Validation of a Behavioral Task to Study Perceptual Supplementation in Rats

This research validates a rodent model for perceptual supplementation (or sensory substitution). DA/Han rats were video-tracked in the darkness and had to find a reward by searching an auditory virtual track. Through the 3 stages of the experiment, rats learned to use the auditory feedback to follow the virtual track and reach the reward. Our results indicate that perceptual supplementation is possible in rats and our task could be adapted in order to study the mechanisms of perceptual supplementation and its ontogeny and neurobiological substrates.