Knowledge Base

EthoVision XT (Continued)

If after running some test trials, you get nose-tail swaps, try using the tracking method Rodents / For occlusions.

If you selected to use the Deep learning technique to track the subject's nose, next to Deep learning click Define and select a box around the subject. Make sure that the box includes the subject's nose. For details, see the EthoVision XT Help.

1. Optional: Select Track noise reduction. Under Smoothing, set Track noise reduction to On.

   In some cases better quality tracking can be obtained by reducing track noise during acquisition. This may especially be the case if you use Trial and Hardware Control. As an example, if the center point of an animal is detected in the center-zone of the maze, you want specific doors to open followed by the closing of doors as soon as the animal enters one of the arms. If the detected center point is moving rapidly because of noise, this may result in doors opening and closing every time the center point crosses the border of the zone. Track noise reduction may solve this problem.

2. Under Subject size, click Advanced and set a minimum subject size to prevent droppings from being detected.

Trial List

Enter your independent variables such as Animal ID, Treatment, Baited arms, Name of the experimenter, etc. (for blind trials, enter only the Animal ID). If you want, you can predefine all your trials here, or you can enter the independent variable values as you carry out the trials. You can also prepare the trials in Excel, randomize them and then paste the values into your Trial List.

Furthermore, you can define a list of trials for batch acquisition. See Acquire a series of trials in the EthoVision XT Help.

Baited Arms

To mark the trials with the arms that were baited, create an independent variable Baited arms of text type, and define the various combinations as Predefined Values: for example, 1-3-6-8, 1-3-5-7, etc. For each subject to be tested, assign the correct value in the appropriate cell of the Baited arms column.

Source: EthoVision XT 18 - Application Manual, Noldus Information Technology