presentation stimulus software

How Presentation Works

Presentation is an application to allow stimulus generation and experimental control. The production of a Presentation experiment can be divided into the following three steps:

• Production of stimuli stored on disk
• Specification of how to present the stimuli
• Specification of the hardware configuration and runtime options

We illustrate this segmentation in the following diagram.

Presentation can currently display 2-d graphics, compressed videos, sounds, 3-d graphics, and force feedback. Presentation can construct text displays and simple 3-d shapes for you, but more complex stimuli must be constructed outside of Presentation and stored on disk for use in the experiment.

Experiment Specification

Presentation uses a simple text description to describe both the stimuli to present during an experiment and how to present them. You can either use the Presentation text editor to produce descriptions or another text editor of your choice. This description is stored in one or more text files.

Hardware configuration

The Presentation GUI (excluding the editor ) allows you to set the experimental options, most of which deal with hardware. In general, the text file experiment specification describes stimuli, sequences of stimuli, and general experimental behaviors which include interactions with general classes of hardware. In contrast, the Presentation GUI is used to select the specific hardware for the experiment. For example, the experiment description might assume the presence of four buttons to gather subject responses. We then use the GUI to specify the response devices and specific buttons to use. In another example, the experiment description specifies the visual stimuli while we use the GUI to select the display adapter (and therefore the monitor) to use for stimulus presentation. We use a similar division of labor between the GUI and the text description for all of Presentation's features.

The next section, A First Scenario , illustrates this structure in a concrete way using a simple tutorial.

FRONTIERS COMMENTARY article

A primer of visual stimulus presentation software.

Part of this article's content has been mentioned in:

Vision Egg: an open-source library for realtime visual stimulus generation

• Read original research

Acknowledgments

Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

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Description

SuperLab is the stimulus presentation software for Mac OS X and Windows. The new SuperLab introduces a host of additional features, including playing movies; stimulus lists; support for JPEG, GIF, PNG, and TIFF files; built-in support for RSVP and self-paced reading; improved support for fMRI and EEG/ERP; trial variables conditional branching (if/then/else) and multiple input devices in the same experiment. This new version is a 100% rewrite of SuperLab and was built from the ground up as a Unicode application that handles Japanese, Chinese, and other international fonts just as easily as it handles English fonts. SuperLab remains, without any doubt, the easiest way to build an experiment while eliminating nearly all the limitations found in earlier versions.

System Features

• Build and run psychology experiments
• Collect reaction time data
• Designed for researchers, not programmers : implement using point-and-click interface
• Classic and demo experiments are available for download
• Supports randomization , looping , participant groups and stimulus lists
• Use any stimulus type as feedback
• View, transpose and merge data
• Save experiment and all stimuli files in a single, compressed file

Technical Specifications

Please note: Important! This product is for research applications only. Not a medical device as defined in EU directive 93/42/EEC. Not designed or intended to be used for diagnosis or treatment of disease.

The Right Tools: Streamlining Stimulus Presentation

Jul 21, 2021 | Electrodermal , Life Science Data , psychophysiology , Stimulators |

Our nervous system processes information from a dizzying array of stimuli—visual, auditory, thermal, olfactory, and tactile, among others. How organisms respond to stimuli provides researchers with a wealth of information on how they adapt, learn, and live. The complex interaction between stimulus and response presents a myriad of challenges when it comes to creating effective stimuli in the research environment and accurately gathering data from subjects.

Today’s researchers have been gifted with a variety of stimulus presentation options to suit their individual needs. Complex experiments may call for robust solutions that integrate a wide range of stimulus presentation and data acquisition hardware and software, often from various industry leading manufacturers such as BIOPAC, E-Prime , and Cedrus . Such experiments can combine multiple stimuli with advanced stimulus controls and data gathering techniques.

