Knowledge Base

Problem

In EthoVision XT, digging is reported correctly when a simple arena is defined. However, after adding a 'walls' zone and a 'floor' zone to the arena definition, digging is no longer reported.

Details

EthoVision XT's Automatic Behaviour Recognition Module (ABRM) detects digging based on subject position and movement within the arena. If a 'walls' zone is defined that encompasses both the physical walls and the floor area (i.e., the floor is not correctly separated as its own zone), EthoVision may interpret the entire area as 'walls,' preventing correct digging detection which relies on the floor region. Affects any experiment using ABRM digging detection with multi-zone arena definitions.

Solution

1. Review the zone definitions in your arena setup, specifically the zone intended to represent the walls.
2. Ensure the 'walls' zone encompasses only the wall area of the arena, not the floor.
3. Define a separate 'floor' zone that covers only the floor/substrate area where digging behavior is expected to occur.
4. Verify that the walls zone and floor zone do not overlap.
5. Re-run the analysis after correcting the zone boundaries.
6. Confirm that digging is now reported correctly under the ABRM results.

Tip: Use distinct, non-overlapping zone definitions for structural areas (floor, walls, center) to ensure ABRM behavioral classifiers operate on the correct spatial regions.