Automated Tracking of Whiskers in Videos of Head Fixed Rodents
Figure 1
Tracking whiskers from high-speed (500 Hz) videos during an object detection task.
(A) A typical field of view. (B) Typical imaging configuration. (C–G) Automated results of tracing and linking. (C) Facial hairs and whiskers are traced in each video frame and then identified by a separate tracking step. (D) A whisker (blue) touches the pole. (E) Two whiskers (blue & green) are bent by the pole. The most posterior whisker is strongly retracted so that only a small segment is visible. (F) Tracking measures whisker orientation, such as the angle at base. (G) Tracking measures whisker shape, such as mean curvature, which can be observed over time. Changes in curvature allow the calculation of forces acting on the whisker follicle [16].