Handling of OperantHouse

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This page explains how to use the OperantHouse by performing a spatial discrimination.

Prepare chamber with touch-screen setting.
Put animal bedding to a depth of 1 cm and food pellets.



Place the tray all the way to the back.



Once you have decided where to place the chamber, affix water arm mat in front of the chamber with double-sided tape. Make sure to face the cliff side to the chamber.



Connect the servo of the water arm and run OperantHouse software. Set the value of Ch3 Inside angle to "50" and press the "In" button.



Remove the water arm holder from servo and reattach with this angle.



Put the filled water bottle inside the holder and adjust the position of the water arm to locate the nozzle tip inside the slit like this.



Next step is determining of neutral angle. Find a middle angle value which places the nozzle tip as shown in the picture (Nozzle shouldn't be accessible from the mosue).



Set the outside angle. The length of noizes when moving to inside and outside from the neutral position should be same so outside angle value should be "6".
Make sure not to hit the water arm holder to the chamber at the outside angle.



Set the switching time between Light-phase and Dark phase and task start time in the setting.



Next, configure at the setting2.
The first line is the email setup. Fill them up by referenceing the following information if you want to receive email from OperantHouse when the task is ended. If you don't have MTP server account, I reccomend to make it in Gmail. See the detail in Tips in the left menu.

   Recipient address: Your email address
   Sender address: Email address of the SMTP server
   Sender password: Password of the MTP server
   SMTP server: SMTP server name (If you are using Gmail, enter "smtp.gmail.com")
   SMTP port: Port# of SMTP server (If Gmail, enter "587")
   Security type: If Gmail, chose "TLS"
   Device name: The name here is used in the email.

The second line is general task setting. Chenge them only when necessary.
   RoiDensity: Spacing of detection points within the touch detection ROI. Lower values increase the density of detection points.
   TouchOffTIme(s): Duration to inactivate touch detection ROIs. This function prohibits false detection immediately after changing of ceilling illumination.
   Movie width/height: The resolution of video recording.
   RecordFPS: Frame rate (frame/sec) of video recording. Higher frame rate increases the size of the video.




Create a folder for data storage and specify it with the "Folder path" button.



If the device has additional operation monitor, the dialog box can be shown in the touch-screen monitor. In that case, Right-click on "Choose Directory" tab in the taskbar and click "maximize" to display the dialog on the operation monitor.




Then start initial setting of the spatial discrimination task.
Click the "SpatialDisc" button.



Click "AdjustPanel" button.



If touch window is not displayed, click "TouchWin" button. You'll see a cross-hair. You can move it with Up/Rright/Left/Down buttons. The step can be altered by clicking "Coarse" and "FineMode" button.



Move the cross-hair to the upper-left position of the left panel while looking through the water supply slit. Then click "Set" button.



In the same way, set the right-bottom cordinate of the most left panel and click "Set" button.



The task needs 3 panels so chose "Yes" when you are asked to set the next panel. Then set the middle and right panels as well. After the setting of right panel, chose "No" to end this setting.



You can check the panel positions anytime by clicking "ShowPanel" button on the Servo window (Click again to hide them. Don't forget to hide them before actual task).



Next, adjust nosepoke detection ROIs. Click "CamSize" button to enlarge the camera window (You can restore it by clicking the button again).



Move ROIs to the appropriate positions as shown below (#0-2: above the mask hole bottom of left/center/right panel, #19 above water slit bottom).
Each ROI can be moved by clicking on its edge. Adjust its positions and click again to determine its new positions (it may be necessary to click the edge several time in remote desktop due to poor response).



次にROIの感度を調整します。
パネルタッチ検出用のROI#0-2と水スリットへのノーズポーク検出用のROI#19は見た目は似てますが、検出様式や感度設定が異なっています。
パネルタッチ検出用のROI#0-2は5秒間同じ場所にあると自動的にバックグラウンドを調整します。
マウスの体がROIに入ると検出ポイント（ドット）の輝度が変化するのですが、その変化量がAの設定値より大きければマウスの体が重なったと見なし、赤くなります（Darkは天井照明OFF、Lightは天井照明ONの場合の数値）。この赤いドットの数がBの値以上になったらそのROIにマウスが侵入したとみなしてROIの数字が赤くなり、対応するパネルにタッチしたと見なします。
＜アルゴリズムの解説＞

それに対して水スリット用のROI#19はAWSで長時間マウスの存在を検出し続ける必要があるので自動的にバックグラウンドを調整する機能はありません。
代わりに手動で輝度の閾値を数値でCで指定する必要があります（これらの値より輝度が低い=黒い場合、マウスの体が重なったとみなします）。
この閾値の決め方ですが、ぎりぎり誤検出しない値よりさらに30低い値がちょうど良いです。
またDのボタンを押すと手動で一時的に検出状態にできます。



Next set the task parameters. You can see the detailed information here.



Task parameters are not saved automatically. To save them, click "SavePara" or click "Start" button.



Put a mosue and click "Start" button. OperantHouse will automatically start the task at the time you have specified in the setting.



At the end of the task, result files are saved to the designated folder and send email (if you did the setting). If no action is taken after that, the next task automatically start at the specified time.