Fig 1. Experimental timeline.

Three weekly sets of behavioral experiments were performed prior to surgery to establish baseline performance for each mouse. After this, mice were randomly assigned to one of three treatment groups: GRIN Lens implant, cranial window (No Lens), or sham surgery (Anesthesia Only). No behavioral experiments were performed on the day of surgery. Post implantation experiments were run 3 days after surgery to implant a GRIN lens, install a cranial window, or conduct a sham surgery to determine the acute effects of lens implantation, craniotomy surgery, and anesthesia, respectively. Tests were conducted weekly at 7, 14, 21, and 28 days after surgery to determine the time course of effects due to chronic implantation, if any. Each mouse was tested at each of the 8 time points for all three behavioral tests (n = 5 mice for each treatment group).