Knowledge Base

Arenas (Continued)

Shock is given at the same time, but to keep this case more general we leave them separate.

The arenas with no shock treatment (Arenas 5 and 6) have no shocker device selected. The olfactometer is used in all arenas, and at the same time. This means that the command to activate/deactivate the olfactometer can be represented by one Device name in Trial Control (see the last row in the table above). Therefore, the same Device name is assigned to all arenas.

Define the Protocols

Make a sketch of the events in each arena. Draw a time line for each arena. On the time line, write down the events that should occur, and their duration. This will help creating the Trial Control protocols.

Trial Control Settings

Sequence for Arena 1 and 2

Note that only the sequences for Arena 1 and 2 are connected to the Stop trial box. There is no need to connect the sequences for Arena 3 and 4 and the sequence for the olfactometers to the Stop Trial box, because these instructions proceed in parallel with those for Arena 1 and 2. The track duration is the same for all arenas.

The trial control sequence for controlling a foot shocker at 28 s from the start, in both Arena 1 and Arena 2. The shock ends at 28+2 = 30 s from the start.

Sequence for Arena 3 and 4

The trial control sequence for controlling a foot shocker at a time randomly chosen within a 90-s period. In order to center the 90-s period for the random shock in the 4-min period after the offset of the odor, a 75-s condition has been added (75+90+75 = 240 s = 4 minutes). Note that the 30-s Condition box and the two 75-s conditions could be replaced by one 105-s Condition box, connected to both Random time conditions. In this picture the 105-s time has been kept split in two parts (30 s + 75 s) to visually match the sequences for the other arenas.

Repeat the Sequence Within the Trial

If you want the sequences described above to be repeated a number of times within a trial, you must use the Sub-rule function in Trial Control. Here, the sub-rule is repeated 10 times. Note that the end box of the sub-rule is connected to the sequence for Arena 1 and 2. This sets the duration of the repeats (30 min. with odor stimulus + 4 minutes), and the trial as a whole.

For more information on how to use Sub-rules, see Sub-rules on page 61.

A sub-rule has been added to repeat the protocol a number of times in the same trial.

Index

Symbols

• %an%
• %tn%

A

• Absolute Angular Velocity Condition
• Absolute Meander Condition
• Absolute Time
  • Time condition
  • Time interval condition
• Absolute Turn Angle Condition
• Acceleration
• Accuracy of Hardware Events
• Acoustic Stimulus
• Acquiring Data
• Action Box
  • Activation
  • Inactivation
• Actions
  • After a specific time
  • At the same time
  • Defining
  • Examples
  • Multiple instances
  • On a hardware device
  • On a trial control variable
  • On external commands
  • On trial control variables
  • Repeating a sequence
  • Time interval
  • Using
  • With different conditions
• Activation
  • Of action box
  • Of condition box
• Active — see Becomes Active
• Activity
  • Condition based on
• Activity Analysis
• Activity Wheel Counter
  • Condition based on
• Actors
  • Distance between subjects condition
  • In conditions
  • Net weighted movement condition
  • Proximity condition
  • Relative movement condition
  • Weighted movement from condition
  • Weighted movement to
• Add Device
• After Clock Time
  • Time condition
• All Operator
• Analyzing Learning Behavior
• Analyzing Trial Control Data
  • Data within state intervals
  • Hardware commands
  • Hardware continuous variables
  • Hardware state variables
  • Simple events
  • State intervals
  • Trial control variables
• Angular Velocity
  • Absolute
  • Condition based on

Source: EthoVision XT 18 - THC - Trial and Hardware Control, Noldus Information Technology