Abstract
Head turning experiments are widely used to test the cognition of both human infants and non-human animal species. Monitoring head turns allows researchers to non-invasively assess attention to acoustic or visual stimuli. In the majority of head turning experiments, the head direction analyses have been accomplished manually, which is extremely labor intensive and can be affected by subjectivity or other human errors and limitations. In the current study, we introduce an open-source computer program for measuring head directions of freely moving animals including common marmoset monkeys (Callithrix jacchus), American alligators (Alligator mississippiensis), and Mongolian gerbils (Meriones unguiculatus) to reduce human effort and time in video coding. We also illustrate an exemplary framework for an animal head turning experiment with common marmoset monkeys. This framework incorporates computer-aided processes of data acquisition, preprocessing, and analysis using the aforementioned software and additional open-source software and hardware.
Highlights
The head turning experiment was first used by Dix and Hallpike (1947), and Suzuki and Ogiba (1961) to assess auditory perception in children
In the common marmoset case discussed we present an entire cognitive experiment where assessing head turning was important
We were able to obtain a larger quantity of measurements with better accuracy, less human bias, and less human effort in a much shorter time, compared to manual coding of the same recorded videos
Summary
The head turning experiment was first used by Dix and Hallpike (1947), and Suzuki and Ogiba (1961) to assess auditory perception in children. This procedure has been widely used since to test cognition of in infants, and various animal species such as cotton-top tamarins (Saguinus oedipus) in Fitch and Hauser (2004), chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) in Okamoto, Tanaka, and Tomonaga, (2004), and dogs (Canis lupus familiaris) in Siniscalchi et al (2010). Behav Res (2018) 50:1154–1165 this recorded video These core procedures are typically performed with manual coding based on visual observations in the vast majority of studies. In the cases where a description is provided, the analysis is typically qualitative rather than quantitative due to subjective human interpretation
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