Left Pane#

The Left Pane of the GUI allows you to interact directly with the MEA grid and visualize Local Field Potential (LFP) activity. You can also view spike timing data through the Raster Plot, assign channels to trace plots, and access grouping and sorting tools.

For a full overview of how to conduct an analysis using these features, we recommend starting with the Walkthrough section.

MEA Grid#

After loading a .brw file and running either quick_view or Run Analysis, the MEA grid will be populated with active channels (shown in light gray).

  • Hover over a channel to view its (row, column) position.

  • Click a channel to highlight it.

  • Press 1, 2, 3, or 4 to assign that channel’s trace to the corresponding plot in the Right Pane.

  • Assigned channels will appear with markers on both the MEA grid and the associated trace plot.

Context Menus#

Right-click on the MEA grid or use the Menu Bar to access options such as:

  • Changing the grid’s visual appearance

  • Saving the grid view as an image

  • Exporting the animated grid as a video

Raster Plot#

The raster plot shows spike activity across channels. Each row corresponds to a channel; each dot is a detected spike.

  • Blue dots = spikes during seizures or :term:`Seizure-Like Events (SLEs)`s

  • Orange dots = spikes during Status Epilepticus (SE) events

  • Black dots = spikes outside seizure/SE periods

Tip

You can change the spike detection threshold using the Edit Raster Settings button.

  • Left click + drag = pan

  • Right click + drag = zoom (horizontal or vertical)

  • Scroll wheel = zoom in/out

  • Left click on a spike = jump playback to that time, select the channel, and optionally assign to a trace plot with 1-4

  • Hover = view timestamp and channel info for any spike event

Row Order#

Right-clicking the raster plot opens sorting options for the channel rows:

  • Default: MEA grid order (left to right, top to bottom)

  • If analysis has been run, you can sort by:

    • Order of entrance into an SE event

    • Order of entrance into a seizure event

    • Clustered entrance times into an SE event

Spatial Groups#

To define spatial regions (e.g., hippocampus vs neocortex):

  1. Click Create Groups at the bottom of the Left Pane.

  2. Use lasso selection to define regions.

Lasso controls:#

  • Left click + drag = draw a selection

  • c = clear selection

  • z = undo

  • Shift + z = redo

  • Enter or click Save Group = confirm a group

  • Confirm = save all groups and close the window

Tip

You can click Toggle Color Mode to visualize clusters or groups with distinct colors.

Once groups are created, tooltips will display group names. For statistics, switch from the Main tab to the Stats tab.