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Development of a pneumo-tactile vibrissae stimulator for freely behaving rodents

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EMBEC & NBC 2017 (EMBEC 2017, NBC 2017)

Part of the book series: IFMBE Proceedings ((IFMBE,volume 65))

Abstract

Studying rodent behavior within virtual worlds and their interaction with them is a fairly new field of research. While virtual reality is able to visually present an unlimited variety of worlds to the animal with ease, physical stimulation often remains unsatisfactory and is usually difficult to achieve. Rodents such as rats mainly experience their environment using their whiskers. Though, electrical stimulation using subcortical electrode implants have been successfully used for sensory stimulation, the underlying principles are still poorly understood. One possible and less invasive alternative method is physical stimulation of the whiskers using puffs of air with the added benefit of avoiding the overall risks of brain surgery for intracranial microstimulation.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Section for Neuroelectronic Systems, Neurosurgery, Medical Center - University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany

    Olaf Christ Dipl. Inf, Dipl. Inf., Benedikt Hofmeier & Ulrich G. Hofmann

  2. Faculty of Medicine, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany

    Olaf Christ Dipl. Inf, Dipl. Inf. & Ulrich G. Hofmann

  3. Freiburg Institute for Advanced Studies (FRIAS), University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany

    Ulrich G. Hofmann

Authors
  1. Olaf Christ Dipl. Inf, Dipl. Inf.
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  2. Benedikt Hofmeier
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  3. Ulrich G. Hofmann
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Olaf Christ Dipl. Inf, Dipl. Inf. .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Tampere University of Technology, BioMediTech Institute and Faculty of Biomedical Science and Engineering, Tampere, Finland

    Hannu Eskola

  2. Tampere University of Technology, BioMediTech Institute and Faculty of Biomedical Science and Engineering, Tampere, Etelä-Suomi, Finland

    Outi Väisänen

  3. Tampere University of Technology, BioMediTech Institute and Faculty of Biomedical Science and Engineering, Tampere, Etelä-Suomi, Finland

    Jari Viik

  4. Tampere University of Technology, BioMediTech Institute and Faculty of Biomedical Science and Engineering, Tampere, Etelä-Suomi, Finland

    Jari Hyttinen

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© 2018 Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.

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Christ, O., Hofmeier, B., Hofmann, U.G. (2018). Development of a pneumo-tactile vibrissae stimulator for freely behaving rodents. In: Eskola, H., Väisänen, O., Viik, J., Hyttinen, J. (eds) EMBEC & NBC 2017. EMBEC NBC 2017 2017. IFMBE Proceedings, vol 65. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-5122-7_149

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-5122-7_149

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore

  • Print ISBN: 978-981-10-5121-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-981-10-5122-7

  • eBook Packages: EngineeringEngineering (R0)

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