Recording the cats in the hats: In a world first, veterinary scientists have found a way to scan the brains of cats while they’re awake, using electrodes concealed under specially knitted wool caps, electrodes that cats normally shake off when being tested for chronic pain.

I’ve linked to the press release in the post above. In this comment, for those interested, here’s the link to the peer reviewed journal article:

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0165027024001997

From the linked article:

Scientists at UdeM knit little wool caps to contain electrodes that cats normally shake off when being tested for chronic pain.

In a world first, veterinary scientists at Université de Montréal have found a way to scan the brains of cats while they’re awake, using electrodes concealed under specially knitted wool caps.

When being tested for chronic pain from common conditions like osteoarthritis, awake cats tend to shake off and chew the wired electrodes placed on their heads to produce electroencephalograms (EEGs).

To prevent that, cats are normally sedated through the procedure.

Now, in a study published in the Journal of Neuroscience Methods, researchers led by Éric Troncy and Aude Castel of UdeM’s Groupe de recherche en pharmacologie animale du Québec report a new technique to keep the electrodes in place: by placing them in crocheted beanies.