Knowledge Base

11 - Analysis of Trial Control data

11 Analysis of Trial Control data

what do you want to do?

Trial Control data are analyzed as Dependent variables. Choose your dependent variables in the Analysis Profile.

Analyze events that occurred during the trial

How many times a condition became true? How many times the food reward was given? What is the latency of the first reward? To answer these questions, we consider the events associated with single Trial Control boxes. See trial control events on page 170.

Analyze the time defined by two events

How much time elapsed from the moment the cue light switched on to when the subject

entered the reward zone? See trial control states page 172

A special case in this category is the analysis of learning. Did the time between the event Light on and the event Subject in reward zone decrease during the test? See page 176

Analyze the data within the time between two events

How many times a certain behavior occurred when the stimulus light was on? What was the speed of the subject between event A and event B? To answer such questions, use the Nest function to define the time segments within which the event or behavior of interest occurred. See data within trial control states on page 177.

Analyze Trial Control variables (e.g. counters)

A Trial Control variable (for details see page 28) has been defined in the Trial Control procedure. Its value is increased every time the subject makes a correct choice. To analyze the performance of the subjects, we calculate the maximum value of the variable, and visualize when the maximum value occurred. See trial control variables on page 178.

Analyze the commands sent to the hardware devices

How many times did EthoVision XT send a command to a pellet dispenser to drop one pellet? hardware command on See page 178. 11 - Analysis of Trial Control data

Analyze variables associated with hardware devices

For example, analyze the data from the Lickometer. For hardware devices, there are continuous variable and state variables. See hardware continuous variable on page 179 and hardware state variable on page 181.

Notes

For more general information on analysis variables, see Dependent variables in the EthoVision XT Help. To visualize Trial Control data, from the Analyze menu, select Results and then Plot Integrated Data (see the EthoVision XT Help). You find an example of visualization of Trial Control data on page 42. To export Trial Control data, see page 185. Trial statistics of Duration and Latency can only be a multiple of the sample interval (=1/ sample rate). For example, a condition like Subject in zone A for >= 3 s is met when the time elapsed from its activation exceeds 3 s. If the sample rate is 12.5 frames/s (thus the sample interval is 1/12.5= 0.08 s), the condition is met at the first multiple of 0.08 greater than 3 s, that is 3.04 s. For this reason, the latency of the event Condition becomes true is 3.04 s. 11 - Analysis of Trial Control data

trial control events

If you are interested in the rate of events like the number of times the lever was pressed, or the number of pellets dropped, or the latency of an action, use the Trial Control event function in the Analysis profile. 1. In the Experiment Explorer, right-click Analysis Profiles and select New, or click an existing profile. 2. In the Dependent Variables pane, under Trial Control, double-click Trial Control event or drag it to the middle of the screen, or click the button next to it. 3. The Trial Control event window appears. Under Event, from the Element list select the element to be analyzed. For example, if you want to analyze the hardware-base action "Drop pellet" locate this among Action: Drop pellet and select it. 4. From the Event list, select the event for the element selected. The options available depend on what you have chosen as Element (see Possible states of Trial Control elements on page 171). 5. Click the Trial Statistics tab and select the statistic you want to analyze. 6. Click the Group Statistics tab and select additional statistics if you want summarized statistics over all trials, or the groups of trials defined in your Data Profile. 7. Click Add. The new Trial Control event appears in the list of Selected Dependent Variables. 8. Choose the option you require: To calculate statistics of the selected events, choose Analyze > Results > Statistics & Charts. (see Calculate Statistics in the EthoVision XT Help). To visualize the events, choose Analysis > Results > Plot Integrated Data (see Visualize Data in the EthoVision XT Help).

Notes

If one or more other instances of Trial Control event are listed under Selected Dependent Variables in the main window, the Trial Control event name is followed by a progressive number (1, 2, 3...). The Element list contains the Trial Control elements defined in all your Trial Control Settings. For each element, the list shows the name of the corresponding Trial Control box. Choose Latency to first to analyze the time of the first instance of the event defined since the start of tracking. Choose Latency to last to analyze the time from the start of data recording to the last instance of the event defined. 11 - Analysis of Trial Control data For calculating frequency and latency of the subject's behavior, choose the appropriate Dependent Variable (see Dependent variables in detail in the EthoVision XT Help).

