T-pattern analysis for the study of temporal structure of animal and human behavior: A comprehensive review

Abstract

A basic tenet in the realm of modern behavioral sciences is that behavior consists of patterns in time. For this reason, investigations of behavior deal with sequences that are not easily perceivable by the unaided observer. This problem calls for improved means of detection, data handling and analysis. This review focuses on the analysis of the temporal structure of behavior carried out by means of a multivariate approach known as T-pattern analysis. Using this technique, recurring sequences of behavioral events, usually hard to detect, can be unveiled and carefully described. T-pattern analysis has been successfully applied in the study of various aspects of human or animal behavior such as behavioral modifications in neuro-psychiatric diseases, route-tracing stereotypy in mice, interaction between human subjects and animal or artificial agents, hormonal–behavioral interactions, patterns of behavior associated with emesis and, in our laboratories, exploration and anxiety-related behaviors in rodents. After describing the theory and concepts of T-pattern analysis, this review will focus on the application of the analysis to the study of the temporal characteristics of behavior in different species from rodents to human beings. This work could represent a useful background for researchers who intend to employ such a refined multivariate approach to the study of behavior

Detection of Ludic Patterns in Two Triadic Motor Games and Differences in Decision Complexity

“…As it is well known, THEME is a software (Magnusson, 1996, 2000) that detects T-patterns (Borrie et al, 2002; Jonsson et al, 2006; Casarrubea et al, 2015) by combining ordered events which occur at relatively invariable time distances.…”

Quantifying the offensive sequences that result in goals in elite futsal matches

“…A temporal pattern is essentially a combination of events, which occur, in the same order with temporal distances between each other, which remain relatively invariant in relation to the null hypothesis that each component is independent and is distributed randomly in time (for review, see Casarrubea et al (2014)). As stated by Magnusson (2000, p. 94), "that is, if A is an earlier and B a later component of the same recurring temporal pattern then after an occurrence of A at t, there is an interval [t+d1, t +d2] (d2≥d1≥d0) that tends to contain at least one occurrence of B more often than would be expected by chance".…”

Ethological concepts enhance the translational value of animal models

“…Despite the proven sensitivity of sequential analysis of behavioral streams (see e.g. Casarrubea et al, 2015;Spruijt and Gispen, 1984), the analysis of behavior is mostly restricted to frequencies and durations of behavioral elements.…”