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Conditioned Place Preference Analyzer

Enter baseline and post-conditioning chamber times, compute delta CPP, post preference percent, centre-time QC, group SEM, and CSV export.

Delta CPPCentre-Time QCCSV Export

CPP session table

Enter baseline and post-conditioning chamber times. Delta CPP corrects post-test preference for each animal's pre-conditioning side bias.

AnimalGroupPre drug side (s)Pre saline side (s)Pre centre (s)Post drug side (s)Post saline side (s)Post centre (s)QC
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Animal summary

AnimalGroupCPP preCPP postDelta CPPPost preference
M1vehicle30.050.020.053.1%
M2cocaine-5.0400.0405.072.2%
M3cocaine-30.0320.0350.067.8%

Group mean delta CPP

  • Compute CPP pre, CPP post, and baseline-corrected delta CPP
  • Compare reward or aversion groups with animal-level mean and SEM
  • Check post-test preference percent for intuitive reporting
  • Flag centre-time drift between baseline and post-conditioning tests
  • Export tidy animal-level CPP results for Prism, R, or Python

Don't use for

  • Real-time place preference tracking from raw video
  • Operant self-administration schedules
  • Extinction and reinstatement models that need repeated-session statistics

Resources

  • Drug-paired side assignment counterbalanced
  • Baseline preference recorded before conditioning
  • Conditioning session length fixed across groups
  • Centre zone definition unchanged between tests
  • Chambers cleaned consistently between animals
  • Testing time balanced across treatment groups

What Is Conditioned Place Preference?

Conditioned place preference is a context-reward learning assay. The animal explores a multi-compartment chamber, then receives drug-paired and control-paired conditioning sessions in distinct compartments. In the post-conditioning test, increased time in the drug-paired side indicates conditioned approach to the drug-associated context.

This analyzer treats the baseline and post tests as paired observations for each animal. It reports the raw pre and post CPP scores plus the baseline-corrected delta CPP endpoint.

Metrics and Math

CPP pre equals pre-conditioning drug-side time minus saline-side time. CPP post equals post-conditioning drug-side time minus saline-side time. Delta CPP equals CPP post minus CPP pre.

Post preference percent is drug-side post time divided by drug-side plus saline-side post time, multiplied by 100. Group summaries use animal-level delta CPP values and report mean plus SEM.

Best Practices

Counterbalance side assignment, verify that the apparatus has no strong unconditioned side bias, and keep chamber cues, lighting, cleaning, and test duration fixed across groups.

Review animals with large centre-time drift before final analysis. A major centre-time change can indicate tracking-zone changes, freezing, obstruction, or altered exploration that affects side preference.

Frequently Asked Questions

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