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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2010 Sep 15.
Published in final edited form as: J Neurosci Methods. 2009 Jun 17;182(2):180–188. doi: 10.1016/j.jneumeth.2009.06.010

Figure 2.

Figure 2

An early version of EthoVision (version 3.0) and the newest version of SocialScan (version 2.0) were used to automatically process vole behavior in the partner preference test (PPT). Virtual arenas (area in which voles can be tracked) and zones (regions of interest) were outlined for EthoVision (A) and SocialScan (B). For EthoVision 3.0, arenas were truncated at a point beyond which the tethered animals could not reach; zones included LeftSocial, RightSocial, two transitions zones, CenterChamber, and NonSocial (an accumulation of all non-hidden zones); the social zones were designated as hidden, allowing the program to track the amount of time the test subject spent in “social proximity” to the left and right tethered animals. For SocialScan 2.0, arenas included the entire test box floor; zones included LeftSocial, RightSocial, Center, and NonSocial; the NonSocial zone served to correct occasional ID swaps. During analysis, both EthoVision 3.0 and SocialScan 2.0 tracked the animals’ location according to center-of-gravity. EthoVision 3.0 logged time in “social proximity” (C, see middle test box); SocialScan 2.0 logged time in “immobile social contact” (D, see middle test box).