Import, filter, and pre-process data, and detect patterns

Theme can import, filter and pre-process data, and detect patterns by objective statistical criteria. The resulting pattern sets can be displayed, searched, and analyzed in a number of ways. Pattern statistics can be exported to statistical packages for further analysis. Pattern detection works best on continuously scored events, such as the data produced by The Observer^® XT.

Processing raw behavioral data
Theme works well on most raw behavioral data. It has built-in pre-processing options for filtering and reorganizing the data. The pattern detection engine can be tuned to the desired level of detail, sensitivity, types of pattern, and calculation time.

Output
Theme provides a full range of descriptive statistics per input file, such as number of patterns, length, and diversity. These statistics are measures of overall structure which can be more sensitive to the effect of experimental treatment than frequency and duration based statistics. The statistics can be exported as a table to statistical packages, with their independent variables.

Check against chance effects
Theme performs special checks against chance effects. A rigorous randomization function checks which proportion of the patterns can be explained by chance. In most data that is a small subset of the shorter patterns.

Search and filter
The detected patterns can be searched and filtered in a number of ways, allowing you to zoom into important details. There are simple criteria like behaviors, length, frequency, and number of actors. There are also advanced criteria based on the relationships between patterns and the underlying event data. Criteria can be freely combined and the results can be stored for later use.

Presentation of patterns
The overall structure of the behavior is presented in a matrix of linked event types. An overview of the position of event types in patterns gives an impression of their relative importance. For behaviors with a spatial element, Theme can show a path graph. At the lowest level of detail individual patterns can be displayed on a timeline and the associated video fragments can be played to see the pattern unfold.

Theme gives all the details for each pattern: exact times for each occurrence, significance, and various other statistics. The basis of Theme is a statistical test that finds significant time intervals between two series of events. The dyads found are tested against other events and dyads, and new connections are made. This is repeated until no new relationships are found. A special algorithm eliminates duplicate and incomplete patterns.