The five-choice serial reaction time task

The five-choice serial reaction time task (5CSRTT) was originally developed by Trevor Robbins’ group in the 1980s. It is one of the most well established and best characterised operant behavioural tests in use today. Testing takes place in five-hole boxes. Rats are trained to scan the array of five response apertures and to respond by poking their nose into one of these locations when the light inside is briefly (0.5s) illuminated. The task starts when animals make a nosepoke response at the food tray. There is then a 5 s inter-trial interval (ITI) during which the animal must withhold from responding until one of the holes is illuminated. If the rat responds correctly in the illuminated hole, it is rewarded by delivery of a food pellet. However, if the animal responds incorrectly in a non-illuminated hole, or omits to make a response within 5s of the light presentation, it is punished by non-delivery of reward and a 5 s time-out during which the houselight is turned on and no new trials can be initiated. If the animal fails to wait for the light to come on and responds prematurely during the ITI, it is also punished in the same manner. These premature responses provide the index of impulsivity on this task. Repeated responding during or after the presentation of the light stimulus is classified as perseverative responding and, whilst monitored, is not punished.

Animals are typically trained until a high level of stable performance is reached ( 80% accuracy, 20% omissions). Each session consists of 100 trials and lasts a maximum of 30 minutes. Training typically takes 45-50 sessions.