News

New Multi-task cognitive profiling platform for NHPs+humans

No Comments

We published a new unity based software platform for profiling cognitive and motivational constructs in nonhuman primates and humans. The platform has multiple pre-configured tasks with some gamified features that makes them engaging to play for participants. Details are described and linked on the website: http://m-use.psy.vanderbilt.edu. The technical details are available in Watson et al. (2023) A multi-task platform for profiling cognitive and motivational constructs in humans and nonhuman primates. 1-48; bioRxiv; https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.11.09.566422v1.

The platform is open source and well documented for users and for potential developers who want to extend the platform.

Related News

A Novel Monkey Kiosk: Cognitive Enrichment and Cognitive Assessment

We now published the hardware and software design for a novel Monkey Kiosk Station that provides cognitive enrichment and the ability to assess cognition with cage-based touchscreen tasks. The paper and its appendix with the technical details are available here.

Striatum interneurons track learning of attention cues

Our new paper shows how fast spiking interneurons in the striatum activate specifically when attention cues are learned. This is a rare paper where we succeed to isolate fast spiking interneurons in recordings from nonhuman primate anterior striatum while the animals performed a complex feature-based attentional learning task. Phd can. Kia Banaeie Boroujeni spearheaded the […]

Adaptive Learning needs Attention, Meta-learning and Working Memory

We tested which model mechanisms best explain how six animals learn attention sets and found a common set of most-important behavioral mechanisms that account for learning success.When learning attention sets is easy value based reinforcement learning and working memory are powerful, but when learning problems are more complex learning is more efficient with attention and […]