Stimulus presentation, however, is not a one-size-fits-all proposition and some researchers may prefer a simpler solution that integrates visual stimulation presentation tools with powerful eye-tracking, as is available with BIOPAC’s screen-based Eye Tracking system . Additionally, Acq Knowledge now offers native integration and synchronization of stimulus presentation, eye tracking, and physiology data acquisition and analysis, all easily managed from a single application.

The seamless integration of stimulus presentation in data gathering and analysis allowed a team of researchers from the University of Connecticut and Emory University to monitor electrodermal activity (EDA) in subjects as they responded to pain stimuli induced by electrothermal grills. The goal of the study was to determine the viability of using such grills to induce pain without causing physical harm to research subjects. Researchers recorded and stored EDA signals from electrodes attached to the subjects’ fingers with a BioNomadix® wireless amplifier and MP160 data acquisition device connected to a computer running Acq Knowledge . A STMISOC programmable stimulus isolation adapter provided EP stimulation, allowing software-controlled adjustment of stimulus pulse width, repetition, and setup of an arbitrary pulse stimulus sequence via Acq Knowledge .

Using a single integrated system doesn’t necessarily equate sacrificing utility, nor does cross-platform integration need to be complicated. A group of researchers in Beijing recently explored the connection between fear response, conditioning, and memory that required the application of electrical shocks of varying intensity. A constant current STM200 stimulator delivered the shocks, in this case controlled by E-Prime software while data was collected by an MP150 running Acq Knowledge . In its current build, Acq Knowledge also integrates stimulus presentation and data acquisition, potentially streamlining the design of such an experiment.

BIOPAC’s new integrated stimulus presentation meshes seamlessly with Eye Tracking and data acquisition, providing researchers with an integrated solution to save valuable time and effort.

BIOPAC Systems, Inc. provides life science researchers and educators with data acquisition and analysis systems that inspire people and enable greater discovery about life.

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home page > Products > E-Prime®

E-Prime® is the most comprehensive software available for behavioral research. Build your own experiments using E-Prime’s easy-to-use graphical interface. Design, collect, and analyze data – all within a few hours!

Catalog Number: PST-101700

Design. Collect. Analyze.

100,000+ users in research institutions across 75 countries have made E-Prime the world-leading stimulus presentation software.

Remote data collection with

Pack your experiment, share the link, download your data.

E-Prime Go is now available for E-Prime 3.0 users! You can host your experiments on our site and share the link with your participants. Once the participant completes the experiment, their data will be automatically uploaded to your account. To access E-Prime Go, simply register your E-Prime 3.0 serial number on our  support site  to download the E-Prime Go application.

Drag and drop design.

Build experiments with text, images, sound, and videos by dragging and dropping objects onto your timeline. Take advantage of free templates and pre-built experiments in our  Experiment Library .

Timing accuracy

E-Prime 3.0 reports timing accuracy to the millisecond precision level. Be sure to use our testing tools to confirm your computer hardware is capable of critical timing. Add  Chronos  to your research setup to verify the display timing of your monitor, obtain millisecond-accurate participant responses, as well as millisecond-accurate sound onset times.

Unlimited Data Collection.

Collect unlimited data with E-Run and  E-Prime Go ! E-Studio provides descriptive menus and intuitive data logging options. E-DataAid provides the tools to filter, analyze, and export your data.

Hardware integrations

Use Task Events to send and receive triggers through Chronos, socket, serial, or parallel port. Use  Chronos Adapters  for a simple connection to a wide range of EEG, fNIRS, and physiological devices to send and receive digital triggers.

Dedicated support team

We have a dedicated team of technical consultants available to assist you with experiment setup, troubleshooting, and best practice tips. Submit a support request on our  support site .

Scripting for beginners and pros.

E-Prime’s scripting language, E-Basic, increases the flexibility and control of your experiments. Dozens of resources are available so that even users without experience in scripting can take advantage of this powerful feature.

