Figure 1.

Level of Engagement Varies throughout a Session

(A) The trial structure of the task. A trial begins with a baseline period, which ends in a quiescent period (shaded in yellow) during which the mouse has to keep the wheel still. Then the visual stimulus appears, and a Go cue indicates the start of the response window, during which the mouse has to use the wheel to provide a response. The trial ends when the mouse provides a response or the response window ends. There is a feedback period before the beginning of the next trial.

(B) The visual tasks: in the 2AFC version, a Gabor grating of varying contrast appears on the left or right visual field. The mouse must move the wheel to center the stimulus and receive a reward. In the 2AUC version, trials are included in which the absence of a stimulus indicates a No-Go trial, during which the animals are rewarded for keeping the wheel still. In the contrast discrimination version, trials are included in which there is a contrast on both sides, and the stimulus with the higher contrast must be moved to the center. Equal contrast trials are rewarded randomly.

(C–E) Example psychometric curves. Error bars represent standard error of the mean (SEM). Dots are colored according to response type: green, Correct; red, Incorrect; dark gray, No-Go.

(F) Engagement over time in an example dataset that contained several short Miss sequences. Green, red, and dark gray curves show running average percentage of Correct, Incorrect, and Miss trials (10-trial running average). Arrows: Miss sequences.

(G) Total number of Miss trials per dataset versus total number of trials.

(H) Number of Miss periods (defined as 2 or more Miss trials in sequence) across all datasets.

(I) Miss period lengths across all datasets.

(A) and (B) were adapted with permission from [32].