Fig. 2

a An experimental arena for studying the neural basis of auditory-guided complex behavior. The RIFF is a large arena (160 cm in diameter), equipped with 12 loudspeakers, 6 food dispensers and 6 fluid dispensers, 12 airpuff outlets, and a ceiling mount camera. The wall panels can be removed, the ports can be closed by blinds, and the spatial arrangement of the environment can be adjusted for different experiments. b Close-up on one interaction area. An adult female rat with a chronic implant and a neural logger is shown for scale. Each interaction area consists of two ports, one for food rewards and the other for fluids. Each port has a nose-poke detector and airpuff outlet. Two speakers are mounted above each port. c An approach for chronic wireless recordings in rats. The neural logger and battery are in the protective plastic case. A multi-contact silicon probe is mounted on the microdrive. The device is inclined to the back to allow rats to move naturally with an undisturbed access to the ports of the interaction area. The picture shows a rat with a 32-channel moveable silicon probe implant and wireless data logger. The battery used here allows for 3 h of recordings