Extracellular Electrophysiology

The selected type controls the structured fields under Data. No type has required detail fields, so record what you know. Types fall into a few detail shapes: channel-based types ask for channels, samples, and sampling rate; frame-based types ask for resolution, frame count, and frame rate; light-based imaging types add excitation wavelength and laser power. The descriptions below follow the same groups and order as the Type dropdown.

Audio and Behavior Tracking

Audio recordings and video or tracking data that capture the subject's sounds and behavior.

• Audio: A recorded sound signal, such as vocalizations or an acoustic monitor. Use this for the audio signal itself; a sound used as a stimulus is a Manipulation. Structured fields: file name, format, compression, bit depth, codec, channels, samples, and sampling rate.
• Behavioral Tracking: Derived or processed tracking data: positions, markers, key points or poses produced by a tracking system such as an OptiTrack motion-capture rig or a pose-estimation pipeline. Use this when the stored stream is the processed points; the raw footage is Video tracking. Structured fields: file name, format, compression, frame count, resolution, and frame rate.
• Video Tracking: Raw video recorded to track a subject's movements or behavior. Use this when the video itself is the stored data; processed points or trajectories derived from it are Behavioral tracking. Structured fields: file name, format, compression, frame count, resolution, and frame rate.

Electrophysiology

Recordings of electrical activity, from scalp EEG and peripheral nerve signals to extracellular and intracellular recordings of neurons.

• Electroencephalography (EEG): Large-scale electrical activity recorded from electrodes on or beneath the skull rather than from within the tissue. Also use this type for ECoG surface arrays, or Extracellular Electrophysiology when a dense array is recorded on a probe system with electrode groups and channel tags. Structured fields: file name, format, data type, channels, samples, sampling rate, least significant bit, electrode groups, and channel tags.
• Electroneurogram (ENG): Electrical activity recorded from a peripheral nerve, typically through a nerve cuff or hook electrode. Structured fields: as for EEG.
• Extracellular Electrophysiology: Spiking and field activity recorded outside cells with a probe, tetrode, or wire electrode. This is the usual choice for silicon-probe and tetrode recordings. Structured fields: as for EEG, including electrode groups and channel tags for probe layout.
• Intracellular Electrophysiology: Membrane potential or current recorded from inside a single cell, as in whole-cell patch or sharp-electrode recordings. Structured fields: file name, format, data type, channels, samples, sampling rate, and least significant bit.

Optical Imaging

Fluorescence and optical recordings, from fiber photometry and miniscopes to confocal, light field and one-, two- and three-photon microscopy.

• Confocal Microscopy: Imaging that rejects out-of-focus light with a pinhole to produce optical sections. Structured fields: file name, format, compression, resolution, frame count, frame rate, laser power, and excitation wavelength.
• Fiber Photometry: Bulk fluorescence collected through an implanted optical fiber. It yields a population signal rather than an image, so it has no resolution fields. Structured fields: file name, format, compression, frame count, frame rate, laser power, and excitation wavelength.
• Light Field Microscopy: Imaging that captures the light field in one shot so a volume can be reconstructed without scanning. Choose it for volumetric single-shot acquisition rather than plane-by-plane imaging. Structured fields: as for Confocal Microscopy.
• Miniscope Microscopy: Imaging through a head-mounted miniature microscope in a freely moving subject, usually above a GRIN lens. Structured fields: file name, format, compression, frame count, resolution, frame rate, laser power, and imaging depth.
• Single-Photon Microscopy: Widefield or epifluorescence imaging using single-photon excitation. Use this for conventional widefield calcium imaging. Structured fields: as for Confocal Microscopy.
• Three-Photon Microscopy: Multiphoton imaging using three-photon excitation for greater depth and reduced background than two-photon imaging. Structured fields: as for Confocal Microscopy.
• Two-Photon Microscopy: Multiphoton imaging using two-photon excitation, the common choice for in-vivo cellular-resolution imaging. Structured fields: as for Confocal Microscopy.

Magnetic and Functional Imaging

Structural and functional magnetic resonance imaging and magnetoencephalography.

• Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI): MRI acquired as a time series to follow activity-related signal changes. Use plain MRI for structural scans. Structured fields: file name, format, compression, frame count, resolution, frame rate, laser power, and imaging depth.
• Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI): Structural or anatomical magnetic resonance imaging. Structured fields: file name, format, compression, frame count, resolution, frame rate, magnetic field strength, and imaging depth.
• Magnetoencephalography (MEG): Magnetic fields produced by neural activity, recorded outside the head. Structured fields: file name, format, compression, frame count, resolution, frame rate, laser power, and imaging depth.

Tomography and Ultrasound

Tomographic and ultrasound imaging, including CT, PET, SPECT, optical coherence tomography and functional ultrasound.

• Computed Tomography (CT): X-ray tomography, typically for skeletal or implant anatomy and implant verification. Structured fields: file name, format, compression, frame count, resolution, frame rate, laser power, and imaging depth.
• Functional Ultrasound Imaging (fUS): Ultrasound imaging of cerebral blood volume as an activity proxy. Structured fields: as for CT.
• Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT): Interferometric depth-resolved optical imaging of tissue microstructure. Structured fields: file name, format, compression, resolution, frame count, frame rate, center wavelength, and bandwidth.
• Positron Emission Tomography (PET): Imaging of an injected radiotracer's distribution, used for metabolic and receptor mapping. Structured fields: as for CT.
• Single-Photon Emission Computed Tomography (SPECT): Gamma-emitting radiotracer tomography. It is distinct from PET in tracer and detector, not in what the row records. Structured fields: as for CT.

General and Time-Series Data

Sampled signals that no more specific acquisition type covers, such as analog inputs and sensor streams.

• General time-series: Use this catch-all for a sampled signal that no specific method above describes, such as a temperature, force, or auxiliary sensor trace. Describe the signal and its source in Notes, because the type name alone will not tell another user what was recorded. Structured fields: file name, format, data type, channels, samples, sampling rate, least significant bit, electrode groups, and channel tags.

Type of data acquisition Required Choice

Select the acquisition method recorded by this row. The selection controls the structured fields shown under Data.

Session Required Single selection

Select the session during which the data were collected. The choices are limited to sessions in projects where you can make changes, and the session supplies this entry's project permission context. The session's subjects or specimen sets decide which interfaces are offered below.

Experimental interfaces Required Multiple selections

Select the target-facing interfaces the signal was acquired through. The choices are the interfaces installed on the session's subjects or specimen sets, limited to the interface types that fit the selected acquisition type. The order in which you select them is stored, so list them in the order that matches your channel or stream layout.

Equipment Multiple selections

Setup is an optional form-only filter for this field; it is not stored on the Data acquisition. Select the reusable instruments used to acquire the data. Only setups you can change and the Equipment they contain are offered.

Data Varies by type Structured details

Structured fields defined by the selected type, covering the file, format, and acquisition parameters. No detail field is required, but values recorded here are searchable and comparable, while the same information in Notes is not.

Order Number

Controls where this acquisition appears among the session's other entries. Use it when the order of streams is meaningful; it does not imply a start time.

Image File

Attach a representative preview, such as a field of view or an example trace. This is illustrative only: it is not the acquired dataset and does not replace a data-storage entry.

Notes Text · 500 characters

Record deviations, quality problems, or other relevant context that the structured fields do not capture.