Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
10351574 | Computers in Biology and Medicine | 2012 | 8 Pages |
Abstract
We present a software (ETHOWATCHER®) developed to support ethography, object tracking and extraction of kinematic variables from digital video files of laboratory animals. The tracking module allows controlled segmentation of the target from the background, extracting image attributes used to calculate the distance traveled, orientation, length, area and a path graph of the experimental animal. The ethography module allows recording of catalog-based behaviors from environment or from video files continuously or frame-by-frame. The output reports duration, frequency and latency of each behavior and the sequence of events in a time-segmented format, set by the user. Validation tests were conducted on kinematic measurements and on the detection of known behavioral effects of drugs. This software is freely available at www.ethowatcher.ufsc.br.
Related Topics
Physical Sciences and Engineering
Computer Science
Computer Science Applications
Authors
Carlos Fernando Crispim Junior, Cesar Nonato Pederiva, Ricardo Chessini Bose, Vitor Augusto Garcia, Cilene Lino-de-Oliveira, José Marino-Neto,