Import manually scored data into The Observer XT

Aim

To analyze the events scored manually in EthoVision XT in The Observer XT, for further analysis.

Prerequisite

In EthoVision XT, export the data in the form of Manual scoring log (for details see Export manually-scored behaviors). Before clicking Start Export, select Manual Scoring log; select one of the Text options as export format, and select semicolon (;) as Delimiter.

To export a subset of tracks or subjects, filter the data before exporting.

Procedure

1.Open the export file in the Windows Notepad.

2.Remove the lines from “Experiment” to “” so that the first line of the file contains “Header Lines” and the second “Trial time”.

3.Change the number of header lines to 2, then save and close the file.

4.In The Observer XT, create a project or open an existing one. Make sure that the project’s coding scheme contains exactly the same behavior names and that these are organized in the same groups (mutually-exclusive or start-stop) as the corresponding behaviors scored in EthoVision XT. See Effects on the coding scheme below.

5.Choose File > Import Observational Data.

6.From the Files of type list, select EthoVision XT Data File (*.txt).

EthoVision XT Data File is an import profile made for manual scoring logs exported from EthoVision XT. It is installed automatically when you install EthoVision XT. If you do not have this import profile, click Create New and see below.

7.Select the file you want to import and click Open.

8.Repeat the procedure for the remaining export files (remember that each trial and arena results in a separate export file).

9.Choose Setup > Independent Variables. Define the independent variables and enter the values of those variables for the trials you have imported.

To create an import profile in The Observer XT

In the Import Profile Definition window, drag the columns of the Data Sets box as shown here:

▪Time. Drag the column B (Recording time) to the Time column. This is the time of manually scored behaviors relative to the time that tracking started. In the Select Time Format window, if the time matches one of the predefined formats, EthoVision XT automatically selects one. Converted time shows the converted time and Conversion is OK. Click OK.

▪You can also define your own format by typing an 'H' for each number representing 'hour', an 'm' for 'minute', an 's' for second and a 'f' for each number representing millisecond (see the next picture). If Conversion is OK, then click OK.

▪Under Import Time, select one of the options.

▪Relative to time zero. Suppose the first row in the imported external data set has time 00:00:05. When the option Relative to time zero is selected, the time stamp of the first row of the imported data set will remain 00:00:05.

▪Relative to the time of the first data line. Suppose the data set you want to import starts at 14:28:00 and sample every 5 seconds. With the option Relative to the time of the first data line, the first row of the imported data will get the time stamp 00:00:00. The second row will have time stamp 00:00:05. The options under Import Time are grayed out when your time stamps contain the date the file was created. In this case the option Relative to time zero is used.

▪Do not drag the column A (Trial time) as this provides the same timing as column B when imported into The Observer.

▪The predefined import profile EthoVision XT Data File uses the Recording time as time code for the manually scored behaviors.

▪Event Type. Drag the E column and click OK in the windows that appears.

▪If you want to import video in The Observer, you must keep the correct sync between events and video. See To import video in The Observer XT

Effects on the coding scheme

If you import manually scored data without creating a coding scheme in advance, at import of the first file The Observer creates a coding scheme with all behaviors contained in that file. By default, all behaviors are put in a start-stop group named Behavior1. To re-arrange the coding scheme, delete the observation just imported, move the behaviors of Behavior1 to the groups they belong to, and re-import the data.

Independent variables

The Observer does not import the independent variables from EthoVision XT. You must define those variables in the Observer’s Independent Variables List and assign the values of those variables to each imported file. You can find those values in the headers of the original export files.

Data from multiple arenas

If your setup includes multiple arenas, for each trial you import one file per arena. If you want to keep data from different arenas (in the same trial) in the same observation, you can import the files of the second, third, etc. arena in the same observation as that of the first arena. To so, do the following:

▪Follow the procedure above for the first arena. Right-click the name of the resulting observation and select Properties. Edit the observation name by giving a name that specifies the trial only, not the arena (for example Open Field Trial 12).

▪For the second, third, etc. arena file, instead of following step 6 of the procedure above, in the Project Explorer right-click the observation name and select Import Observational Data, then follow the rest of the procedure. The files are imported in the observation of the first arena as separate event logs. Rename each event log in such a way it clearly indicates the arena from which it was obtained.

To import video in The Observer XT

1.Open the observation, and from the Observe menu select Video, then Open in Current Observation and select the video file.

2.Choose the option below that applies:

▪If the video file was obtained with programs other than EthoVision XT, or if you tracked from video previously recorded with EthoVision, take note of the difference between the Start time and the Video start time (you can find these in the headers of the raw data export file). This difference is 0 only if you start the trial from the first video frame. Also, take note of the value of Recording after (also available in the export file). Calculate the value of Offset = Start time - Video start time + Recording after.

▪If the video file was recorded with EthoVision while doing live tracking, take note of the value of Recording after (you can find this in the headers of the raw data export file). In your case Offset = Recording after.

3.In The Observer XT, click the Offset button.

4.Then choose Numerical Offset and locate the imported event log. In the corresponding cell, enter the Offset calculated as described above, and make sure that the sign stays positive (+).

5.Open the observation, click the start line of the event log. The video is positioned to the point that the tracking started.