CN109566447A — Touch-screen research system for non-human primate movement and cognitive function

Assignee: Institute of Pharmacology and Toxicology of AMMS (Beijing) · Inventors: Zhou Jin, Wang Changyong, Ma Jinxu, Sun Hongji, Qiao Xin, Zhao Yuwei, Dai Jun (pinyin transliteration of the CN record) Filed: 2018-12-07 (CN201811497842.7A) · Published: 2019-04-05 · Status: Pending (CN)

Abstract

A touch-screen-based research system for studying movement and cognitive function in non-human primates: a restraint chair fixes the animal (neck ring, waist restriction plate and backboard; arms free) in front of a touch-screen interaction system that presents visual/auditory stimuli and records touch positions; a water-supply system delivers liquid rewards; an eye tracker records bilateral eye movement and blink information; a four-camera hand-tracking system records hand trajectories in real time; and a myoelectrical recording system captures upper-limb muscle EMG wirelessly. A slave computer runs the modules and a host computer sets parameters and stores results; brain neural electrical activity can be acquired in conjunction with an external brain-electric/neural-signal collecting system. Aimed at multi-task, accurate and repeatable NHP movement/cognition experiments, with online parameter adjustment and per-stage action timing.

Key technical features

• Brain recording: NO built-in EEG — the rig’s own recording modalities are wireless EMG (myoelectric) of upper-limb muscles, an eye tracker (infrared camera + lamp), and four-camera hand tracking. The description states that brain neural electrical activity of the macaque can be acquired “in conjunction with” a brain-electric or neural-signal collecting system, and claim 8 notes synchrony with “the recording synchronism of cranial nerve information” — synchronisation-ready with external neural recording, not an integrated EEG system.
• Species: Animal (non-human primate) — 44 “animal”; 42 “primate” (mostly “non-human primate”); 3 “monkey”; 3 “macaque”; worked embodiment fixes a macaque in the chair; zero rodent.
• Classification: A01K15/00; A01K15/02; A01K15/027 (training or exercising equipment for animals).
• Hardware: animal mount chair (steel main frame on the floor; transparent acrylic experiment basket; neck ring buckled into the neck-plate slot; waist restriction plate + backboard; legs limited — claim 3); touch-screen interaction system (touch screen, display, LED warning light, prepare button, buzzer, PC + control software); water supply (nozzle, conduits A/B, water bottle, drive control circuit, solenoid valve); eye tracker (body, infrared camera, infrared lamp, tripod, DA card, computer); hand tracking (four adjustable high-definition cameras + video capture card; fluorescent dye marker on the hand); myoelectrical system (recording electrode sensor + wireless receiver → signal acquisition system, claim 8); slave computer (serial link) + host computer.
• Claim scope: 10 claims — system composition (claims 1-2), chair/basket details (claim 3), module and synchronisation details in the dependent claims.
• Citations: 6 patent citations; cited by 12.
• Prior art cited in the background: tablet-based 5-CSRTT Alzheimer’s cognition study; the “monkey CANTAB touch screen cognitive system”; a Stanford University touch-screen macaque motor-function system.

Significance

Targets a gap in NHP research hardware: most movement/cognition systems need a specially matched monkey cage, cannot restrain the animal properly, or cannot study limb movement, eye movement and brain signals together. The system unifies task presentation, reward, eye tracking, hand tracking and EMG in one synchronised platform with online parameter control (reward time, audiovisual feedback timing, training mode), so training and testing can be adapted in real time without a dedicated cage. In this patent collection it is the most multi-modal NHP rig — recording EMG, eye movement and hand trajectories simultaneously — and the first from a military-medical research institute (AMMS Institute of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Beijing).