The analysis system COGITAT for the study of cognitive deficiencies in rodents

COGITAT is an automated hole board system that, following minimal experimen tal interventions, makes it possible to measure a variety of parameters ass ociated with learning, memory, relearning, cognition, and cognitive shifts, but also changes in exploratory and sensorimotor performance in rodent mod els. The individual parameters-that is, overall exploratory activity, numbe r of visits (deep in the hole) into or inspections of (at the upper surface ) holes, number of baited, unbaited, or previously baited holes visited or inspected, reinspections of or revisits into any holes, number of pellets e aten, time to find pellets, serial order collection (without intermediate i nspections or visits), and reference and working memory errors (visits, ins pections, or total)-are obtained simultaneously, and the results are immedi ately available after the end of each experiment. The system appears to be well suited to neurophysiological, neuropharmacological, and gene-technolog ical investigations in rodent models.