CinePlex v3 Manual - Plexon Inc

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2.9.3 Selecting Tracking Modes for the Experiment
In general, for a given experimental setup only one mode is appropriate. The following
guidelines can help to determine which tracking mode to use:
• In general, the user obtains the best tracking results when light-emitting
diodes (LED) are attached to the animal. The easiest way to do this is to
mount the LEDs directly on the animal headstage, as is shown in Figure 2-1.
Plexon offers headstages with LEDs mounted on them.
Figure 2-1
LED Headset
• To track not only position but head direction, use two or three LEDs. Because
Object Contour Mode can only track the “center of gravity” of the animal’s
contour, Object Contour mode cannot be used with LEDs.
• If the user needs Motion Measure, which can be used for fear studies where
animal “freezing” behavior is important, use Object Contour mode.
• If the animals are multicolored, especially with high-contrast colors (e.g.
Long Evans rats), Object Contour mode will not work well only with a contrasting
background color, such as red.
• For LED tracking the brightest spots on the image are found, and their position
in the color space is determined. This mode is recommended when LEDs
are to be tracked, and they are the brightest spots on the image and the rest of
the image is dark. Check the Pure Colors option to cause the system to recognize
the standard red, green, and blue colors automatically. Otherwise, select
the colors to track.
74 CinePlex