Acquire Trial statement

 [/h/]Tacq
   [[/h/]Sce[=Mouse|Keyboard|File]]
   [[/h/]Tri[=target_trial]]
   [[/h/]Max[=max_seconds]]
   [[/h/]Sint[=sampling_interval]]
   [[/h/]Fra[=smooting_frame]]
   [[/h/]Goal[=NE|NW|SE|SW|CT|NO|BAnn]]
   [[/h/]Start[=E|NE|N|NW|W|SW|S|SE|CT]]
   [[/h/]Tit[=trial_title]]
   [[/h/]iFile[=file_name]]

Type conventions and statement syntax are explained in the Glossary.

Parameters...

Sce
Radio button parameter indicating the data source device. Default = Mouse, else any of the following options:

• Mouse = capture event data via the keyboard and path data with the mouse,
• Keyboard = capture event data via the keyboard only,
• File = import Imétronic Freezing™ keyboard data that has previously been recorded using the MICE utility developed by Alexei Vyssotski..

Tri
Number parameter indicating the number of the destination trial. Default = next empty trial in an ascending order.

Max
Number parameter indicating the maximal duration of the recording. Default = 120s.

Sint
Number parameter indicating the final sampling interval. Default = 4s. Allowed Range = -20-20s. If recording with the mouse, position is sampled at the specified interval. If recording using the keyboard only:

• specify 0 to generate a data point for each keystroke,
• specify positive values to improve temporal resolution by inserting additional data points at the specified interval,
• specify negative values to generate data points at the specified interval and map each keystroke to the nearest data point.

Fra
Number parameter indicating the smoothing frame to be used for smoothing of the acquired raw data acquired with the mouse. Default = 8s. Allowed Range = 0-60s. Specify 0s to skip smoothing.

Goal
Name parameter indicating the position code of the goal for path recording with the mouse. Valid codes are: NE Northeast, NW Northwest, SE Southeast, SW Southwest, CT center, NO no goal, BAnn = Barnes maze hole number (nn ranging from 01 to 40). Barnes maze holes are allowed only if the arena has been defined as Barnes maze type. Default = NO.

Start
Name parameter indicating the position code of the release point for path recording with the mouse. Valid codes are: E East, NE Northeast, N North, NW Northwest, W West, SW Southwest, S South, SE Southeast, CT center. Default = SW.

Tit
Name parameter specifying the text for the trial title. {date} will be substituted by the current date, {time} by the current time.

iFile
File parameter indicating the MICE file from which to import Imétronic Freezing™ keyboard data. Only needed if Sce=File.

Note that...

The values for Sint and Max must be specified such that the total number of samples does not exceed 16383. Recording using the mouse is not possible if the specified destination trial contains data: no new data is acquired but the macro continues without error condition. If Source=Keyboard, new event data is merged with any event data that the target trial may contain and an existing path is left unchanged. The Tacq statement may trigger message boxes to which the user must respond, so do not use it in macros that are designed for unattended execution. Metric scaling is defined in the currently loaded setup file.

Additional information...

• See Acquire Trial command for basic information on the command.
• Managing setup files provides in depth information on the management of setups.
• Imétronic™ Freezing file format explains MICE files and discusses the problem of temporal resolution and event data streams.
• Inside case documents provides advanced information on case documents.
• See Creating and using macros to learn how to use and create macros.
• There are lists of all available macro statements and menu commands.