Cue Card Removal
Objective: Examine head-direction cell responses to loss of the major orienting spatial cue by removing a white card from the recording cylinder
This is a Cue Card Removal protocol using rat as the model organism. The procedure involves 3 procedural steps, 1 equipment items, 1 materials. Extracted from a 1990 paper published in Journal of Neuroscience.
Model and subjects
rat • not specified • unknown • not specified • not specified
Study window
Estimated timing pending
Core workflow
Establish baseline recording with cue card present • Remove the white spatial cue card • Record head-direction cell activity after cue card removal
Primary readouts
- Preferred firing direction of head-direction cells
- Peak firing rate
- Directional firing range
- Asymmetry of the firing-rate/head-direction function
Key equipment and reagents
Use this page as an execution guide, then fall back to the source paper whenever you need exact exclusions, dosing details, or assay-specific caveats.
Confirm first
- Verify the animal model, intervention setup, and collection timepoints against the source paper.
- Check that every direct vendor link matches the exact specification your lab plans to run.
Use the page like this
- Work through the protocol steps in order and use the inline vendor chips only when you need to source or verify an item.
- Jump to Experimental Context for readouts, data shape, and analysis flow before planning downstream analysis.
Protocol Steps
Start here. The step list is optimized for running the experiment, with direct vendor links available inline when you need to source a cited item.
Establish baseline recording with cue card present
Record head-direction cell activity from rats moving freely in the 76-cm diameter gray cylinder with the white spatial cue card taped to the inside wall occupying 100 degrees of arc
Note: The white card serves as the major orienting spatial cue in the animal's environment
View evidence from paper
“Head-direction cells were recorded from rats as they moved freely in a 76-cm-diameter gray cylinder. A white card, occupying 100 degrees of arc, was taped to the inside wall of the cylinder and served as the major orienting spatial cue”
Remove the white spatial cue card
Remove the white card from the inside wall of the cylinder to eliminate the major orienting spatial cue
Note: Card removal is the critical manipulation to test cue-dependent firing properties
View evidence from paper
“Card removal had no effect on peak firing rate or range of firing, but in 8/13 cells the preferred direction rotated by at least 24 degrees”
Record head-direction cell activity after cue card removal
Continue recording head-direction cell firing patterns from freely moving rats in the cylinder now without the white spatial cue card
Note: Observe changes in preferred firing direction and other discharge characteristics
View evidence from paper
“Card removal had no effect on peak firing rate or range of firing, but in 8/13 cells the preferred direction rotated by at least 24 degrees”