IntelliCage Automated Home-Cage Testing

The IntelliCage is a fully automated home-cage testing system that enables continuous cognitive and behavioral assessment of group-housed mice without experimenter handling, providing unprecedented throughput and ecological validity for behavioral phenotyping. The system consists of a large standard cage (approximately 55 x 37.5 x 20.5 cm) housing up to 16 RFID-implanted mice with four operant corner modules positioned in the cage corners. Each corner module contains an RFID antenna ring at the entrance that identifies individual mice as they enter, two nose-poke sensors flanking a central partition, two independently controlled motorized doors that grant or deny access to water bottles, and lickometer contacts on each bottle spout for precise measurement of drinking behavior. ConductMaze interfaces with the IntelliCage controller to program individualized access rules, monitor all behavioral events in real time, and implement complex experimental paradigms over days to weeks.

The IntelliCage supports a rich library of cognitive paradigms arranged in progressive difficulty. Place learning assigns each mouse a single rewarded corner (its "correct" corner) while the other three corners remain accessible but doors stay closed upon nose-poke; the mouse must learn which corner provides water. Reversal learning reassigns the rewarded corner (e.g., from corner A to the diagonally opposite corner C), testing cognitive flexibility. Serial reversal repeats this reassignment multiple times, measuring learning-to-learn acquisition curves. The patrolling task requires the mouse to visit a different corner on each successive visit to obtain water, taxing spatial working memory. Discrimination paradigms use nose-poke side (left vs right) with LED cues to implement visual discrimination and reversal within each corner. All paradigms run 24/7 with water as the sole motivator, eliminating food deprivation and handling stress.

ConductMaze provides centralized programming of per-mouse corner assignments and nose-poke contingencies through an intuitive rule editor, real-time visualization of individual mouse activity including corner visits, nose-pokes, lick counts, and door openings on a cage schematic, and automated progression through learning stages based on configurable criteria (e.g., 80% correct over 24 hours triggers reversal). The software computes learning curves for each mouse with trials-to-criterion, error patterns (perseverative vs random errors), circadian activity profiles, and social metrics including corner co-occupancy patterns and dominance hierarchy indices derived from corner displacement events. Long-term datasets spanning weeks are automatically segmented into light/dark phases and analyzed for sleep-wake patterns inferred from activity bouts, providing a comprehensive behavioral fingerprint for each individual mouse within the social group.