# Edit the duration of manually-scored behaviors

Aim

To increase or reduce the duration of instances of behaviors already scored in your trial. This way you can improve the match between what you see in the video and the behavior scores.

note This applies to all behavior types but Point events.

Prerequisites

▪You have scored behaviors manually. See Score behaviors manually

Procedure

1.Open the Manual Scoring screen (Acquisition > Manual Scoring).

2.Choose the trial, and when it applies, the arena in which you want to score the behaviors.

3.Follow one or more of the procedures below.

tip Before editing existing data, click the Save button on the toolbar. This will save a copy of the current behavior scores. In the case you make mistakes when editing, you can always revert to that copy by clicking Undo. For more information, see Saving the track edits.

To extend the duration to a specific time point

1.Play the video up to when the behavior ends (here indicated with the arrow).

2.Hover with mouse over the existing color bar, right-click and choose Extend to current, or double-click the existing score.

3.Result: The color bar now ends at the specified time.

To fill the gap between two behavior scores

Follow this procedure if you scored two instances of the same behavior, and you want to fill the gap between the two instances since they actually refer to one bout of behavior. The frequency of the behavior will be reduced by 1.

1.Position the video at the start of the second color bar.

2.Point to the first color bar, and double-click or right-click and select Extend to current.

To create a gap between two behavior scores

This applies to Start-stop behaviors only.

Follow this procedure if you scored an instance of a Start-stop behavior, and you want to insert a gap between the original start and end points. The frequency of the focal behavior will increase by 1. The gap will appear as Not [behavior name] in the analysis.

1.Click the Start scoring mode button.

2.Position the video to where you want the end of the gap (= the second start point of the behavior).

3.Click the button for the behavior.

4.Play the video backward. tip Use the frame-by-frame controls for accurate scoring. Pause the video at the start of the gap (= the first end point of the behavior).

5.When finished, click the Stop scoring mode button.

To reduce the duration to a specific time point

Follow this procedure if the behavior score is too long relative to what shown in the video.

Do one or both the following, depending on whether the color bar occurs before (a) or after (b) the actual behavior in the video, or both (a) and (b).

(a)

1.Position the video where the behavior starts.

2.Point to the color bar at the left of the hairline. The mouse pointer turns to a delete symbol on the left side.

3.Right-click and choose Crop to current, or double-click the color bar.

4.Result: The color bar is shortened.

(b)

1.Position the video where the behavior ends.

2.Point to the color bar at the right of the hairline. The mouse pointer turns to a delete symbol on the right side.

3.Right-click and choose Crop to current, or double-click the color bar.

4.Result: The color bar is shortened.

note Which side of the color bar is deleted by Crop to current depends on where the mouse pointer is located relative to the hairline.