Behavioral Paradigms in BrainSTEM

Introduction

Behavioral paradigms 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 paradigms in BrainSTEM ensures consistency, reproducibility, and clear documentation of behavioral experiments across your lab.

What is a Behavioral Paradigm?

A behavioral paradigm 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 Paradigms Relate to Setups

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

Creating a Behavioral Paradigm

  1. Go to Personal Attributes → Behavioral Paradigms
  2. Click Add behavioral paradigm
  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)
    • Description: Briefly describe the protocol, goals, and any special requirements
  4. Save the paradigm. It will now be available when creating sessions in compatible setups.

Example: Defining a T-maze Alternation Paradigm

{
  "name": "T-maze Alternation Task",
  "setup_type": "T-maze",
  "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 paradigms
  • Include enough detail in the description for reproducibility
  • Link paradigms to the correct environment type to avoid confusion
  • Update paradigms as protocols evolve, but keep a record of changes

Behavioral paradigms 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 paradigms defined, you can begin documenting complete experiments:

  • Document complete experiments: Follow the Electrophysiology Workflow tutorial to see how behavioral paradigms 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 paradigms will be executed
  • Set up data storage: Configure Managing Data Storage to link your behavioral sessions to actual data files for analysis
  • Expand your resources: Visit Submit Resources & Taxonomies to contribute new behavioral equipment or paradigm types to the BrainSTEM platform
  • Enable data sharing: Make your behavioral paradigms publicly available through Sharing Project Publicly to promote reproducible research protocols