Planning and designing spaces for the sciences.

Science facility renovation and expansion projects provide opportunities for faculty members to play a role in working with architects and administrators to produce effective spaces for teaching and research. This article summarizes information regarding the process and design features that have proved beneficial for many recent science facilities projects. Although the context focuses on large projects, the general principles pertain to smaller changes in spaces that individual departments might be pursuing.

Single unit activity in the rat superior colliculus during reward magnitude task performance.

Long-Evans hooded rats were trained to run an alternation pattern in a t-maze with low reward (1 pellet) in the food cup of one arm and high reward (3 pellets) in the food cup of the other arm. Single units in the intermediate and deep layers of the superior colliculus were recorded using moveable microelectrodes. Most units showed activity that was associated with food retrieval, with a phasic increase in activity either upon the cessation of running or upon the insertion of the snout into the food cup. Some units (16%) showed different activity patterns upon retrieval of the two magnitudes of reward. Although 70% of the units showed either unimodal or multimodal sensory sensitivity, usually in response to tactile stimulation of the snout, this property was not related to activity associated with food retrieval. These data support previous observations that cells in the rat SC exhibit activity related to food retrieval, and indicate that for some of these neurons the coding reflects the characteristics of the reward stimulus.

Reward-related neuronal activity in the rat superior colliculus.

The activity of single units in the intermediate and deep layers of the superior colliculus was recorded while rats performed an operant conditioning task. On all trials, each animal pressed a bar and then inserted his snout into a food cup; on half of the trials, food reinforcement was available. To test for tactile sensitivity, on half of the trials the rats received a puff of air to the face when the snout entered the food cup. Activity of most cells was correlated with the motor activity of inserting the snout into the food cup, even when reinforcement was not available. For many cells, a larger burst of activity was seen on the reinforced trials than on trials when rats made the same movements without the presence of reward. There was no evidence that an increase in tactile sensitivity occurred when the animal retrieved the reinforcement. These results suggest that cells in the superior colliculus have an increase in activity associated with reward retrieval, which for some neurons is not dependent on simple sensory or motor factors.