Possible events of Trial Control elements

Becomes active (for Start-stop trial rule begin, sub-rule begin, conditions, actions, references and operators). Marks the time that the trial starts (for the Start-stop trial rule begin) or the element becomes active (in all other cases). This is the time when control passes from the previous box in the Trial Control sequence. See the Notes below for the difference between Becomes active and Becomes true. Becomes true (for conditions and operators). Marks the time that a condition is met. Choose this option for example to analyze the instances when the condition In zone A was met. Becomes false (for conditions and operators). Marks the time that a condition is not met. Choose this option for example to analyze the instances when the condition In zone A was not met. Becomes inactive (for Start-stop trial rule end, sub-rule end, conditions, actions, references and operators). Marks the time that the element becomes inactive, that is, when control passes to the next box in the Trial Control sequence. In practice, this is the time a condition becomes true or an action is taken. For the Start-Stop trial rule end, this is the time that the trial stops. Makes sub-rule active (for sub-rule references). Marks the time that a reference to a sub- rule triggers the sub-rule. This is the time that one of the Start conditions set in the Reference box (see page 60) becomes true. Makes sub-rule inactive (for sub-rule references). Marks the time that the last repeat of a sub-rule planned for a specific Start condition is completed.

Notes

For a condition like Is the subject in zone A?, choose Becomes true to consider the

moment when the condition is met. Choose Becomes inactive when you want to

consider the time that a condition could be met (no matter whether or not the subject is in zone A). Becomes active/inactive are especially used when analyzing intervals (see below). 11 - Analysis of Trial Control data

trial control states

If you are interested in the time interval between two events, for example from the Action "cue light on" to the Condition "subject on shelter" being met, use the Trial Control state function in the Analysis profile. 1. In the Experiment Explorer, right-click Analysis Profiles and select New, or click an existing profile. 2. In the Dependent Variables pane, under Trial Control, click Trial Control state or drag it to the middle of the screen, or click the button next to it. The Trial Control State window appears (see below). 3. Next to From, from the Element list select the Trial Control element that makes the criterion for the start of the interval. From the Event list, select the event that makes the start of the interval (see the previous page for information on the events available for a specific element). 4. Next to To, from the Element list select the Trial Control element that makes the criterion for the end of the interval. From the Event list, select the event that makes the end of the interval. The event that marks the end of the interval may occur multiple times. Therefore, choose which occurrence (from 1th to 9th) should be used. 1th is the first occurrence of the event selected under To available after each occurrence of the event selected under From. See an example in Figure 46. Figure 45 The Trial Control State window. 11 - Analysis of Trial Control data 5. Select Ignore last interval if incomplete to ignore the interval when the Trial Control event that defines the end of the state is not found. If you do not select this option, and the end criterion is not met, EthoVision XT defines an interval up to the end of the track. 6. An interval may occur several times in a trial. If your want to have statistics for each occurrence, select the Calculate statistics per interval option. Next to For consecutive intervals, choose the range of occurrences of the intervals you want to have in the results. example If the interval from Light On (cue) to Mouse on Shelter (response) occurs 10 times and you want to have the first four occurrences displayed in your table, select 1 to 4. If you want to have all occurrences displayed, select 1 to 10. If you do not know exactly how many instances of the state interval the tracks contain, enter a number reasonably high (for example 50 or 100) so you make sure analysis is carried out on all instances. note If you do not select this option, the multiple occurrences are considered as one interval. Click the Trial Statistics tab and select the statistic you want to analyze. Click the Group Statistics tab and select additional statistics if you want summarized statistics over all trials, or the groups of trials defined in your Data Profile. Click Add. The new Trial Control state appears in the list of Selected Dependent Variables. Figure 46 An example of time intervals defined with in Trial Control data. In a conditioning test, it is required to teach the subject to sit on the shelter after a cue stimulus is given, in order to get a reward. An interval is defined from when the cue light switches on to when the subject is found on top of the shelter. Solid bars represent the time that the subject is on the shelter (condition met). A - Interval from "Cue light On" to 1st occurrence of "subject on shelter", B - Interval from "Cue light On" to 2nd occurrence of "subject on shelter". 11 - Analysis of Trial Control data 7. Choose the option you require: To calculate statistics of the selected intervals, from the Analysis menu, select Results and then Statistics & Charts. The analysis window that appears has the tab Trial Statistics for the analysis results per trial and Group Statistics for the statistics and charts from the summarized results over different trials. If you have different filters, data profiles, or analysis profiles make your selection on the toolbar. Click Calculate. (see Calculate Statistics in the EthoVision XT Help). To visualize the intervals, choose Analyze > Results > Plot Integrated Data (see Plot integrated data in the EthoVision XT Help).

