Skip to main content
PMC home page
Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior logoLink to Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior
. 2000 May;73(3):305–318. doi: 10.1901/jeab.2000.73-305

An olfactory discrimination procedure for mice.

S M Mihalick 1, J C Langlois 1, J D Krienke 1, W V Dube 1
PMCID: PMC1284779  PMID: 10866354

Abstract

This paper describes an olfactory discrimination procedure for mice that is inexpensively implemented and leads to rapid discrimination learning. Mice were first trained to dig in small containers of sand to retrieve bits of buried chocolate. For discrimination training, two containers were presented simultaneously for eight trials per session. One container held sand mixed with cinnamon, and the other held sand mixed with nutmeg. Both containers were baited with chocolate buried in the sand. One odor was designated S+, and mice were allowed to dig and retrieve the chocolate from this container. The other odor was S-, and both containers were removed immediately if subjects began to dig in an S- container. After meeting a two-session acquisition criterion, subjects were given a series of discrimination reversals. In Experiment 1, 12 Swiss-Webster mice (6 male and 6 female) acquired the olfactory discrimination in three to five sessions and completed 3 to 10 successive discrimination reversals within a 50-session testing limit. In Experiment 2, subjects were 14 Pah(enu2) mice, the mouse mutant for phenylketonuria; 7 were homozygotes in which the disorder was expressed (PKU), and 7 were heterozygotes with normal metabolism (non-PKU). Thirteen mice completed pretraining in four to seven sessions, acquisition required 3 to 12 sessions, and all mice completed at least three reversals. Learning rates were similar in PKU and non-PKU mice. We discuss issues related to implementation and several potentially useful procedural variations.

Full Text

The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (243.7 KB).

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. BITTERMAN M. E. PHYLETIC DIFFERENCES IN LEARNING. Am Psychol. 1965 Jun;20:396–410. doi: 10.1037/h0022328. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Berger-Sweeney J., Libbey M., Arters J., Junagadhwalla M., Hohmann C. F. Neonatal monoaminergic depletion in mice (Mus musculus) improves performance of a novel odor discrimination task. Behav Neurosci. 1998 Dec;112(6):1318–1326. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Bunsey M., Eichenbaum H. Conservation of hippocampal memory function in rats and humans. Nature. 1996 Jan 18;379(6562):255–257. doi: 10.1038/379255a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Crabbe J. C., Wahlsten D., Dudek B. C. Genetics of mouse behavior: interactions with laboratory environment. Science. 1999 Jun 4;284(5420):1670–1672. doi: 10.1126/science.284.5420.1670. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Crawley J. N., Paylor R. A proposed test battery and constellations of specific behavioral paradigms to investigate the behavioral phenotypes of transgenic and knockout mice. Horm Behav. 1997 Jun;31(3):197–211. doi: 10.1006/hbeh.1997.1382. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Dunn D. L. Antibody immunotherapy of gram-negative bacterial sepsis in an immunosuppressed animal model. Transplantation. 1988 Feb;45(2):424–429. doi: 10.1097/00007890-198802000-00036. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Dusek J. A., Eichenbaum H. The hippocampus and memory for orderly stimulus relations. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1997 Jun 24;94(13):7109–7114. doi: 10.1073/pnas.94.13.7109. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Dyer C. A., Kendler A., Philibotte T., Gardiner P., Cruz J., Levy H. L. Evidence for central nervous system glial cell plasticity in phenylketonuria. J Neuropathol Exp Neurol. 1996 Jul;55(7):795–814. doi: 10.1097/00005072-199607000-00005. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Gallaher E. J., Jacques C. J., Hollister L. E. Alprazolam dependence in mice. Alcohol Drug Res. 1987;7(5-6):503–510. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Griebel G., Blanchard D. C., Blanchard R. J. Predator-elicited flight responses in Swiss-Webster mice: an experimental model of panic attacks. Prog Neuropsychopharmacol Biol Psychiatry. 1996 Feb;20(2):185–205. doi: 10.1016/0278-5846(95)00305-3. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. McDonald J. D., Bode V. C., Dove W. F., Shedlovsky A. Pahhph-5: a mouse mutant deficient in phenylalanine hydroxylase. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1990 Mar;87(5):1965–1967. doi: 10.1073/pnas.87.5.1965. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Nelson R. J. The use of genetic "knockout" mice in behavioral endocrinology research. Horm Behav. 1997 Jun;31(3):188–196. doi: 10.1006/hbeh.1997.1381. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Pastino G. M., Sultatos L. G., Flynn E. J. Development and application of a physiologically based pharmacokinetic model for ethanol in the mouse. Alcohol Alcohol. 1996 Jul;31(4):365–374. doi: 10.1093/oxfordjournals.alcalc.a008163. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Powell R. W., Peck S. Running-wheel activity and avoidance in the mongolian gerbil. J Exp Anal Behav. 1969 Sep;12(5):779–787. doi: 10.1901/jeab.1969.12-779. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Rogers D. C., Fisher E. M., Brown S. D., Peters J., Hunter A. J., Martin J. E. Behavioral and functional analysis of mouse phenotype: SHIRPA, a proposed protocol for comprehensive phenotype assessment. Mamm Genome. 1997 Oct;8(10):711–713. doi: 10.1007/s003359900551. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Sakagami T., Hursh S. R., Christensen J., Silberberg A. Income maximizing in concurrent interval-ratio schedules. J Exp Anal Behav. 1989 Jul;52(1):41–46. doi: 10.1901/jeab.1989.52-41. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Shedlovsky A., McDonald J. D., Symula D., Dove W. F. Mouse models of human phenylketonuria. Genetics. 1993 Aug;134(4):1205–1210. doi: 10.1093/genetics/134.4.1205. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Van Hemel S. B. Pup retrieving as a reinforcer in nulliparous mice. J Exp Anal Behav. 1973 Mar;19(2):233–238. doi: 10.1901/jeab.1973.19-233. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Watanabe M. E. China confronts AIDS: international help needed to stop the spread. Scientist. 1999 Jan 4;13(1):1–4. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Zagreda L., Goodman J., Druin D. P., McDonald D., Diamond A. Cognitive deficits in a genetic mouse model of the most common biochemical cause of human mental retardation. J Neurosci. 1999 Jul 15;19(14):6175–6182. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.19-14-06175.1999. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior are provided here courtesy of Society for the Experimental Analysis of Behavior

RESOURCES