Mice Behavioral Tracking in Y-Maze

Quantifies Behavioral Patterns with Scalable, High-Precision Image Processing

Behavioral assays such as the Y-maze, depend on manual arena segmentation, strict lighting conditions, and labor-intensive video scoring. These limitations impede reproducibility, delay data acquisition, and restrict access for laboratories without extensive computational infrastructure.

Researchers at the University of Florida have developed software to address challenges in the analysis of the Y-maze behavioral testing platform. This Y-maze tracking software enables automated, high-throughput behavioral analysis using real-time zone segmentation and robust image processing.. Unlike currently available software, the automated nature of this software, coupled with improved accuracy and consistency in behavioral quantification while significantly reduces manual labor and technical barriers associated with similar workflows.

Application

Software that enables high-throughput Y-maze tracking through real-time zone segmentation, providing robust and consistent behavioral analysis across large datasets

Advantages

• Hardware-agnostic analyses: The Y-maze module runs on a standard laptop, eliminating the need for high-performance computing required by other imaging software like AnyMaze and Noldus EthoVision
• Rapid batch processing of behavioral data: The Y-maze software processes up to 200 data files in approximately 2 hours, outperforming AnyMaze and Noldus EthoVision, which require manual region of interest (ROI) setup and longer runtimes
• Automated region-of-interest detection: HSV-based segmentation automatically identifies maze arms and tracks mouse movement by detecting changes in white space, reducing human error compared to manual thresholding in AnyMaze and Noldus EthoVision
• User-friendly interface with intuitive GUI workflows: Allows for simple parameter adjustments and batch processing, enhancing usability for researchers of all levels of technical expertise
• Advanced heatmap generation: The software provides three forms of heatmaps for visualizing rodent movement patterns, enhancing behavioral interpretation, revealing spatial preferences, and supporting group-level comparisons

Technology

The Y-maze behavioral tracking module processes video frames using OpenCV and HSV-based color segmentation to isolate the maze structure. It detects mouse position through frame-difference and pixel-thresholding within predefined zones, logs zone entries, path metrics, and dwell times for hundreds of files in under two hours, and outputs positional and cumulative heatmaps. The software is optimized for standard computing environments and designed to streamline behavioral data acquisition with minimal user intervention.