Notes

If one or more other instances of Trial Control state are listed under Selected Dependent Variables in the main window, the Trial Control state name is followed by a progressive number (1, 2, 3...). We advise you to rename the trial control state (right-click the name and select Rename). The Element list contains the Trial Control elements defined in all your Trial Control Settings. For each element, the list shows the Name of the corresponding Trial Control box. Choose Becomes active instead of Becomes true when you want the interval to be based on a condition from the moment it could have been met, no matter when it was met actually. See example 1 on page 176. If you define an interval by choosing the same event under From and To, the instance of the event marking the end of the interval is not used as a starting point for the next occurrence of the interval. For example, you have a sequence of four actions of the same type: A1, ..., A2, ..., A3, ..., A4. Selecting a trial control state From A To A results in analyzing the time between A1 and A2, and between A3 and A4. For Trial Control states based on Conditions: The sample time at which a Trial Control state starts (or ends) also depends on the statistic used in the condition in the Trial Control rule. - If you use Current to define the condition (for example, "when Current In zone= true"), the Trial Control state starts (or stops) at the expected sample time. For example, when the animal actually enters the zone (and thus Current= true for that sample). - If you use any other statistic to define the condition (for example, "when Frequency of In zone >= 1): When the condition becomes true after the condition box is activated (see Figure 3 on page 11 for an explanation of the terms true and active), the Trial Control State starts (or stops) at the expected sample time (see A in Figure 47). 11 - Analysis of Trial Control data When the condition is already true when the condition box is activated (for example, a condition "Frequency of In zone =1" is activated when the animal is already in the zone), such statistic is only evaluated at the next sample (or in the second next sample, in the case of Heading). In that case, the Trial Control state starts (or stops) one sample (or two) later than expected from the condition (see B in Figure 47). However, for the consecutive frequencies of In zone =2, 3, etc, the condition is already active by definition; therefore the Trial Control State starts at the expected time, when the condition becomes true. Figure 47 In this example, a Trial Control condition has been defined in the Trial Control Settings, which checks that the Frequency of In zone is >=1 for the Center of the open field. A Trial Control state has been defined in the Analysis profile, which starts when the condition "Frequency of In zone >=1" is true. A1 - The animal enters the Center zone (and therefore the condition becomes true) after the condition is activated. The Frequency statistic is evaluated at the same sample time. A2 - Plot of the variables "In zone" for the Center and the Trial Control state. The Trial Control state starts at the expected sample time, that is, when the animal actually enters the zone. B1 - The animal is already in the zone when the condition is activated. Therefore, the condition becomes true at the same time that it is activated, but the Frequency statistic is evaluated at the next sample (here, sample rate = 5/s, thus after 0.2 s). B2 - Same plot as A2; Here, the Trial Control state starts o.2 s after the In zone state. 11 - Analysis of Trial Control data If you de-select Calculate statistics per interval, the Cumulative duration statistic is the total duration of the intervals in that trial. If you want to know how many occurrences of the intervals a specific trial contains, follow the procedure above making sure that Calculate statistics per interval is not selected, and Frequency is selected under Trial Statistics. Click the Group Statistics tab and select additional statistics if you want summarized statistics over all trials, or the groups of trials defined in your Data Profile. Next, run the analysis. The table shows the number of intervals under Frequency for that dependent variable. The occurrences are counted if the From condition is met. If the trial ends before the To condition is met, the interval is still counted in the Frequency.

