Knowledge Base

Your first EthoVision XT experiment

create an experiment

EthoVision XT creates an experiment based on the choices you make in the following guided procedure. For example, the type and color of the animals, the test enclosure, etc. 1. In the EthoVision XT Startup window, under New experiment, click New from template or choose File > New from Template. 2. Select Apply a pre-defined template and follow the instructions in the setup guide. Choose whether you track from video files or live, select the study species, the type of arena, etc. 3. In the New Experiment window, enter a Name for your experiment. 4. Browse to the Location in which you want to store your experiment. Then click OK. 5. You are now ready to complete setting up your experiment. You must complete the arena set-up and adjust the Detection Settings. You can optionally make a Trial List, Trial Control Settings, and Manual Scoring Settings.

Notes

If your test setup is not among those included in the template list, choose File > New. This way you create an experiment without predefined settings. If you work with the DanioVision Observation Chamber, see the DanioVision DVOC-0041 - Reference Manual. Your first EthoVision XT experiment

working with ethovision xt experiments

An EthoVision XT experiment is the container of all information related to an experimental setup. The Experiment Explorer (Figure 1, left) lists all components of the experiment currently open. By default, your experiment is located in: C:\Users\Public\Public Documents\Noldus\EthoVision XT\ Experiments\ All experiment files are stored in a folder with the same name as the experiment. note Settings and Profiles are collections of settings that belong to a specific function, for example the arena. You can define multiple settings and later choose which to use for a specific trial or group of trials. For example, in a water maze experiment, for a first set of trials, use Arena Settings 1 with the platform defined in a specific quadrant. For another set of trials, use Arena Settings 2 where the platform is defined in different quadrant. Figure 1 Important components in your experiment: 1. Experiment Settings (basic properties that do not change throughout the experiment). 2. Arena Settings to draw the arena and zones. 3. Detection Settings to detect the subject in your camera image. 4. Acquisition to record data and video. 5. Data Profiles to select which part of your data to analyze. 6. Analysis profiles to specify output variables (distance, speed etc.). 7. Results options. The experiment's basic properties

The experiment's basic properties

Choose Setup > Experiment Settings. Specify the options listed below. Depending on your EthoVision XT license, some of the options may not be available. If you created a new template experiment, you already specified most properties of your experiment.

Video Source

Choose whether you want to track From video files or from the live camera image (Live tracking). In the latter case, select the cameras that you are going to use. If your cameras are not listed, install the camera drivers. See Camera Installation in the EthoVision XT Help.

Number of Arenas

An arena is a closed space where subjects move. Select the total number of arenas in your camera images. For example, select 1 for one water maze or open field; select 4 for four open fields, or four PhenoTyper cages.

Number of Subjects per Arena

Specify how many individuals per arena you want to track. Note: Because this guide applies to the Base version of EthoVision XT, it assumes that you track one subject per arena.

Tracked Features

Select which body points you want EthoVision XT to detect: the center-point only or the center-point with nose-point and tail-base.

Body Point Detection Technique

If you track the nose-point and the tail-base point, select which technique should be used: the contour of the subject or a trained neural network (Deep learning). The latter option only applies to rodents, and with one or two subjects per arena.

Analysis Options

With Activity analysis, you can have EthoVision XT detect behaviors like freezing in rodents and immobility in the Porsolt swim test. With Behavior recognition, EthoVision XT detects several rodent behaviors like grooming, sniffing and rearing.

Units

Select the measurement units you prefer. Draw the arena and the zones

Draw the arena and the zones

Tell EthoVision XT in what region in the video image the subject moves (the arena). If you created a template experiment, the arena has already been drawn in the correct shape. Change the size and/or position of the arena to match it with your video image.

To obtain a background image

1. If you use video cameras for live tracking, before starting EthoVision XT power up and connect the video camera to the PC.
2. In EthoVision XT, choose Setup > Arena Settings. Open the default Arena Settings 1 or create a new one. If you do tracking from video files, click Browse and open the video file you want to use to draw the arena.
3. Click Grab. If possible, do so when the arena contains no animals.

To draw an arena

1. Click 1. Draw Scale to Calibrate in the Arena Settings window.
2. Draw a line between two points of the arena that are at a known distance from each other. In the window that appears, type in the real world distance between the two points and click OK. Optionally repeat this procedure a few times. Draw the arena and the zones
3. Click 2. Select Shape and Draw Arena in the Arena Settings window.
4. Click one of the drawing tools and draw the outline of the region of the video image where the animal moves. Make sure that the label Arena points to inside this region.

To draw a zone

A zone is a region within the arena that you may want to use for analysis or for starting/ stopping data acquisition. If you created a template experiment, zones are already defined. Change their size and/or position to fit the arena, delete zones or draw new ones. 1. Click 3. Select Shape and Draw Zones in the Arena Settings window. 2. Select one of the drawing tools. 3. Draw the contour of each zone. In this example, the platform in a water maze. 4. Give the zone a name.

Notes

For more details, see Arena Settings in the EthoVision XT Help. For a DanioVision experiment, see the DanioVision DVOC-0041 - Reference Manual. Control the start and stop of data acquisition

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Source: EthoVision XT 18 - Quick Start Guide