Knowledge Base

Nesting over Relative Movement

Aim

To pick out data collected when one or more subjects (Actors) were moving to or away from one or more other subjects (Receivers).

Example: Analyze the velocity when the subject was moving away from another subject.

Nesting vs. Nesting over Subjects

Notice the difference when there are multiple subjects in the same arena:

• To select data of a subject based on the Relative movement of that subject, choose Relative movement under Nesting. In the Receivers tab you specify which subject the focal subject was moving to/from. See the procedure below.
• To select data of a subject based on the Side-by-side behavior of other subjects, choose Side by side under Nesting over Subjects. There you find the Actors tab and the Receivers tab where you can specify which subject (Actor) was moving to/from which other subjects (Receivers). See Nesting over Subjects.

Procedure

1. In the Data Profile, under Nesting click the button next to Relative movement.
2. In the Relative Movement window:
   • Enter the Maximum interaction distance.
   • Enter the Minimum velocity that defines movement.
   • Under Calculate nesting for, choose the state that defines the intervals.
   For details about how Relative movement is calculated, see Dependent Variables in Detail > Relative movement.
3. Click the Body Points tab (when available), and specify the body points that define movement. Choose whether movement is based on all body points moving simultaneously (All selected points) or not (Any selected point).
4. Click OK. Proceed with step 4 in How to Select Track Segments.

Notes

On the Receivers tab:

• To select the samples when one subject moves to the other, select both Subject 1 and Subject 2, and choose Any selected subject from the list.
• To select the samples when one specific (focal) subject moves toward other subjects simultaneously, do not select the focal subject under Receivers. Select all the other subjects and choose All selected subjects from the list.

See Also

• Nesting over Subjects
• Dependent Variables in Detail > Relative Movement

Nesting over Behaviors Scored Manually

Aim

To pick out the track segments in which a behavior was scored manually. To learn more about manually scoring behaviors, see Manual Scoring Settings and Score Behaviors Manually During Acquisition.

Example: You manually scored freezing behavior, and you want to visualize where in the arena it occurred during the trial. First, nest over the manually-scored behavior Freezing (see below for the procedure), then create the heatmaps.

Nesting vs. Nesting over Subjects

Notice the difference when there are multiple subjects in the same arena:

• To select data of a subject based on the behavior of that subject, choose that behavior under Nesting. See the procedure below.
• To select data of a subject based on the behavior of other subjects, choose that behavior under Nesting over Subjects. There you find the Actors tab where you can specify which subject (Actor) was performing that behavior. See Nesting over Subjects.

Procedure

1. In the Data Profile, under Nesting click the button next to the behavior's name, or the group of behaviors it belongs to.
2. In the window that appears, select the behavior and click OK. If you want to analyze the track segments in which the behavior was not active, select Not [behavior name].
3. Click OK. Proceed with step 4 in How to Select Track Segments.

Notes

• If the behavior is part of a mutually-exclusive group, under Nesting you see the name of the group, not the individual behavior.
• If you select a behavior from a mutually-exclusive group, the other behaviors of the same group are automatically left out of analysis and visualization.