Choose a protocol, mark the arena and its regions, confirm the trial phase and check tracking before comparing animals.
Measure locomotor activity and use of the centre and periphery. Mark the full accessible arena and a centre region, then set the time-bin size. The report contains distance, speed, centre time, confirmed visits, entry latency and the observed behaviour timeline. Initial placement in the centre is recorded separately from an entry. Centre time alone does not establish anxiety.
Define both open arms, both closed arms and the central platform. Compare observed time and confirmed entries by arm type, and review individual visits. This version uses the projected floor reference for entry, not an all-four-paws rule. It does not score head dips or stretch-attend postures. Automatic detection in this apparatus needs separate video validation.
Mark the light and dark compartments and retain the doorway boundary. Obtain observed time, confirmed transitions and latency of entry into each compartment. Both compartments must be visible to a validated camera/detector combination. A mouse disappearing into an opaque box is unobserved, not automatically counted as time in the dark. Infrared recording requires a separately validated detector.
Mark three arms and the centre. The report shows the ordered arm-entry sequence, eligible three-entry windows, successful alternations and their fraction. A successful window contains three different arms. Repeated entry into the same arm is retained. Missing intervals split the sequence. With fewer than three eligible entries, alternation is not determined. The entry rule uses the floor reference, not four visible paws.
Record habituation, familiarisation and test as separate phases. Mark the object approach regions and identify familiar and novel objects in the test. Automatic output is nose proximity directed toward the object, not proof of exploration. Review exploration intervals with a named reviewer to obtain (novel-familiar)/(novel+familiar). The index is withheld outside the test phase or below the saved minimum exploration time.
Identify the stationary and moved objects in the test phase and preserve the familiarisation session. Review directed approach and exploration separately. The reviewed exploration index contrasts the moved and stationary object; it is withheld when exploration is insufficient. Different object locations require their actual saved zones, not copied coordinates from an earlier recording.
Define paired, unpaired and neutral compartments and label pretest, conditioning and posttest separately. Each phase reports observed occupancy and confirmed visits. Pair before/after sessions by animal, not by frame or file count. A compartment preference is descriptive; the current report does not automatically establish a treatment-induced preference or combine unmatched sessions.
Analysis of reviewed trajectories is available for acquisition, probe, reversal and cued trials. Define the target quadrant and platform region. Reports show trajectory, distance, target occupancy and first observed contact with the platform region. Contact is not escape: climbing onto the platform needs a confirmed event. The current dry-arena detector is not validated for swimming, reflections or water occlusion.
Mark the target hole and other holes for each learning or probe trial. Review the sequence of nose approaches, first target-region contact and non-target proximity visits. A nose near a hole is not a confirmed head dip or entry into the escape box. Those events and search-strategy classifications require additional reviewed evidence; they are not invented from a missing detection.
Define non-overlapping regions within an arena and choose the minimum visit duration and time-bin size. Obtain trajectories, occupancy, confirmed visits, censoring and descriptive activity. Save the same analysis definition for comparable sessions. A custom region name does not create a new validated behavioural classifier.