New with E-Prime 3.0

• Improved interface with tabbed workspace
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• Slide Layout Templates for quick design
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• New Task Event for executing user script
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• SlideChoice sub-object to design multiple choice surveys, recognitions, and recalls
• SlideSlider sub-object to design scales and sliders
• Find and replace properties in an experiment
• Run an experiment in a floating window for quicker inspection and debugging
• Quickly start an experiment from any List
• Interactively run List rows for debugging purposes

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Experiment Builder

Sophisticated stimulus presentation software.

SR Research Experiment Builder is a sophisticated and intuitive drag-and-drop graphical programming environment for creating computer-based psychology and neuroscience experiments. Built on Python, it is compatible with both Windows and macOS, and supports the creation of both EyeLink eye-tracking and non-eye-tracking experiments. Updates are always free and always fully backward compatible.

To find out more about Experiment Builder and how it can help your eye-tracking research, please get in touch with us! You can download the latest version of Experiment Builder by clicking the button below (you will need to be registered with our support forum for the link to work).To help you get started, we have a number of Experiment Builder video tutorials:

Intuitive Drag and Drop Interface

Experiment Builder has a simple drag and drop interface that makes implementing even the most complex experimental designs very straightforward. Conditional branching and looping allow for highly flexible experiment flow control. Variables can be dynamically updated at any point in the experiment. Python data structures and commands can be incorporated into the GUI interface for increased flexibility and custom Python code can be added to extend functionality. Powerful randomization options include blocking, run-length control, and list counter-balancing.

Precise Stimulus Presentation

Experiment Builder can present multiple combinations of text, shapes, images, and single or multiple simultaneous video clips – all with exceptional temporal precision. Audio stimuli can be precisely synchronized with visual stimuli, and microphones used as voice triggers and to record audio responses into .wav files. Sinusoidal, linear, or customized movement patterns can be used to create smooth pursuit targets and even simple animations.

Powerful Gaze-Contingent Functionality

Experiment Builder has a wide range of features that allow gaze-contingent tasks such as moving window, boundary-crossing, and saccadic adaptation paradigms to be implemented with ease. Gaze-contingent triggers (invisible boundary, sample velocity, saccade, and fixation based) allow for sophisticated gaze-based experimental control, including gaze-triggered trial onset, automatic recycling of incorrect trials, and much more.

Perfect for Language Research

Experiment Builder supports multi-language text presentation, including right-to-left scripts, and provides full control of text properties, including HTML markup. Automatic interest area segmentation can be applied at the word-, phrase-, or even character-level, with precise control over boundary placement.

Hundreds of Templates

Experiment Builder comes with ready-made templates for a wide range of common eye-tracking tasks, including gaze-contingent window, text reading, smooth pursuit, as well as templates that illustrate integration with other biometric recording devices. Our support forum contains many other example scripts, for a wide range of eye-tracking and non-eye tracking tasks.

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Stimulation

ADInstruments offers a comprehensive and easy-to-use solution for visual stimulus presentation and evoked response studies to study behavioral and cognitive neuroscience, and decision-making. With the combination of SuperLab and StimTracker from Cedrus with PowerLab and LabChart , you can create an integrated system with simple media management, tracking and complete control of your research data.

Our human approved stimulus isolators also allow for studies requiring electrical stimulation of nerves. PowerLab can also interface with other types of stimulators, such as TMS machines for non-invasive brain stimulation.

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Supports a wide range of stimulus inputs

Record multiple signals at once

Complete System available

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Integrate with other physiological recording options

In conjunction with our solutions shown below, any device with an analog output (+/- 10V) can be connected to a PowerLab data acquisition system for synchronization of the event in LabChart , giving you more flexibility and the ability to integrate your data streams in one place.

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Engineered for precise, consistent, reliable data acquisition of a wide range of physiological signals. PowerLab gives you the reproducible data you need while meeting the strictest international standards.