Examples of Trial Control states

example 1 In a conditioning test, it is required that the subject must go to zone A in order to receive a reward. The researcher wants to know the time from the moment the subject could have responded (Condition Subject in zone A becomes active) to the moment the subject eats the reward (Condition Subject in feeder zone becomes true). The Trial Control sequence is as follows: Rule Begin Condition - In zone A Action - Drop a food item Condition - In Feeder zone Rule End.

In the Analysis profile, click Trial Control state and select:

From - Element Condition: In Zone A, Event= becomes active,

To - 1st occurrence of Element Condition: In Feeder zone, Event= becomes true. In the Trial Statistics tab, make sure that Cumulative duration is selected. example 2 In a variant of the experiment above, the researcher wants to know the time that it takes the mouse to get the pellet after being in the zone A. Here we assume that if the animal enters zone A, then gets out and subsequently gets back in it before collecting the food item, one wants to analyze from the first instance that the mouse went in zone A.

In the Analysis Profile, click Trial Control state and select:

From - Element Condition: In Shelter zone, Event= becomes true (because one wants to analyze the time from when the condition is met). To - 1st occurrence of Element Condition: In Feeder zone, Event= becomes true. In the Trial Statistics tab, make sure that Cumulative duration is selected.

Analyze learning behavior

When a sequence like Cue stimulus Subject's action Reward is repeated a number of times, you may want to know whether there is a trend of decreasing/increasing duration of 11 - Analysis of Trial Control data intervals from one component of the sequence to the next. For example, is the time from the cue stimulus to the subject's lever press decreasing during a 30-minutes test? To analyze learning behavior, follow the procedure on page 172, and make sure that: In the Trial Control State Interval tab, select the Calculate statistics per interval option. Next to For consecutive intervals, select which occurrences of the interval you want to analyze. In the Trial Statistics tab, make sure that Cumulative duration is selected. Click the Group Statistics tab and select additional statistics if you want summarized statistics over all trials, or the groups of trials defined in your Data Profile. Calculate the statistics, and export the results (see Calculate Statistics in the EthoVision XT Help).

data within trial control states

If you want to calculate statistics on or visualize data within intervals defined by Trial Control events, then you must first define those intervals as Nesting intervals in the Data Profile. 1. In the Experiment Explorer, right-click Data Profiles and select New, or click one of the existing profiles. 2. In the Components pane, under Nesting, double-click Trial Control state or drag it to the middle of the screen, or click the button next to it. 3. The Trial Control state window appears. Define the interval as described in steps 3 to 5 of the procedure on page 172 (the options are the same, only the Statistics tab is not present). 4. Click OK. The Nest box appears on the screen. Insert this box between the Start and the Result box. 5. In the Experiment Explorer, right-click Analysis Profiles and select New, or click one of the existing profiles. 6. Define the dependent variables you want to analyze and run analysis or visualize the data.

Notes

If the interval specified in step 3 above occurs in multiple instances, the program considers the total time line included in those intervals to calculate durations, frequencies etc. If your experiment includes multiple subjects per arena, the Nesting over Subjects group of options is also available. Select Trial Control state under Nesting over Subjects if you want to define an interval based on what one or more of the subjects do during the trial. 11 - Analysis of Trial Control data For example, to define an interval that goes from the action "Cue light on" when activated, to the condition "Subject 1 in zone A" when it becomes true. Click the Actors tab and select the subject that the condition refers to. Analysis will be done for all the subjects, in the interval defined by Subject 1. Note that conditions can be met by specific subjects, while actions cannot be triggered by specific subjects. However, they can be triggered indirectly, when an action follows a condition met by that subject. For information on Nesting, see Analyze Track Segments in the EthoVision XT Help.

trial control variables

You can analyze and visualize the values of the Trial Control variables defined in the Trial Control Settings. Use this function also for testing purposes. For example, to check that a Trial Control variable receives the value expected at a specific time. 1. In the Experiment Explorer, right-click Analysis Profiles and select New, or click an existing profile. 2. Click the Add button next to Trial Control variable and choose a variable from the list. 3. Calculate the statistics or plot the variable with the Integrated Visualization. For more information, see the EthoVision XT Help.

hardware command

A Hardware command is a command given by the EthoVision software to your hardware device. You can define when and what hardware commands are sent as Actions in your Trial Control settings. For instance, you can have EthoVision send a command to your pellet dispenser to drop a pellet after the mouse has been detected in the Trigger zone. For more information about programming Trial Control see Chapter 3.

