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.