One video camera was used in conjunction with ANY-maze software to track the head location of animals while they performed the task, and another was used to record high-definition video and audio to identify trials where animals ultimately consumed fluid (drinking trials; Fig. 1B) or did not (non-drinking trials; Fig. 1C). Drinking trials were assessed offline and defined as trials where at least one “lick” occurred. A lick was detected by the combination of the animals behavior and the sound of the ball-bearing sippers that were clearly audible in the video recordings. Digital xy coordinates were converted to voltage and fed directly into electrophysiology hardware where they were recorded in parallel to neuronal activity. Raw tracking values were used to plot the location of the animals within the conditioning apparatus.
