The grey mouse lemur (Microcebus murinus) is a promising nonhuman primate model for brain ageing and neurodegenerative diseases. Age-related cognitive decline in this model is well described, however, data on possible relations between attention and age, as they are known from humans, are missing.

We tested 10 mouse lemurs in a touchscreen-based version of the 5-choice-serial-reaction-time-task (5CSRTT) on visuo-spatial attention: subjects had to interact with a briefly presented stimulus occurring unpredictably in one out of five locations on the touchscreen. Animals were trained to an 80 % performance at a four seconds stimulus presentation duration (SPD) and subsequently challenged by a SPD of two seconds. Additionally, ventricular expansion was assessed using structural magnetic resonance imaging.

Trials to the 80 % criterion at four seconds SPD correlated significantly with age and with ventricular expansion, especially around the occipital lobe. Once criterion performance was reached, two seconds challenge performance was independent of age. In four subjects that were additionally challenged with 1.5, 1.0, 0.8, or 0.6 s SPDs or variable delays preceding stimulus presentation, performance linearly declined with decreasing SPD, i.e. increasing attentional demand.

In conclusion, this is the first report of 5CSRTT data in mouse lemurs and demonstrates the general applicability of this task of visuo-spatial attention to this nonhuman primate model. Results further demonstrate age-related deficits in learning during acquisition of the 5CSRTT and suggest that both may be linked through age-related atrophy of occipital structures and a resulting deficit in central visual processes.

灰鼠狐猴 ( Microcebus murinus ) 是一种很有前途的非人类灵长类动物模型，用于治疗脑衰老和神经退行性疾病。该模型中与年龄相关的认知衰退得到了很好的描述，但是，关于注意力和年龄之间可能关系的数据（正如人类所知）缺失。

我们在基于触摸屏的 5-choice-serial-reaction-time-task (5CSRTT) 版本中测试了 10 只老鼠狐猴的视觉空间注意力：受试者必须与短暂呈现的刺激交互，这些刺激在五个位置中的一个不可预测地发生在触摸屏上。在四秒的刺激呈现持续时间 (SPD) 下将动物训练到 80% 的表现，然后通过两秒的 SPD 进行挑战。此外，使用结构磁共振成像评估心室扩张。

在 4 秒 SPD 时达到 80% 标准的试验与年龄和心室扩张显着相关，尤其是在枕叶周围。一旦达到标准表现，两秒挑战表现就与年龄无关。在另外接受 1.5、1.0、0.8 或 0.6 s SPD 或刺激呈现前的可变延迟挑战的四名受试者中，表现随着 SPD 的降低，即注意力需求的增加而线性下降。

总之，这是小鼠狐猴中 5CSRTT 数据的第一份报告，并证明了视觉空间注意任务对这种非人类灵长类动物模型的普遍适用性。结果进一步证明了在获得 5CSRTT 期间与年龄相关的学习缺陷，并表明两者可能通过与年龄相关的枕骨结构萎缩和由此产生的中央视觉过程缺陷有关。