# Important terms in acquisition

Trial vs. track

A trial is a single acquisition session. A track is the data collected during a trial. A trial can contain one or more tracks. See Trial vs. track

Batch acquisition

Acquisition of a series of trials, either live, or from pre-recorded video files.

Inter-trial interval

When you choose a live series of trials, an inter-trial interval between two consecutive trials allows you to take the subject from the maze or cage, clean the maze/cage and release the next subject before the next trial starts automatically.

Planned trial

When you add trials in your Trial List, their default acquisition status is Planned. EthoVision XT acquires the planned trials in the order specified in the Trial List: Trial 1, Trial 2, etc.

You can skip a planned trial whenever you cannot acquire data, for example when the subject assigned to that trial is no longer available (see below).

Skipping a trial

It may happen that a trial planned in the Trial List cannot be acquired, for example when the animal to be tested is not available. You can skip one or more trials and acquire a trial further down in the Trial List.

See Skip trials

When you skip a trial (and all arenas within it), you can always set it back to Planned to acquire data at a later time. See Carry out trials in an order different from that specified in the trial list. Furthermore, you can also skip single arenas within a trial, for example not to acquire data in empty wells in a well plate. See Skip arenas within a trial

Start-Stop Trial rule

This is the rule in the Trial Control Settings that determines when actual tracking (data acquisition) starts and stops. For example, start tracking when the animal is detected in the arena. See The default Start-Stop Trial rule.