Using an appetitive operant conditioning paradigm to screen rats for tinnitus induced by intense sound exposure: Experimental considerations and interpretation
Bibliographic record
Abstract
In an effort to help elucidate the neural mechanisms underlying tinnitus in humans, researchers have often relied on animal models; a preclinical approach which ultimately required that behavioral paradigms be designed to reliably screen animals for tinnitus. Previously, we developed a two-alternative forced-choice (2AFC) paradigm for rats that allowed for the simultaneous recording of neural activity at the very moments when they were reporting the presence/absence of tinnitus. Because we first validated our paradigm in rats experiencing transient tinnitus following a high-dose of sodium salicylate, the present study now sought to evaluate its utility to screen for tinnitus caused by intense sound exposure; a common tinnitus-inducer in humans. More specifically, through a series of experimental protocols, we aimed to (1) conduct sham experiments to ensure that the paradigm was able to correctly classify control rats as not having tinnitus, (2) confirm the time course over which the behavioral testing could reliably be performed post-exposure to assess chronic tinnitus, and (3) determine if the paradigm was sensitive to the variable outcomes often observed after intense sound exposure (e.g., hearing loss with our without tinnitus). Ultimately, in accordance with our predictions, the 2AFC paradigm was indeed resistant to false-positive screening of rats for intense sound-induced tinnitus, and it was able to reveal variable tinnitus and hearing loss profiles in individual rats following intense sound exposure. Taken together, the present study documents the utility of our appetitive operant conditioning paradigm to assess acute and chronic sound-induced tinnitus in rats. Finally, based on our findings, we discuss important experimental considerations that will help ensure that our paradigm is able to provide a suitable platform for future investigations into the neural basis of tinnitus.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.003 | 0.002 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.001 | 0.002 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Open science | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Research integrity | 0.001 | 0.002 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.001 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".