Performance norms for a rhesus monkey neuropsychological testing battery: acquisition and long-term performance

A computerized behavioral battery based upon human neuropsychologoical test s (CANTAB, CeNeS, Cambridge, UK) has been developed to assess cognitive beh aviors of rhesus monkeys. Monkeys reliably performed multiple tasks, provid ing long-term assessment of changes in a number of behaviors for a given an imal. The overall goal of the test battery is to characterize changes in co gnitive behaviors following central nervous system (CNS) manipulations. The battery addresses memory (delayed non-matching to sample, DNMS; spatial wo rking memory, using a self-ordered spatial search task, SOSS), attention (i ntra-/extra-dimensional shift, ID/ED), motivation (progressive-ratio, PR), reaction time (RT) and motor coordination (bimanual task). As with human ne uropsychological batteries, different tasks are thought to involve differen t neural substrates, and therefore performance profiles should assess funct ion in particular brain regions. Monkeys were tested in transport cages, an d responding on a touch sensitive computer monitor was maintained by food r einforcement. Parametric manipulations of several tasks demonstrated the se nsitivity of performance to increases in task difficulty. Furthermore, the factors influencing difficulty for rhesus monkeys were the same as those sh own to affect human performance. Data from this study represent performance of a population of healthy normal monkeys that will be used for comparison in subsequent studies of performance following CNS manipulations such as i nfection with simian immunodeficiency virus (NeuroAIDS) or drug administrat ion. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.