Detecting, measuring and correcting errors in automated behavior analysis equipment

Behavioral phenotyping of transgenic and mutant mice depends on the observation and recording of behavior of specific strains of mice in a particular test apparatus in a particular laboratory [2]. Not all researchers, however, obtain the same results when the same strains of mice are tested in the same apparatus in different laboratories [11]. Chesler et al. [4] calculated that experimenter effects were responsible for a significant proportion of the laboratory effects in behavioral research. These experimenter effects include observer bias, observational errors, and recording errors [7]. In order to reduce experimenter error and conduct high throughput analysis of behavior, many different types of automated behavioral test apparatus have been developed [10].