How to add a Hardware command to an Analysis Profile

1. In the Experiment Explorer, right-click Analysis Profiles and select New, or click an existing profile.
2. Click the Add button next to Hardware command. 11 - Analysis of Trial Control data The Hardware command window opens.
3. From the Device type list, select the hardware device you want to calculate statistics for. For example, if you want to analyze how many Drop pellet commands EthoVision gave to your pellet dispenser, select Pellet Dispenser (PTPD-001x).
4. In the Device list, the name of the hardware device will appear as you defined it when you assigned the device to the arena (see page 113).
5. From the Command list, select which command you want to analyze. For instance, for the Phenotyper's Top Unit, you can select White spot on, White spot off, Yellow light on, Yellow light off, Sound on or Sound off. For other hardware devices (Pellet Dispenser, Lickometer) there is only one option.
6. Click the Trial Statistics tab to choose the statistics for the dependent variable. Next, click Add. Click the Group Statistics tab and select additional statistics if you want summarized statistics over all trials, or the groups of trials defined in your Data Profile. See Calculate Statistics in the EthoVision XT Help details.

Application

By selecting Hardware command as Dependent Variable, you can calculate the frequency of the commands the EthoVision software gives to your hardware device. In addition, you can calculate the latency to the first command and the latency to the last. You can also visualize Hardware commands. This enables you to check whether your Trial Control settings do what you expect them to do. For example, visualize the Hardware command Drop pellet for your pellet dispenser and plot it in the integrated visualization together with the video to check how often the command was given and when. Hardware commands appear as Point events in your plot, that is, as events with no duration (see the upper panel in Figure 48 for an example).

hardware continuous variable

After EthoVision XT has started tracking, connected hardware devices start sending signals to the EthoVision computer. You can analyze these signals by adding Hardware continuous variables to your analysis profile. You can calculate/ visualize, for instance, the number of pellets dropped by your pellet dispenser (see Figure 48 for an example) or the duration of licks at the lickometer.

How to add a Hardware continuous variable to an Analysis Profile

1. In the Experiment Explorer, right-click Analysis Profiles and select New, or click an existing profile.
2. Click the Add button next to Hardware continuous. 11 - Analysis of Trial Control data
3. The Hardware continuous variable window opens. From the Device type list, select the hardware device you want to calculate statistics for. For example, if you want to analyze how many pellets your pellet dispenser dropped, select Pellet Dispenser (PTPD-001x).
4. In the Device list the name of the hardware device will appear as you defined it when you assigned the device to the arena (see page 113).
5. From the Signal list, select which signal you want to analyze. For instance, for the pellet dispenser you can select Number of drops.
6. Click the Trial Statistics tab to choose the statistics for the dependent variable. If you want summarized statistics over all trials, or the groups of trials defined in your Data Profile, click the Group Statistics tab and select additional statistics. Next, click Add. For details, see Calculate Statistics in the EthoVision XT Help. An example of a visualization of a hardware continuous variable is shown below.

Application

By selecting Hardware continuous variable as Dependent Variable, you can calculate, for instance, how many pellets your pellet dispenser dropped or how long your mouse has been drinking from its water bottle. You can also calculate the frequency drinking from the bottle took place. But often many of these drinking occurrences together form a single drinking bout. Analyzing such bouts is not possible in the current version of EthoVision XT. This means that to calculate how often such bouts occurred, you have to export the data to a Hardware log and analyze this in an external program like Excel.

