Measurement notes
Distance depends on calibrated coordinates and valid tracking. Define whether stopped frames, wall-climbing, rearing, grooming, floating, or tracking loss count as movement before comparing groups.
Endpoint methods library
Locomotor activity endpoint
Distance traveled
Total path length covered during a defined assay window, commonly used as an activity, exploration, or motor-confound readout.
Unit
cm or m
Readout
Total tracked path length over the analysis window
Assays
Open field, elevated plus maze, novel tank, sociability, object recognition, water maze, activity chambers
Decision summary
Use distance traveled when the study needs a general locomotor readout or a control for interpreting anxiety, memory, social, or reward endpoints. Do not use it as a direct proxy for motivation or anxiety without zone, speed, bout, and posture context. The endpoint is strongest when arena calibration, tracking quality, and session windows are consistent.
| Primary value | Total tracked path length over the analysis window |
|---|---|
| Common units | Centimeters, meters, or normalized distance per minute |
| Compatible assays | Open field, elevated plus maze, novel tank, sociability, object recognition, water maze, activity chambers |
| Required boundary | Arena scale calibration and valid centroid or pose track |
| Do not infer alone | Anxiety, learning, reward, fatigue, or sensorimotor impairment |
Interpretation limit
Reduced distance may indicate sedation, freezing, fatigue, motor impairment, sickness, thigmotaxis, or low exploration. Increased distance may indicate hyperactivity, anxiety-like escape, stereotypy, or normal exploration depending on assay context.
Data capture
Store coordinate stream, arena calibration, valid-frame percentage, total distance, distance by epoch, mean speed, immobility time, zone occupancy, and tracking software version.
Confound checks
- Camera calibration drift or mismatched pixel-to-distance conversion.
- Tracking swaps, reflections, poor contrast, bedding movement, or water glare.
- Different habituation, handling, trial duration, or circadian timing.
- Wall climbing, jumping, rearing, grooming, or floating scored as translation.
- Drug or disease effects on speed that alter exposure to assay zones.
Reporting checklist
- Arena dimensions, lighting, session duration, and analysis window.
- Tracking method, calibration method, frame rate, and valid-frame threshold.
- Whether distance is total, per minute, epoch-specific, or zone-specific.
- Rules for missing frames, edge tracking, rearing, freezing, and grooming.
- Companion endpoints used to separate locomotion from anxiety or cognition.
- Software version, smoothing settings, and exclusion criteria.
References
Evidence notes
Endpoint pages should cite the method literature behind the scored value and keep high-specificity protocol claims qualified unless the source supports them.
Related workflow paths
Endpoint articles link to adjacent products, software workflows, and sibling endpoints where the connection is useful and already routable.
ConductVision open field
Tracking workflow for distance, speed, center time, and path-shape outputs.
Open field products
Apparatus category for exploration and novelty assays that commonly use distance traveled.
Time in zone endpoint
Pair locomotor activity with zone occupancy to avoid over-interpreting total distance.
