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Monitor and analyze behavior

Observation lab

When you intend to perform observations for your study or research, or if you need to capture a participant’s behavior while navigating on a website, you must be able to perform these actions in a certain room or space.

Sometimes, people act differently if they know they’re being observed. Observation labs help you capture natural, unbiased behavior.

Observation lab

What can you do in an observation lab?

Study human behavior

Whether you're observing how children play or how a team communicates and solves problems, an observation lab helps you capture authentic reactions, such as interactions.

Educational research

When you want to understand how people learn, or how they interact in a classroom setting, an observation lab gives you the control and tools to watch their progress in real time.

Market research

Are you testing how people engage with a new product or marketing campaign? Watch as participants naturally interact with what you’re testing, and get data that helps you fine-tune your strategy.

Medical research

If you’re involved in medical research, an observation lab allows you to monitor patient responses to treatments, or how they interact in therapeutic settings.

Why should I choose an observation lab?

If you're looking to gain real insights into behavior, emotions, or interactions, an observation lab gives you the ability to watch and record your subjects in a controlled setting allowing you to gather pure, unfiltered data. Choose to use an observation lab:

  • When you want to observe natural behavior
  • When you need control and want to minimize variables that could affect your results
  • When you need detailed data

Get real insights into behavior using an observation lab

What equipment do I need?

View of a control room

Stable images, high quality video recordings, and clear recordings of speech and other sounds make all the difference. Each room can be tailored to mimic real-life environments or controlled experimental setups.

  • Recording devices such as IP or Pan-Tilt-Zoom cameras, webcams
  • Microphones, microphone amplifiers, and audio mixer
  • Central computer with multiple screens in the control room
  • Optional: Screen capture device(s), data acquisition tool(s), and eye tracker(s)

Setting up a well-equipped lab

You’re focused on understanding behavior, and that’s no small task. But with the right tools, it becomes a lot more manageable. We know it's challenging—but we're ready to take on that challenge with you!

When you purchase a Noldus lab, integration and synchronization of all equipment is part of our installation service. You can be sure that your hardware and software will work together, and that all your data is in sync. No matter what kind of research you are working on, we will help you get started quickly!

"We need a lab that works; where people very quickly can learn how to work with all the software and the technology. That is what we got from Noldus."

Dr. S. Dietrich

Leipzig University, Germany

Buyer’s guide to the perfect audiovisual lab

Free buyer's guide

  • What is an audiovisual lab?
  • What do you need to complete your setup?
  • How does an audiovisual lab help you answer your research questions?
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What are the best software tools for my observation lab?

For an observation lab, you’ll need software tools that allow you to record, analyze, and organize your data efficiently.

  • Combining different types of measurements for human behavior studies becomes effortless using NoldusHub®.
  • Audio and video recording tool Viso® records from multiple cameras, and rooms, simultaneously.
  • Event logging and video analysis software tool The Observer XT® allows you to combine and analyze behavioral observations with physiological data.
  • Synchronous recording of video and other sources is possible using MediaRecorder.
  • Facial expression analysis software FaceReader™ can automatically analyze the expressions sad, happy, surprised, angry, disgusted, scared, neutral, and contempt.
Multimodal measurements

Discover these lab examples

Gain better understanding of typical and atypical development

At the Baby & Child Research Center researchers are part of a large European Research project that collects data to identify differences in behavior and brain development in young children. The tests gain insight in children's social skills and how autism or ADHD develops.

BABY & CHILD RESEARCH CENTER,
NIJMEGEN, THE NETHERLANDS
Efficient coding of social behavior to understand how we interact

At the Social Behavior Lab at Western University, dr. Erin Heerey explores human behavior during social interactions. Frame-by-frame expression analysis of her project would have taken 800 hours of manual coding. FaceReader did it in only 14 hours!

UNIVERSITY OF WESTERN ONTARIO,
ONTARIO, CANADA
Multimodal lab: easily integrate all your datastreams

An observation can tell you what someone is doing. Why they are doing it, requires additional tools such as physiology, eye-tracking data, and facial expression data. With multimodal measurement you can gain deeper insights into implicit responses and mental processes.

AUDIOVISUAL LAB,
WAGENINGEN, THE NETHERLANDS

Don't know where to start?
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Together, we can discuss you research requirements and come up with the best solution!

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