Head Dip Behavior

Head dip behavior is a sensitive ethological readout used in the Elevated Plus Maze and Elevated Zero Maze to assess anxiety and risk assessment. When an animal extends its head over the edge of an open arm and looks downward, it reflects active risk evaluation. Protected vs. unprotected dips capture different facets of threat appraisal.

ConductVision employs AI-based detection to automatically classify and quantify head dip behavior, segmenting individual episodes and extracting trial-level metrics with consistent scoring. These metrics capture subtle behavioral shifts reflecting emotional regulation that may be missed by open-arm time alone.