Compartment occupancy
Total time in light compartment, total time in dark compartment, and percentage split across the full session and per time bin.
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← Capabilities
Light/Dark Anxiety Profiling
Automated anxiety phenotyping in the light/dark box
Quantify light/dark transitions, latency to enter the dark compartment, and proportional dwell time — the standard anxiety assay, fully automated.
99%
Transition detection accuracy
33ms
Transition timing precision
6
Standard dependent variables
0
Manual scoring required
The problem
Light/dark scoring appears simple but is error-prone at scale
Counting transitions and timing compartment occupancy sounds straightforward, but at scale — dozens of animals per cohort, multiple time bins — manual scoring produces inconsistent transition criteria and timing drift.
- Defining "transition" (two paws? four paws? body center?) varies across scorers
- Latency measurements from stopwatch have reaction-time error of 200-500 ms
- Time-binned analysis (first 5 min vs. last 5 min) requires rewatching the video
The solution
Deterministic compartment tracking with configurable criteria
ConductVision tracks the animal centroid relative to the light/dark boundary. Transitions are logged when the body center crosses the boundary line, and all temporal measures are frame-accurate.
- Configurable transition criterion — body center, nose point, or percentage body crossing
- Frame-accurate latency, transition counts, and dwell times
- Automatic time-binned analysis at any interval without re-processing
Endpoints
Light/dark anxiety measures
Transition log
Every light-to-dark and dark-to-light transition with timestamp, direction, and inter-transition interval.
CSV
Anxiety summary metrics
Latency to first dark entry, total transitions, light dwell ratio, and risk assessment (entries into light from dark).
CSV
Applications
Anxiety and pharmacology applications
Benzodiazepine dose-response
Light/dark test is a standard primary screen for anxiolytic compounds. Automated scoring enables consistent dose-response curves across large cohorts.
Measures
- Light time by dose
- Transition count by dose
- Latency to dark entry
Anxiety phenotyping in transgenic lines
Compare light/dark profiles across genotypes with identical scoring criteria — no inter-rater confound.
Measures
- Genotype light/dark ratio
- Transition frequency
- Habituation within session
Chronic stress anxiety assessment
Pre- and post-stress light/dark testing quantifies stress-induced anxiety with objective, repeatable measures.
Measures
- Pre/post light time
- Pre/post transition count
- Stress-induced change score
Light/dark preference across the light cycle
Testing at different zeitgeber times reveals circadian modulation of light aversion.
Measures
- Light dwell by testing time
- Transition count by time of day
- Phase-dependent anxiety
Compared to typical systems
How ConductVision differs
| Feature | ConductVision | Typical systems |
|---|---|---|
| Transition criterion | Configurable (center, nose, % body) | Fixed or undefined |
| Latency precision | Frame-accurate (33 ms) | Stopwatch (200-500 ms error) |
| Time-binned analysis | Automatic at any interval | Requires re-scoring |
| Batch cohort processing | Unlimited parallel | Sequential manual |
| Risk assessment scoring | Built-in (light entries from dark) | Custom calculation required |
Related capabilities
Zone and Spatial Analysis
Configurable spatial zones with automated dwell time, entry count, and heatmap analysis for any arena.
Anxiety and Depression Index Scores
Composite behavioral indices with Z-score normalization across anxiety and depression test batteries.
Freezing Detection
Dual-mode automated freezing scoring with TTL/serial apparatus integration for fear conditioning paradigms.
Consistent anxiety scoring across every cohort
Upload light/dark box recordings and compare automated metrics to your manual scores.
