TouchWindows and operant behaviour in rats.

We describe a new method which has the potential to assess a wide range of behavioural, especially cognitive, processes in rats. This involves the presentation of microcomputer-generated visual stimuli on a standard video monitor, with the rat responding on a transparent pressure-sensitive device (TouchWindow) placed directly in front of it. The method allows a large variety of visual stimuli to be used, with responses possible over the entire area of the window. In this report, we describe the basic design of the equipment and the training protocol and present behavioural data from a light-tracking (visual attention) task.