Olfactory Stimulation of Monkeys Kevin Campbell Sarah Kolpin Wyatt Potter Heather Shaner

Overview Problem Statement Background Information Design Objectives and Criteria Preliminary Design Alternatives Evaluation of Design Alternatives Final Design Conclusion and Future Plans

Problem Statement This device is to provide a taste or smell stimulant to monkeys to investigate the effects of age on olafactory stimulation. The device should provide a two choices for the monkey and then supply a reward for the correct selection.

Background Information Primates are valuable to research Close physiological relationship with humans Results of this research could lead to more understanding of human brain and taste/smell interactions   Extensive training of the monkeys is necessary to effectively interact with experimental apparatus

Background Information “Two-bottle preference test” provides qualitative information but limited to preference “Multiple-choice discrimination” simulates natural foraging behavior to determine olfactory performance in monkeys when multiple choices are presented simultaneously. This experiment is meant to give researchers an idea of a monkey’s ability to discriminate between threshold of scents

Design Objectives and Criteria Apparatus easily convertable between tastants and smells Present monkey with two distinct options and allow monkey to choose Both options must clearly be separate and correlate to a specific stimuli One option will contain no smell or taste stimulate – a blank Once chosen choice should be final Reward given for correct choice Apparatus readily movable from cage to cage The replacement of stimuli between tests must be out of sight and smell range of ALL monkeys near by.

Preliminary Design Alternatives Electrical Model Mechanical Model #1 Mechanical Model #2

Electrical Model

Mechanical Model #1

Mechanical Model #2

Door locking mechanism

Evaluation of Design Alternative

Final Design Mechanical Model #2

Conclusion and Future Plans Mechanical model chosen to pursue due to simplicity and client desires Work on adding a blinking light that is activated upon correct choice of stimuli This idea could help shorten the training period for the monkeys Shield to hide operators setup from monkeys