Knowledge Base

Analyze Trial Control Data

Aim

To analyze the events of the Trial Control rule which occurred during a trial. For example, visualize when a condition became true, or when EthoVision sent a command to an external device. You may want to do this for two reasons:

• To test if the Trial Control rule works as expected.
• To analyze the subject's response to presentation of stimuli in conditioning tests.

To Visualize or Calculate Statistics of Trial Control Data

1. Choose Analysis > Analysis Profile > New. In the Components pane, under Trial Control, click the button next to:
   • Trial Control event — for example, to visualize when exactly a condition became true.
   • Trial Control state — for example, to visualize the time from the moment a condition became active to when the condition became true.
2. Calculate statistics or visualize the data (choose Analyze > Results > ...).

For details, see Trial Control in the Analysis Profile (page 1116), and Analysis of Trial Control Data in the EthoVision XT 19 - Trial and Hardware Control - Reference Manual.

To Analyze Intervals Based on Trial Control Data

If you want to calculate statistics and visualize data of dependent variables like velocity in portions of a track based on Trial Control data, do the following:

1. In the Data profile, define an interval based on Trial Control data. You can use:
   • Nesting over a Trial Control state, or
   • Nesting over a Free interval based on Trial Control events.
2. Specify the dependent variables in the Analysis profile.
3. Calculate statistics or visualize the data (choose Analyze > Results > ...).

To Export Trial Control Data

See Export Trial Control Data.

Configure Detection Settings

Main Topics and Tasks

• Introduction to Detection Settings
• Video file, image quality and sample rate
• Detection settings: Automated setup
• Detection settings: Advanced setup
• Advanced detection settings for tracking multiple unmarked subjects
• Advanced detection settings for tracking color-marked subjects
• Detect the nose and the tail base
• Detection settings for Behavior recognition
• Activity settings
• Optimize the reference image
• Customize the Detection Settings screen

Introduction to Detection Settings

Learn About

• Useful things to know about Detection Settings
• Adjust detection settings - General procedure
• Detection settings: Automated setup
• Detection settings: Advanced setup

Useful Things to Know About Detection Settings

Detection Settings are a set of criteria to track moving subjects. Detection Settings specify, for example, how different the subject is from the background in terms of gray scale or color values, and how many images per second will be analyzed among those available.

You can create multiple Detection settings in the same experiment. For example, you can have one set for detecting white animals, and another to detect dark ones.

Tip: For a DanioVision experiment, see the DanioVision DVOC-0041 - Reference Manual. To open this manual, on the Apps screen choose Noldus > EthoVision XT 19 Other Documentation.

To Open the Detection Settings

Choose Setup > Detection Settings > choose one of the options. By default, the following windows are displayed:

• A. Detection Settings
• B. Video, showing the current camera image or video file.
• C. Playback Control
• D. Detection Performance.

Click the Show/Hide button on the toolbar to view/hide windows, or change features shown, like the yellow blob representing the subject being detected.

Automated Setup

EthoVision XT has an Automated Setup function to apply the detection settings that work well in the most common scenarios. In most cases you will obtain good detection using the Automated Setup. In difficult situations, for example if video quality is bad, or if you have multiple animals with color markers that are not distinct enough, the Automated Setup may not give good enough detection. If this is the case, use the advanced settings to create the detection settings manually.

Detection Settings Available in Your EthoVision XT License

Which settings are available depends on your EthoVision XT license:

• EthoVision XT Base version: In this version, you can track the center-point, the nose-point and the tail-base point of a single animal. The base version also allows tracking of a color marker on a single animal; in this case the color marker is treated as the center-point of the animal.
• Social Interaction Module: This add-on allows you to track two or more animals in one arena, either color-marked or unmarked. Use this module in combination to study social interactions in detail. We recommend to only use tracking from video files if you track the three body points in combination with the Social Interaction module.
• Behavior Recognition Module: For detecting a number of behaviors automatically, including rearing, grooming and sniffing. In the Detection Settings, the Behavior Settings are enabled.