Creates a platform allowing you to acquire biological signals from multiple sources simultaneously and apply advanced calculations and plots.

Galvanically isolated, high-performance differential biological amplifiers optimized for measuring a wide variety of biological signals such as ECG / EKG , EMG , EOG , and EEG , with high-quality noise specifications and a range of filter settings.

Related Accessories and Parts

Includes cap, adapter and bodyharness as well as electrodes, gel and other accessories.

The MagStim Interface Cable is used for connecting the Isolated Interface of a MagStim 200 2 stimulator to any PowerLab with a Trigger input option.

Push Button Switches connect to any PowerLab (via BNC or DIN input), providing either a 1V or 6V output for triggering, timing or marker signals.

Provides the subject with the ability to quantify their response to a range of different stimuli in psychology related experiments.

The Response Pad to PowerLab Cable (2m) connects to the Accessory Connector on the back of the any of the RB-x30 Series (discontinued) response pads directly to any PowerLab unit with a Digital Input.

The StimTracker Duo allows for easy sending of event markers from a stimulus presentation computer to a PowerLab data acquisition system. StimTracker Duo can take input from up to two lightsensors and two audio channels as well as from a PC running SuperLab. It connects to PowerLab via the included m-Pod .

The StimTracker Quad allows for easy sending of event markers from a stimulus presentation computer to a PowerLab data acquisition system. StimTracker Quad can take input from up to four lightsensors, one microphone and two audio channels as well as from a PC running SuperLab. It connects to PowerLab via the included m-Pod .

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Electrical Stimulation

Measure electrical stimulation and pacing in human subjects.

Extracellular Recordings

Sample single or multi-unit spikes. Sort and analyze these signals with LabChart’s Spike Histogram Module. Your LFP and Evoked potentials can be analyzed using Peak Analysis.

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Flexible Data Acquisition

ADInstruments systems provide an integrated solution to advance life science research. With the combination of LabChart or LabChart Lightning analysis software and a PowerLab data acquisition unit, you have the flexibility to collect and synchronize a wide range of signals for analysis. We also offer a range of LabChart compatible solutions able to stream directly in LabChart.

LabChart data analysis software creates a platform for all of your recording devices to work together, allowing you to acquire biological signals from multiple sources simultaneously and apply advanced calculations and plots as your experiment unfolds.

High-performance data acquisition hardware designed for life science research. PowerLab is engineered for precise, consistent, reliable data acquisition, giving you the reproducible data you need while meeting the strictest international safety standards.

A modular data acquisition foundation system that provides unparalleled flexibility for researchers looking to invest in customizable, reliable solutions for both now, and in the future.

All your analysis in one place

LabChart software is designed specifically for life science data and provides up to 32 channels for data display and analysis options that are powerful and easy to use. With auto-recognition of ADI and LabChart Compatible hardware, multi-window views, one touch recording, simultaneous recording from multiple devices, specialized preconfigured settings, easy sharing options and an interface that can be customized to show only the features you want to use.

Features and Add-Ons

Additional acquisition and analysis options to support your Stimulation analysis:

The Heart Rate Variability (HRV) Module for LabChart analyzes beat-to-beat interval variation in ECG recordings or arterial pulse signals.

Powerfully convert your time based signal to its component frequencies. You can display the power spectrum density, a colorful spectrogram, a channel calculation for quantifying the power in specific frequency ranges, or extract frequency parameters directly to the data pad.

Data acquisition and analysis re-imagined.

Make unique discoveries with unlimited freedom and flexibility., try labchart lightning now for free.

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in Stimulation on Google Scholar cite ADInstruments.

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Scent, semantics and cinnamon scrolls, i don’t care about the color of your rubber hand, controlling a robot via brainwaves, investigating social perception with powerlab and e-prime.

