Importing Timestamps From Text Files

NeuroExplorer can import timestamps stored in the following text formats:

1. Multicolumn table of timestamps

Neuron01    Neuron02
0.01        0.001
0.3         0.05
0.5         0.1
            0.4
            0.6

In this format, each column in the text file contains the timestamps of a neuron. The first line of the file contains the names of all the variables.

2. Pairs <name> <timestamp>

The text file in this format should contain the pairs of the type

name timestamp

where

name is a character string. The first character of the name should be a letter. If the number is used as the name, NeuroExplorer will add “event” at the beginning of the variable name.

timestamp is a number representing the neuron firing time (or event time) in seconds or in time ticks.

Here is an example of a text file with the timestamps in seconds:

Neuron01    0.01
Neuron01    0.3
Neuron02    0.001
Neuron02    0.05
Neuron01    0.5
Neuron02    0.1
Neuron02    0.4

Use File | Import Data | Text File with Timestamps… menu command to import a text file with timestamps. The following dialog will be shown:

../../_images/ts_text_imp.png

The following options can specified in Text Import dialog:

  • Sampling Frequency - this parameter defines the internal representation of the timestamps that NeuroExplorer will use for this file. Internally, the timestamps are stored as integers representing the number of time ticks from the start of the experiment. The time tick is equal to

1./Sampling_Frequency

  • Timestamp Units - this parameter defines how the numbers representing the timestamps are treated by NeuroExplorer. If the timestamps are in time ticks, they are stored internally exactly as they are in the text file. If the timestamps are in seconds, NeuroExplorer converts them to time ticks:

Internal_Timestamp_In_Ticks = Timestamp_In_Seconds * Sampling_Frequency