What is AnyMaze?

AnyMaze is a tracking program for behavioral tests. It greatly simplifies the work that needs to be done when running the tests- while the test runs, the program records a video of the maze, and analyzes the data concurrently. Thus, the experimenter has no need to analyze the videos later.

AnyMaze is installed on several of the computers in the lab, but only one machine has the license to actually record video and analyze the video. This is important- if you wish to simply create, edit, or view a protocol (an experimental set-up in AnyMaze) you can do so on any computer- just download and install the program and get to work.But, when the time comes to run the test, you must run it on a computer in the lab, named “Hayes”.

((Insert Hayes pic))

Link: Opening AnyMaze (2)

The Experiment Page

First, open AnyMaze. To do so, locate the icon for it. There might not be any order to the icons, so here is a picture for reference:

((AnymazeIcon))

AnyMaze might take a moment to boot up; when it does, this screen will be the first one you see:

((AnyMazeIntro))

You might need a password- ask Dr. Cannon; alternatively, one of the TA's might have it as well.

After entering the password, you should see a grayed out screen, with nothing filled in- to gain acess to any of the fields, you need to open an existing protocol, or create a new protocol. These options may be accessed from the “File” menu.

For some reason, the first page you will see is the “Experiment” page- the second of the 5 headings at the top. Fill in any appropriate information.

-The “Treatments” section is where you put your control and experimental groups. Here's an example:

((AM-UNAS1))

Now, if you were to switch away to another page- Protocol, for example, and return to the experiment page, you might see the numbers changed to something like this, instead:

((AM-UNAS2))

This is not a problem- AnyMaze knows that you have four groups, but the problem is, you never assigned actual animals to those groups. So, instead of assuming that you wanted to follow the pattern you suggested, it throws them all into unassigned, for now. Don't worry about it.

Link: The Protocol page (3)

The Protocol page

This page is where you define everything about your experiment. It's where you determine what video you will use, and decide the boundaries of the maze for the program. You can also define “zones”, areas of the map where the animal might be tracked differently. For example, you could define quadrants, and record how much time animals spend in each quadrant. Or, if doing a Morris Water maze, or other escape mazes, you can define the zone where the platform is, and when the animal reaches the zone, the test will cease.

((AM-WMEx))

In this example, you can see several potential zones, and the general maze setup. Note the highlighted outer ring, a new zone that can be used to determine when the animal is next to the wall. Also not the “escape” platform in the upper-left quadrant.

There are many options in this category, and exhaustive help files as a companion. Each individual mean-option has instructions and settings on the left-hand bottom side of the screen. You can change the complexity of the test with these.

Next: The Tests page (4)

Results and Data

Because we have SPSS, we can more efficiently analyze the data. We can run multitudes of tests, and cite very specific settings. Therefore, we don't use the Results page. However, we do use the Data page. In the data page, you can define which data you want to show- changing this will not require you to re-run tests. AnyMaze manages each trial specially so that you can get any data you want, on demand. It will automatically get new data for you by analyzing files it leave behind after each test. You can copy this data, then, from AnyMaze to another program, like Excel or SPSS, to analyze.

When saving, you want to save the data as a SYLK file- and you will see why once you try to save. AnyMaze will offer to save a special “Variable Name” file that, when loaded into SPSS, will provide you with pre-labeled variables. This will make your analysis far easier.