inter-phase delay interval and no discrimination after 24h were found in our set-up of the spontaneous object recognition test. After a 1-h delay, the pigs still showed a significant habituation to the familiar object, but no discrimination was observed. Discrimination between the two objects was mainly confined to the first half of the test phase, and we observed a high between-subject variation. Furthermore, automatic tracking was valid for determination of habituation and discrimination parameters but lead to an overestimation of individual measurements. We conclude that the spontaneous object recognition test for pigs is sensitive to increasing inter-phase delay intervals, and that automatic data acquisition can be applied.
KW - Animals
KW - Automatic Data Processing/methods
KW - Discrimination (Psychology)/physiology
KW - Exploratory Behavior/physiology
KW - Habituation, Psychophysiologic/physiology
KW - Male
KW - Models, Animal
KW - Pattern Recognition, Visual/physiology
KW - Recognition (Psychology)/physiology
KW - Statistics, Nonparametric
KW - Swine
KW - Swine, Miniature/physiology
KW - Time Factors
KW - Time Perception/physiology
U2 - 10.1016/j.bbr.2007.04.007
DO - 10.1016/j.bbr.2007.04.007
M3 - Journal article
C2 - 17524499
SN - 0166-4328
VL - 181
SP - 210
EP - 217
JO - Behavioural Brain Research
JF - Behavioural Brain Research
IS - 2
ER -