BIOBSERVE - Spectator

Observe and analyse behavior

Spectator is a software that allows you to collect and analyse observational data for a wide range of experiments. No matter if you are observing animals or humans you can record a large variety of events like movements, different behaviors, activities and social interaction via user definable short cuts on your keyboard.

Project database
Organize your experiments! With the integrated user definable experiment database you can easily manage and arrange your sessions. This is very comfortable especially for the analysis of multiple sessions because it makes it easy to find and pool your specific observations.

Behavior lists
Create different lists with the behaviors you want to code. For each behavior you assign a short cut on the keyboard. To each behavior you can assign so called modifiers to describe the behavior more detailed.
You can for example add the modifiers “apple” and “banana” to the behavior “feeding”.

Data acquisition
During the session, the behaviors are coded either with the defined short cuts on the keyboard or with the mouse. An unlimited “undo” function is available. You can arrange the flexible interface to your own convenience.

Play & Edit
After the data acquisition you can play and edit the videos along with the data and insert or delete behaviors easily.

Pattern analysis
With the pattern recognition tool you can detect if there are patterns in the coded behaviors. You can use different parameters and filters to adapt the pattern recognition to your needs.

Report generator
The integrated report generator lets you create standardized session reports fast and easily. You can simply summarize the most important results and send them as a pdf file to your colleagues.

Video editing
You can compose highlighted presentation videos with the most interesting scenes and data within the application. No separate video editing software is required.

Phenotyping with the Spectator system

The following list shows what kind of phenotypes can be detected with the Spectator system based on the Mouse Genome Informatics (MGI) project that provides integrated access to data on the genetics, genomics, and biology of the laboratory mouse.

Take a look at the Mammalian Phenotype Browser for more information

Name of the test (MP term)	MP ID
abnormal conditioned emotional response [1]	2806
abnormal eye blink conditioning behavior [2]	2807
abnormal gait	1406
abnormal huddling behavior [3]	1448
abnormal motor learning	2804
abnormal nest building behavior	1447
abnormal nursing	1382
abnormal pup retrieval	1384
abnormal suckling behavior	1436
barbering [4]	2808
decreased grooming behavior	1442
excessive scratching	1412
increased grooming behavior	1441
poor grooming	1443
tail dragging [5]	5507
whisker trimming	1446
decreased coping response	3064
increased coping response	3063
decreased anxiety	1364
increased anxiety	1363
Polyphagia [6]	1433

[1] defects in an emotional response that has been acquired by conditioning
[2] defects in the ability of an animal to learn to blink in anticipation of an aversive stimulus (e.g., an airpuff to the eyelid) following repeated pairings with a neutral stimulus (e.g., a tone); such learning is only adaptive if the animal is able to learn the precise timing between the conditioned and unconditioned stimuli
[3] deviation from the usual tendency of mice to pile together when sleeping
[4] the biting and ingesting of hair (self, mate, pups); recognized as patches of unevenly chopped hair; seldom is the underlying skin inflamed
[5] pulling the tail along with difficulty or effort
[6] eating to excess

If you have questions concerning this product, please don´t hesitate to use the following e-mail address:
spectator@biobserve.com

European headquarter:
BIOBSERVE GmbH • Koenigswinterer Str. 418 • 53227 Bonn • Germany
Phone: +49 228 2016020 • Fax: +49 228 2016029
info@biobserve.com

North America:
2125 Center Ave. • Suite 500 • Fort Lee, NJ 07024
Phone: 201-302-6083 • Fax: 201-302-6062
info@biobserve.com