Using rats for vision research

A wide variety of species are used for the study of visual neuroscience. This is beneficial because fundamental mechanisms and theoretical principles of vision are likely to be highly conserved, while different species exhibit different visual capacities and present different technical advantages for experiments. Eight years ago my laboratory adopted the hooded rat as our primary preparation for vision research. To some this may be surprising, as nocturnal rodents have often been presumed to have poor vision and weak visual behavior. This commentary will provide my personal perspective on how I came to work with rats; discuss an example research project for which rats have been advantageous; and comment on the opportunities and challenges of the preparation.