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Stimulus Presentation

Stimulus Presentation Options from BIOPAC

• E-Prime Stimulus Presentation Systems

Stand-alone systems measure subject responses to visual or auditory stimuli. Stimulus Presentation Systems include E-Prime 2.0 Professional or Standard experiment generator and an isolated digital interface (STP100C) with parallel port cable (CBL110C) to work with a BIOPAC MP System.

• E-Prime Experiment Generator

Professional or standard software versions available.

• Programmable Electrical Stimulation System for E-Prime

Interface the Constant Current or Constant Voltage Isolated Linear Stimulator (STMISOLA) with E-Prime to control the stimulus frequency and stimulus intensity for real-time stimulus delivery changes based on a subject’s responses.

• SuperLab Stimulus Presentation Systems

Stand-alone systems measure subject responses to visual or auditory stimuli. Stimulus Presentation Systems include SuperLab current release software and an Isolated Digital Interface (STP100C) with cables to work with a BIOPAC MP System.

• StimTracker—Stimulus Presentation Marker Interface

New StimTracker universal marker interface interfaces with your existing SuperLab software to provide digital trigger marks. Connects via USB and includes two photocells for precise event marking. Requires one STP100C.

• SuperLab & StimTracker—Stim Presentation Marker System

Provides digital trigger information from SuperLab to Acq Knowledge . Systems include SuperLab, StimTracker, and an Isolated Digital Interface (STP100C) with the parallel port cable option (CBL110C) to work with a BIOPAC MP System.

See the VR & Stimulus Presentation Catalog for even more Stimulus Presentation Solutions from BIOPAC!

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Stimulus Presentation solutions for your EEG experiments

Published by Javier Acedo

Research Engineer and Project Manager (Starlab Consulting Division) View all posts by Javier Acedo

Neuroscientists usually need presenting stimuli as well as behavioral monitoring while recording brain activity. Several software solutions can be found out there that fit the minimum requirements an experiment might have in that regard. I am compiling and commenting here on some of them. I will appreciate very much your comments in case I am missing any others.

Presentation

Presentation and e-Prime are certainly the most popular stimulus presentation software used in labs . Presentation offers a large comprehensive scripting language which allows you to fully program your experiment. Its intuitive user interface is also very convenient for configuring and testing the hardware that might be involved in the campaign. Access to serial and parallel port is provided which might be useful when communicating with other programs to synchronize both the stimuli and the electrophysiological recorded signals through hardware triggers.

They provide an example scripts database which makes the language easy to learn and it is also large enough to find something you can start from when coding your own experiment.

Its extension manager allows to add functionalities on the fly. I have especially found the Lab Streaming Layer extension very useful. As I explained here , it allows the synchronization of experiments via software with the only requirement being that the applications be synchronized in the same network.

In case you need integrate Presentation functionalities with your own program they offer an API which can be called from C/C++, Matlab and Python and others.

E-Prime’s main difference from Presentation is the way experiments can be programmed. E-Prime offers a drag and drop graphical interface which can be very convenient in case you do not feel confident about your programming skills. The underlying scripting language, which is very similar to Visual basic, can also be accessed to design more complex experiments.

Like Presentation, E-Prime seamlessly integrates with fMRI devices by synchronizing with their scanner trigger pulses. In addition, E-Prime also integrates other hardware like the Tobii eye tracker and the eye gaze and eye movement sensors from SMI.

The timing accuracy for both Presentation and E-Prime is solid for precise timing experiments (within the ms accuracy). However, E-Prime needs a bit of a learning curve to achieve proper accuracy since the stimulus pre-loading functionality needs to be considered so as not to alter the timing of the paradigm.

Regarding synchronization with other applications, E-Prime supports TCP/IP link which, as discussed before, might not be enough depending on the experiment precision needed. The Lab Streaming Layer is not natively supported.

Like Presentation, E-Prime is designed to run in a Windows operative system.

