Behavioral Assays in BrainSTEM

Introduction

Behavioral Assays are standardized experimental protocols or tasks (such as T-maze alternation, open field exploration, or Morris water maze) that are performed within a specific setup environment. Defining behavioral assays in BrainSTEM ensures consistency, reproducibility, and clear documentation of behavioral experiments across your lab.

What is a Behavioral Assay?

A behavioral assay defines:

• The type of behavioral task or protocol (e.g., spatial memory, anxiety, locomotion)
• The required environment type (must match the setup’s environment type)
• Key parameters or variables (e.g., trial structure, cues, reward schedules)

How Behavioral Assays Relate to Setups

• Each behavioral assay is associated with a specific environment type (e.g., T-maze, Open field)
• Only setups with a matching environment type can be used together
• This ensures that experimental sessions are created with the correct physical and procedural context

Creating a Behavioral Assay

1. Go to Personal Attributes → Behavioral Assays
2. Click Add behavioral assay
3. Fill in the required fields:
   • Name: Descriptive name (e.g., “T-maze Alternation Task”)
   • Setup type: Select the matching setup type (e.g., T-maze) (required)
   • Behavioral paradigm: Select the standardized paradigm this assay implements (required)
   • Authenticated Groups: Assign one or more lab groups (required)
   • Description: Briefly describe the protocol, goals, and any special requirements
4. Save the assay. It will now be available when creating sessions in compatible setups.

Example: Defining a T-maze Alternation Paradigm

Field	Value
Name	T-maze Alternation Task
Setup type	T-maze (select from available setup types)
Behavioral paradigm	Alternation Task (select the matching paradigm)
Authenticated Groups	Select your lab group
Description	A spatial working memory task where the subject must alternate between left and right arms for reward.

Best Practices

• Use clear, standardized names for assays
• Include enough detail in the description for reproducibility
• Link behavioral assays to the correct environment type to avoid confusion
• Update behavioral assays as protocols evolve, but keep a record of changes

Behavioral Assays are critical for organizing and analyzing behavioral data. Defining them up front ensures your lab’s experiments are well-documented and comparable across projects.

Next Steps

Now that you have behavioral assays defined, you can begin documenting complete experiments:

• Document complete experiments: Follow the Electrophysiology Workflow tutorial to see how behavioral assays integrate with full experimental documentation
• Set up your infrastructure: Configure the physical setups and equipment using Setting Up Lab Infrastructure to create the experimental environments where your behavioral assays will be executed
• Set up data storage: Configure Managing Data Storage to link your behavioral sessions to actual data files for analysis
• Enable data sharing: Make your behavioral assays publicly available through Sharing Project Publicly to promote reproducible research protocols