EthoVision for Windows: a new video tracking system for automation of behavioral experiments
R.A.J. Tegelenbosch, M.O.S. Buma, A.H.M. Hendriksen and L.P.J.J. Noldus
Noldus Information Technology b.v., Wageningen, The Netherlands
The EthoVision video tracking system has become a standard instrument for automation of behavioral experiments in hundreds of laboratories around the world. Since its introduction in 1993, the functionality of the software has been expanded with every new release. Since the last major DOS upgrade in 1997, we have completely redesigned and rewritten the original EthoVision software, resulting in a robust 32-bit application optimized for Windows 95/98. In this presentation, the most significant new and enhanced software features in EthoVision 2.0 will be reviewed.
One of the novelties in EthoVision for Windows is the Experiment Explorer. This new tool allows you to organize your experiments according to your own specific needs and wishes. EthoVision 2.0 introduces the concept of a workspace, a folder holding one or more experiments (Figure 1, left pane). For example, you can create a different workspace for each user or place all experiments belonging to the same research project in the same workspace. The Experiment Explorer will keep track of all experiments and associated profiles and data files. This way you can increase the efficiency with which you set up new experiments, by simply copying the necessary profiles from previous experiments.
In the experimental design you can now easily predefine the independent variables in a comprehensible spreadsheet. The number of variables you can define is unlimited, allowing an elaborate experimental design. With the available copy and paste functionality and the automatic sort options any experiment is quickly set up.
In EthoVision for Windows the signal from the video camera is directly displayed on the computer screen. This way the definition of arenas and zones or points of interest is much easier (Figure 1, right pane). During the actual data acquisition the live video images, arena definition and tracks are visible on the computer screen.
Figure 1. This screenshot gives an overview of the EthoVision desktop. In this example, the left pane (Experiment Explorer) shows the structure of a Morris water maze experiment. To define the arena and zones of interest, the right pane displays the video image of the experimental setup.
The analysis report of the DOS version has been replaced by a spreadsheet with the results of the analysis. You can manipulate the layout of this table for optimal presentation: just reorder the rows and columns to fit your needs. The analysis results can still be exported in different file formats to other spreadsheets or statistics packages for further analysis, but an easier and faster way is to copy and paste the data directly.
Paper presented at Measuring Behavior 2000, 3rd International Conference on Methods and Techniques in Behavioral Research, 15-18 August 2000, Nijmegen, The Netherlands