About us

Equipments for Behavioral Experiments for mouse/rat

For forty-years, O’Hara & Co., Ltd. have been developing, manufacturing, and selling equipments for behavioral experiments and behavioral analysis. Here, we will introduce a selection of our products that we are presently selling.

We currently produce both hardware and software products. Please consult us not only about customizing the
equipment in this catalogue, but also on developing or manufacturing new equipment as well. We hope to be as helpful and take part in many steps of your research with our products.
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In the recent years, researchers are coming across various confounding factors within each behavioral experiment that makes it difficult to interpret the data obtained from only one experimental result. Therefore, to be able to produce a comprehensive evaluation of behaviors, it has become common for researchers to utilize multiple behavioral experiments in a test battery.

In all behavioral tests, you cannot selectively evaluate one single behavior and you are also bound to run into several behavioral abnormalities. During experiments, one must always remember to take into consideration the confounding factors within each test. On the other hand, from one single behavioral experiment, if you analyze the various confounding factors, it may lead to the discovery of findings that you may not have originally expected. Therefore, from performing a relative evaluation of the results obtained from the test battery of multiple behavioral experiments, you can possibly infer on what in actuality is playing an effect on the behavior.

After obtaining results from your behavioral experiments and from there are able to come up with several interpretations of your data, it is also important to not instantaneously associate your results to that of the higher mental functions. Initially, you should evaluate your results on the levels of the physical state or lower mental functions. When you verify the aspects of the lower physical and mental functions in a separate set of behavioral experiments and are able to counter any arguments for them, then you can apply your interpretations of your results to that of the higher mental function. Using this type of understanding and thought process, we developed our behavioral test battery.

In a behavioral test battery, the use of automated behavioral apparatuses is highly recommended to reduce experimenter bias. Experimenter’s bias is bias towards an expected result by the experimenter. Even if the use of automated apparatuses is difficult due to financial situations, it is still important to reduce experimenter bias by having the experimenter run blind experiments or use an experimenter that does not have the knowledge of the experiment aim.

One important factor in behavior experiments is that of the experiment environment. In each experiment, unvarying lighting conditions, sound, temperature, humidity, experiment time, smell, and other conditions are all desired. Furthermore, to get the most accurate data out of your experiments, you also need to take into consideration the proper care of your animals, such as housing conditions and handling.