What’s new in EthoVision XT 8
JUMP START YOUR EXPERIMENT!
Watch the video to see EthoVision XT 8 in action!
Updated with ease of use in mind, EthoVision XT 8 offers a better accessibility for first time users and an increased efficiency with which all users can set-up and perform experiments. Additionally, video tutorials help the user throughout the program.
User-guided set-up
At the beginning of the program you can either start a brand new experiment, re-use the settings from a previous experiment, or use the user-guided set-up to open an experiment template suited to a specific type of experiment (including the water maze, plus maze, and 96-well plate studies). With these templates, basic settings are pre-set, such as detection settings, arena definition, and parameters for analysis. Of course, you can fine-tune the settings to fit your specific research needs.
>> Templates for an efficient workflow
>> Multiple arena manipulation
>> Analysis of hardware events
>> Additional data smoothing method
Templates for an efficient workflow
The new templates make EthoVision XT 8 very accessible for first-time users. Both new as well as experienced users benefit from a quick workflow. It’s also ideal in an educational context or for (PhD) students who only temporarily work with the software. Or for anyone who needs to get their project up and running quickly.
When you perform the same or a similar test often, re-using your settings will save you a lot of time. You have already fine-tuned the settings to your specific test arena or animal, so why start all over again? Don’t. Simply start EthoVision XT and re-use your settings. This way you can create your own templates.
Multiple arena manipulation
When your experiment contains multiple arenas (such as a series of open fields, home cages, or a multi-well plate), you do not need to draw each arena separately. The template will pre-draw the number of arenas in the configuration (rows x columns) you have defined. To accurately fit this to your video image, EthoVision XT 8 allows you to manipulate the whole grid of arenas; the easy-to-use drawing tools allow you to rotate, scale, transpose, resize, and reposition all the arenas simultaneously.
A video says more...
EthoVision XT has always come with a detailed set of user documentation. But sometimes a video says more than a thousand words. EthoVision XT 8 incorporates mini-video tutorials at certain parts of the program to explain the functionality, or to help you chose the proper settings for optimal detection.
Analysis of hardware events
The Trial & Hardware Control Module has been on the market for a while now, and to get even more from this module, EthoVision XT now allows you to analyze hardware events within EthoVision XT. These events can be the signals that were sent out from EthoVision XT to external devices (such as to drop a pellet on turn on the house light) and signals that are sent back to EthoVision XT (such as the confirmation of a pellet drop or feedback from the running wheel). This helps you to answer questions such as: “How long was the house light on?” and “How much running did the mouse do?”.
Additional data smoothing method
In addition to the Lowess filter, EthoVision XT 8 includes a new data smoothing method. It allows the user to define the minimal distance moved that is taken into account as actual movement. This will smooth out jitter and body wobble and increase the quality of your data.
And… action!
Trial Control (EthoVision XT Base) also has a new option: external commands. This allows you to integrate an external command block that specifies a command; you can use it to start and/or stop another application at a predefined moment in time (for instance at the point EthoVision XT starts collecting data or when the animals enters a predefined zone). For example: start physiological data collection as soon as EthoVision XT starts tracking, or start a video on a screen next to your animal enclosure.