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Team:Evry/tadpool
From 2012.igem.org
TadPool:
The goal of this sub-project is to explore possible interactions with tadpoles in a fun and interactive way. Our experiments are based on two papers [1,2] published by the Aizenman Lab at the Brown University. This project is conducted in collaboration with the Do It Yourself community lab, LaPaillasse.Introduction:
During early development of Tadpoles, visual avoidance is tuned to a specific stimulus size and is sensitive to changes in contrast. How, can we take advantage of that behavior to make possible a interactions with tadpoles ? Inspired by a first paper [1] and our own experiments, we got pretty good results with the following setup:- A CRT screen is – such that the screen is in a horizontal position.
- Tadpoles are put in a large petri dish and the border are covered by a black tape. Use an open top tank, the ceiling of your chamber is can cause all sorts of light reflections from the screen underneath.
- Find a water level such that Tadpoles always swim along the bottom and that they make a 45 degrees angle with the bottom.
- The ambiant light in the room should be relatively low, but not too much otherwise your tadpoles will be falling asleep.
- To get better results, try to do the experiments in morning, tadpoles are stubborn and when it's tool late they just won't move at all.
Gameplay:
The following observations give us clues to develop a gameplay:Tadpoles reacts better if the movement is smooth and slow. If the tadpole doesn't react, don't try to stimulate it once gain immediately - you will only habituate it (they stop reacting to the dots really quickly). Wait for a while (20-30s).
Other Notes/Observations:
- CRTs tend to heat, and as the water becomes warmer, the tadpoles seem to get drowsy.
External Links:
- GitHub (some tiny programs to quickly try out visual avoidance) https://github.com/Antobiotics/TadPool
- Vimeo: To check out our latest results: https://vimeo.com/user12748798
References:
- W.Dong et al. Visual Avoidance in Xenopus Tadpoles Is Correlated With the Maturation of Visual Responses in the Optic Tectum, J Neurophysiol. 2009 February; 101(2): 803–815.
- Khakhalin AS, Koren D and Aizenman CD (2012). Neural mechanisms underlying the collision avoidance behavior in the African Clawed frog tadpole. Front. Behav. Neurosci. Conference Abstract: Tenth International Congress of Neuroethology. doi: 10.3389/conf.fnbeh.2012.27.00168
