Mouse lock box—sequential problem solving in mice

We exposed young adult female C57BL/6JCrl mice to complex mechanical puzzles, so-called lockboxes, and investigated the mice’s problem-solving strategies. The boxes were baited with a food reward to motivate the animals to open the locks. We administered four 1-step lockboxes that were then combined as a 4-step lockbox. The 1-step lockboxes were presented to the mice in preparation for the 4-step lockbox. The latter had to be opened in a specific order to reach the reward. While interacting with the lockboxes, the mice were video-recorded from three perspectives allowing accurate
behavioral annotation. The lockbox sessions are analyzed both manually and automatically to derive the pose of the lockbox parts and the mice. While the analyses are still in progress, results so far show that the performance of the mice solving the lockbox puzzles improves over time. This suggests that lockboxes are promising tools to assess cognition in mice.