Note

Devices such as the Lickometer and PhenoWheel send data to EthoVision XT at fixed times, every two seconds for the Lickometer and every 60 seconds for PhenoWheel. At each sample time, EthoVision XT reads the data since the last reading event: For the Lickometer, number and duration of licks. 11 - Analysis of Trial Control data For PhenoWheel: number of rotations. The reading events are not in sync with the trial start and stop. This means that (see the figure below for an example with the Lickometer): The data of the first reading event after the trial start also include some time before the trial start (< 2 s for Lickometer, < 60 s for PhenoWheel). This time is included in the results (figure below, left). The data between the last reading event and the stop of the trial are not included in the results (figure below, right). This time is again < 2 s for Lickometer, < 60 s for PhenoWheel, depending on when the trial stopped. In most cases the two discrepancies have no effect on your data when the trial lasts at least a few minutes or hours, like in typical PhenoTyper tests. tip If you want the devices to have another sampling rate, contact Noldus.

hardware state variable

A variable based on a Hardware continuous variable. You can, for example, define a Hardware state variable Number of dropped pellets is equal to or greater than 1 and calculate, for instance, the duration of this interval. 11 - Analysis of Trial Control data

How to add a Hardware state variable to an Analysis Profile

1. In the Experiment Explorer, right-click Analysis Profiles and select New, or click an existing profile.
2. Click the Add button next to Hardware state.
3. The Hardware state variable window opens. From the Device type list, select the hardware device you want to calculate statistics for. For example, if you want to analyze the signal from your pellet dispenser, select Pellet Dispenser (PTPD-001x).
4. In the Device list the name of the hardware device will appear as you defined it when you assigned the device to the arena (see page 113).
5. From the Signal list, select which signal you want to analyze. For instance, for the pellet dispenser you can select Number of drops or In error state.
6. Set the appropriate Value (threshold) or select the value you are interested in. For instance, for Number of drops set a threshold of equal to or greater than 1, for In error state select true of false. Cumulative value. Select this option to calculate/visualize the cumulative value of the signal. See Figure 48 for an example of the effect of selecting this option.
7. Click the Trial Statistics tab to choose the statistics for the dependent variable. Click the Group Statistics tab and select additional statistics if you want summarized statistics over all trials, or the groups of trials defined in your Data Profile. Next, click Add. For details, see Calculate Statistics in the EthoVision XT Help. 11 - Analysis of Trial Control data

Application

You can use Hardware state variables to analyze, for instance, how long a light was on. You can also use Hardware state variables to analyze learning behavior. For instance, when training an animal you may want to know how long it takes before it completes a task (and receives a food pellet). For this purpose, you can calculate the statistic 'Latency to first' for the Hardware state variable 'Number of drops greater than or equal to 1'. For naive animals the latency will be high at the start of the training and will decrease as the animals learn the task in subsequent trials. Please note that the following question requires a different procedure: What was the average time between "light on" and "lever press" in a learning experiment? It is not possible to define a variable based on two separate hardware events. To answer this question, define a Free interval using hardware events. For more information, see Free interval in the EthoVision XT Help. Figure 48 From top to bottom: Integrated visualization of four Dependent Variables 'Hardware command', 'Hardware continuous variable', 'Hardware state variable' with the option 'cumulative value' selected and 'Hardware state variable' with the option 'cumulative value' not selected. In this learning experiment a rat received a pellet when it climbed on top of its shelter. The rat did this two times and EthoVision two times gave a command to the pellet dispenser to drop a pellet (see the plot at the top). The pellet dispenser dropped a pellet after each command and sent a signal to the EthoVision software (two times) (second plot). For plots 3 and 4, the state variable 'Number of drops is equal to or greater than 1' is visualized. In plot 3 the option 'cumulative value' was selected, in panel 4 this option was not selected. The duration of one occurrence of the state variable in panel 4 is one sample (0.04 seconds if the sample rate is 25 frames/ second). 11 - Analysis of Trial Control data

free intervals based on trial control and hardware data

Free intervals are the most flexible solution to analyze slices of time which go from an event, or time, to another event or time. You can use them in the Analysis profile and in the Data profile. example In a DanioVision experiment, analyze the speed of the subjects in the 5-s time interval before the onset of the light stimulus; and in a second interval, in the 5-s time interval after the onset of the light stimulus. Because you want to analyze the speed within the intervals, define those intervals Free intervals in the Data profile.

How to add a Free interval to an Analysis profile

In the Analysis profile, under Custom Variables, click the Add button next to Free interval. For more information, see Dependent variables in Detail > Custom Variables in the EthoVision XT Help.

