WaterMaze Analysis

The large image below shows a full-sized screen-shot of the Trial Viewer window. On the left is the clickable list of animals in this project, with one animals selected for display. To the right of that is the list of all trials for the selected animal, one of which has been selected. The path and analyses for this trial are shown to the right. The path window contains the Pool outline (large blue circle), the Platform position (small blue circle), the Path (yellow dots on blue outline), adjustable Thigmotaxis corridor (yellow circle) and adjustable Whishaw’s corridor (yellow box). The colors of many the elements of the window can be changed by the user. The Save Picture button exports the picture to a post-script file, which is readable by most presentation graphics programs. Below the path window are the parameters of the various analyses, including quadrant analysis, duration, speed, direction at a specified time and Moser’s zones (not shown). A portion of a trial (specified in seconds or % duration) may be selected for analysis.

From a separate Export window, any combination of analysis parameters can be exported to a spreadsheet (or directly to Excel) for selected subsets of trials. Trials can be selected individually from clickable lists as shown below, or in groups on the basis of target platform, animals, etc. WaterMaze can also calculate a density map of the time spent in each point in the maze for selected groups of animals.

Double clicking on any trial in the trial list brings up the stored video of the trial in a separate window. The video can be easily exported to a QuickTime file for presentation in PowerPoint or other presentation software.