The Open Field test explores spontaneous locomotor activity and anxiety-related behaviour in a novel environment. The apparatus we use is located in a square-shaped (XY) frame equipped with two pairs of light-beam strips (16 x 16 infrared sensors) to measure activity levels and the location of the exhibited activity by recording the beam breaks caused by the animal. Rearings are measured by a further pair of light beam strips detecting movements in the Z-axis. The data is recorded by a computer, which scans the sensors with a frequency of 100 Hz.

We assess sensorimotor gating by measuring Pre-Pulse Inhibition of the Acoustic Startle Reflex. Prepulse inhibition is considered to have face, construct, and high predictive validity for schizophrenia and other neuropsychiatric dysfunctions involving alterations in sensorimotor integration in man. The apparatus consists of a sound-attenuating cubicle, high-quality loud speakers, a load cell platform and a computer for stimulus presentation and data collection.

For many tests, e.g. modified Hole Board (presented in the picture as example), elevated plus-maze, forced swimming, social discrimination, social interaction, Y-maze or object recognition, we use the Ethovision video-tracking system to record an animals locomotor path and a hand-held computer equipped with the Observer software to observe and manually record an animals behaviour in the respective test situations.