The Habituation/Cross-Habituation Test Revisited: Guidance from Sniffing and Video Tracking

Figure 11

Sniffing rates at targeted criterion thresholds. Sniff rates associated with the same criteria as shown in Figure 10. Top: single criteria; Bottom: combined criteria. Relaxed criterion thresholds include bins with low sniff rates unrelated to odor source exploration. Stricter orientation criteria combined with distance <1 cm or <2 cm do not yield higher sniff rates during exploration (bottom left), but exploration time drops dramatically (Figure 10, bottom left). The relaxed proximity criterion (<4 cm) combined with velocity >0.5 cm/s (, red) yields sniff rates equivalent to the standard (d2-a10; 9.6 Hz; bottom center) and also increases exploration time from 11% to 15% (Figure 10), suggesting this to be a useful new HaXha odor exploration criterion. Similar results were found for other trial types and FUS KO mice (not shown).