Rat Tail Flick

Digital Rat Tail-Flick Apparatus

My Rat Tail Flick device (aka Flick Master) is a research device used in experimental psychology. With it a researcher can gauge the basic sensitivity or awareness of a rat. In operation the rat’s tail is laid between the guides and the device is activated. A digital electronic timer begins counting and a heat source is applied to the rat’s tail. Heat remains until the rat ‘flicks’ his tail away from the heat source. When this happens a photocell stops the digital timer and the heat is removed. The time it takes for the rat to flick his tail is the quantitative measure of the rat’s current state.

Many of my Flick Master devices are in use at the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee. While a graduate student at UWM, Maeng Shin used my Flick Master device for his PhD dissertation "Neuropeptide Circuitry of Amygdala Related to Antinociception” (2002). After graduation, Maeng requested that I build a Tail Flick Device for him in order to continue his research in Korea. For Maeng I built a special version and sent it all the way to Korea University in Seoul, South Korea. He is currently using it for his teaching and post doctoral work there.

Contact:

Daniel Shurilla
Electronic Research Technician
Email: dannys@shurilla.com

Maeng Shin, Ph.D.
Korea University
Psychology Lab
Seoul, South Korea
Email: maeng_shin@yahoo.co.kr