An experimental study is performed to investigate unsteady mixed convection in a horizontal channel with a heat source. Particle image velocimetry (PIV) with thermo-sensitive liquid crystal (TLC) tracers is used for visualization and analysis. This method allows simultaneous measurement of velocity and temperature fields at a given instant of time. Quantitative data of the temperature and velocity are obtained by applying the color-image processing to a visualized image, and neural network is applied to the color-to-temperature calibration. It is found that the periodic flow of mixed convection in a cavity appears at very low Reynolds numbers (Re<0.4), and the period decreases with increasing Reynolds numbers and increases with increasing aspect ratio.