The rotarod is a type of treadmill specifically designed to test rodents. This task is used to assess the effect of drugs, motor coordination and fatigue resistance rats using one testing apparatus. The animals are placed on textured drums to avoid slipping. When an animal drops onto the individual sensing platforms below, test results are recorded. Clear plexiglass front panels allow for viewing during test. Like the open field test, the BN Lab uses this paradigm to test the effects of novel compounds to better understand results on cognitive operant tasks.