How to add a Free interval to a Data profile

In the Data profile, under Nesting, click the Add button next to Free interval. For more information, see Analyze Track Segments > Nesting over a free interval in the EthoVision XT Help.

the analysis results

To calculate the statistics

1. Click Statistics & Charts in the Project Explorer. The analysis window that appears has the tab Trial Statistics for the analysis results per trial and Group Statistics & Charts with statistics and charts from the summarized results over different trials.
2. If you have different filters, data profiles, or analysis profiles make your selection on the toolbar.
3. Click Calculate.
4. optional Click the Layout button to modify the layout of the results table.

Batch analysis

To run different analyses with different combinations of these filters, do the following: 1. Click Batch. 2. Select the profiles from the lists and click Add. 11 - Analysis of Trial Control data 3. Repeat step 2 for other combinations. 4. Click Calculate. 5. Select the combination of profiles from the lists on the toolbar to view the results.

export trial control data

You can export Trial Control data just like the other dependent variables. 1. Choose Analysis > Export > Raw Data. 2. Select the following: Track & dependent variables. To export events and intervals defined in the Analysis profile. For example, actions and conditions and intervals in between (see page 168). This option also includes hardware-based actions and conditions, not the actual communication signals.

Hardware log. To export the communication signals between EthoVision XT and the

hardware device (see below). 3. Click Start Export.

Exported raw data file

In the exported raw data file, each Trial Control event or Trial Control state defined in the Analysis Profile is stored in a column. A Trial Control event is exported as 1 (one) in the row corresponding to the time when the event occurs. In the other rows, it is exported as 0 (zero). Figure 49 An example of Track data export file that includes a Trial Control event "Drop pellet" and a Trial Control state "From Light On to Drop Pellet". The arrows mark the event and the start/stop of the state. To export such data, define them first in the Analysis profile. For clarity, other columns have been hidden. 11 - Analysis of Trial Control data A Trial Control state interval is exported as 1 (one) in the rows corresponding to the time included in the interval. If the interval occurs in multiple instances during the trial, you will see multiple segments of 1. For more information about exporting track data, see Export tracks in the EthoVision XT Help.

Hardware log file

When you select Hardware log in the export screen, hardware events are exported to a separate file. The data are organized in columns as follows (see Figure 50): Time is the time when the signal value is read or the action is taken. Note: This is the time elapsed since the start of the trial, not the start of tracking (see a note below). For lickometers, values are updated about every 2 s. Device ID is the name of the physical device that the event refers to. Command/Signal is the type of data (Command, or Signal). Name is the name of the command or signal. Value is the value of the signal at that time. Each row of the file contains one of the two: Rows marked with Signal. The value of the signal since the last time the device was read (for example, the number of licks or the duration of licks since the last reading). Duration of licks is expressed in milliseconds. Rows marked with Command. The command (for example, Drop pellet). The hardware log file is one per trial, no matter how many arenas and devices are used. If you re-do a trial, the log files recorded with the previous instance of the trial are deleted. In order to be logged, hardware devices must be connected to the computer and configured in EthoVision XT (see page 109). Notice that the Time in the Hardware log file is the time since the start of the trial, while the time in the Track data file is the time since the start of tracking (see page 49). example If you have defined a command like Drop pellet as a Trial control event (see page 168), to find a specific Drop pellet event in the data file, take note of the Time in the Hardware log file for that event and locate that time in the Time trial column in the Track data file. For Pellet dispensers. Number of drops is the feedback signal sent by the device to EthoVision. Usually it is recorded 0.04 s after the actual Drop pellet command. 11 - Analysis of Trial Control data

Choose Hardware log if you want to export communication data between EthoVision

and the hardware device, even when the device was not used during the trial. If you select both Track data and Hardware log, data are exported in separate files when choosing the Text format, and in one file when choosing the Excel format. In the Excel file, Track data and Hardware log data are in stored in separate sheets. Figure 50 An example of Hardware log export file for an experiment with two pellet dispensers.

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Source: EthoVision XT 17 - Trial and Hardware Control Reference Manual