Dual Timer

Dual Timer is a GUI with keyboard input that allows a user to simultaneously record two interaction types and their duration over a set period of time.

Dual Timer GUI

Motivation

A common test for learning and memory in mice is the Novel Object Recognition (NOR) task where the time spent exploring a novel object vs a familiar object is compared. Mice naturally spend more time exploring novel objects, but if memory or recognition is impaired, they will spend equal time exploring both objects.

To record the duration of exploration with both objects, researchers have to use two separate timers. This can be cumbersome and leads to measurement errors. I wanted to make a simple tool that made it easier for researchers to record their data.

Features

• Keyboard input:
  • Timer 1 - a
  • Timer 2 - d
  • Pause - space
• Exports data as a CSV (duration of each interaction)

Output: Duration per interaction

Built using

• Tkinter for GUI and keyboard input