Computer vision for measuring social operant behavior

Abstract

Operant conditioning has not been well adapted to social behavior despite a growing interest among behavior analysts. This is due in part to technological limitations in measuring social behavior, especially in real time. This paper presents a summary of three of the present author’s attempts to adapt computer vision technologies to the study of social operant behavior of zebrafish (Danio rerio). Experiment 1 examined whether the location of a single zebrafish in a three-dimensional (3D) space could be tracked in real time. In Experiment 2, locations of two zebrafish were tracked simultaneously. A transparent partition was placed between the two fish to aid in their identification. A food reinforcer was delivered when the two fish approached one another across the partition. Experiment 3 examined whether it is possible to track multiple fish without such a partition. Results of these three experiments were promising, suggesting that computer vision can be useful in the study of social operant behavior.