2nd experiment

Support
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Hi Chris,

with a big delay the second experiment. I’m very sorry that i could not send you the experiment earlier… so much work, so less time…

I read your other emails (very fast… and will answer later - next week) - try to do my best.

But now the second experiment for the physiology:

  1. Wait that the monkey fixate (indicate by the red circle - this circle is only the fixation radius).

  2. When the monkey fixate the fixation spot wait that the monkey touch the lever (itc18-channel 3)

  3. Show a cue on the right position (indicating that the monkey must attend to that stimulus that will show later at this position) (500 ms)

  4. “Blank” screen… (500 ms)

  5. Show to stimuli (random dot pattern?) which move upwards (random time… 1000 to 4000 ms)

  6. Direction change right stimulus (1000 ms)

  7. Black Screen screen, end of experiment

During step 6 the monkey must release the lever → then the answer was correct (“hit trial”).

Possible mistakes of the monkey:
“broke fixation” - monkey stop to fixate before he release the lever.
[(“wrong” - monkey react of a reaction of the left stimulus.) ← not necessarily for in this case!]
“early reaction” - monkey release the lever to early.
“no reaction” - monkey don’t release the lever during step 6.

I hope I you can understand my meager description of this typical trial… (it’s now 1am in Göttingen… hm… why I’m still working?!?).

More next week…

Thank your for you good work!
Gruß aus Göttingen
Ralf

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Attachments:

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Hi Ralf,

Thanks for the description of your second example experiment. I’ll try to get an MWorks implementation of this to you very soon.

Chris

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Hi Ralf,

I’m sorry to say that I still haven’t gotten to this. We’ve been working towards the 0.4.4 release (which hopefully will go out in the next 3-4 weeks), so I’ve been focusing on tasks related to that. I keep meaning to implement this experiment for you, but every day it gets put off until tomorrow.

Is getting this example experiment a high priority for you right now? From your previous messages, it sounded like you were swamped and wouldn’t necessarily be working on MWorks stuff in the immediate future. If that’s the case, will it be OK if I put off getting this to you for a couple more days?

On the other hand, if you’re eager to get working with MWorks immediately and need this experiment right away, I’m happy to move it to the top of my to-do list. I don’t want to block your progress by forcing you to wait for this example.

Please let me know.

Thanks,
Chris

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Hi Ralf,

I have a first-pass implementation of this experiment for you. I apologize again for taking so long on this! I’ll strive to be faster in the future.

The attached XML file implements most of the experiment you describe, with a few differences:

  1. Currently, MWorks doesn’t have a random dot stimulus. I know this is something you need, so we’ll work on implementing it in the near future. For the time being, though, I’ve substituted two ellipses. Initially, the long axis of both ellipses is vertical. In step 6, the right one rotates to 45 degrees off vertical.
  2. Instead of an ITC-18, I’ve used a game pad as the input device. Holding the left trigger down indicates fixation. Holding the right trigger down indicates that the lever is pressed.

If you have questions about anything, please let me know.

I can also make another version of the experiment that uses an ITC-18. However, in order to do so, I’ll need to know more about how your lever works. Are you connecting it to TTL input 3? If so, does a low to high edge transition indicate that the lever is pressed (or is it high to low)?

Thanks,
Chris

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Attachment: ralf_example_2.xml (17.3 KB)

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Hi Chris,

thank you very much for the 2nd file :slight_smile:

  1. Currently, MWorks doesn’t have a random dot stimulus. I know this is something you need, so we’ll work on implementing it in the near future.

Sound good. With the RDPs (random dot pattern) we can try to implement most of the psychophysic-experiments to mWorks.

I can also make another version of the experiment that uses an ITC-18. However, in order to do so, I’ll need to know more about how your lever works. Are you connecting it to TTL input 3? If so, does a low to high edge transition indicate that the lever is pressed (or is it high to low)?

You’re right. The lever is connected to TTL3. If the lever is pressed (pushed, touched) the signal rise from 0 to 5 volt. (ITC 0 to 1)… so… its low to high.

But… as I wrote in my last mail: I’m on PR :smiley: (with lots of Piña Colada) without an ITC-18 (but with a MacBook and a USB-Gamepad). I will check the new experiment and try to make some changes to get familiar with the editor and the paradigms of mWorks.

Gruß form playa Punta Santiago
Ralf

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Hi Ralf,

You’re right. The lever is connected to TTL3. If the lever is pressed (pushed, touched) the signal rise from 0 to 5 volt. (ITC 0 to 1)… so… its low to high.

But… as I wrote in my last mail: I’m on PR :smiley: (with lots of Piña Colada) without an ITC-18 (but with a MacBook and a USB-Gamepad).

OK, it sounds like the gamepad version is all you need for now. Let me know when you’re back in the lab and ready to try this with an ITC-18. The changes should be pretty minimal, but it may take a little experimentation to get right.

Until then, enjoy the piña coladas :slight_smile:

Chris