PsychoPy is a free open source alternative to Presentation and E-Prime in case you do not want (or you cannot afford) to buy a licensed software. Like E-Prime, it offers an intuitive user interface

experiment builder to define the experiment’s workflow. The experiment scripts can also be directly edited in Python which might be very convenient for Neuroscientists already familiarized with such popular language. By using python as its native scripting language there are no restrictions on developing or deploying the experiment in either Windows, Mac, Linux or other platforms.

Apart from the PsychoPy standalone version, it is also possible to work with PsychoPy as a library which your projects can call from your Python environment.

For using Lab Streaming Layer in PsychoPy for robust synchronization across multiple computers you can find some ports of that synchronization library to Python like this one .

Psychtoolbox

Psychophysics Toolbox is a free set of Matlab functions which its main functionality is to provide the interface to the computer hardware to achieve proper synchronization when displaying visual stimuli or playing audio ones. Since no graphical user interface is provided, good Matlab skills are recommended in case you decide to go for it. In case you cannot access a licensed Matlab, the Psychtoolbox functions can also be used in GNU Octave.

Paradigm is a commercial software with a similar approach to PsychoPy. It is a Python based solution providing both access to scripting programming with Python and with a very simple user interface.

Paradigm has an added value over and above PsychoPy which is the integration of several devices, including Enobio , to which it sends event triggers during the experiment. It also supports running experiments on mobile platforms running iOS, however, you need to design and develop the experiment in a Windows computer since Mac is not supported yet.

Inquisit might be your choice if you are looking for a solution working either in Windows and Mac. This commercial software provides quite a large library with examples and experiments which will speed up your development. To program your experiment a proprietary scripting language is provided. Its syntax is very similar to other imperative programming languages like Java, JavaScript, C#, PHP or C. If you are not familiar with any of those languages or have poor program skills the learning curve might be large in your case.

Like Paradigm, Inquisit experiments can run on iOS devices through its Inquisit Web special license which allows deploying the experiment remotely on the participant’s own devices. The data collection can be later accessed through the web too.

PEBL is an open source GPL-licensed software. Its name stands for The Psychology Experiment Building Language. It provides a cross-platform solution, a scripting language to write your experiment’s workflow and a mailing list where you can find support from the community.

Custom solutions

As far as your development platform allows you access to the computer hardware resources like

video and audio cards and input and output ports, you might develop your own stimulus presentation application . For instance, when conducting neurobehavioral experiment on the field of gaming platforms like Unity or Superlab, they may be programmed in such a way that presents and records synchronized stimuli and responses.

Related Posts:

STIPRESOFT: an alternative stimuli presentation software synchronizing with current acquisition systems in EEG experiments

• Research Article
• Published: 19 November 2019
• Volume 1 , article number  1635 , ( 2019 )

Cite this article

• Abdurrahman Özbeyaz   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-2724-190X 1  

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Since analyzing of visual evoked potentials is crucial in neuropsychology experiments, stimuli presentation software should be meticulously designed. In such experiments, synchronizing stimuli presentation software with existing biomedical instruments, and marking EEG signals are difficult problems to overcome. In EEG experiments, these kinds of problems have been still tried to be overcome with the simple and unprofessional software like PowerPoint. Furthermore, commercial software is costly and may be incompatible with the current laboratory resources. In this study, free and simple STIPRESOFT software which could synchronize stimuli presentation software with available EEG devices and could mark EEG signals at the time of visual stimulus was developed. In the applied experiments, the time latency between the stimulus and marking times were more successful with 0.028 ms according to the competitors. In the software, the advantages of the Win-API were benefited. In STIPRESOFT, two API were exploited to improve timing precision, and to enable synchronization. Furthermore, time stamps related to stimuli on EEG signals were recorded in a text file during the experiment. Consequently, the developed software presents an alternative free and simple solution for researchers who need to adjust synchronization between stimuli presentation and existing EEG device in the scientific studies.

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1 Introduction

An electroencephalogram (EEG) is the brain activity acquired from the electrodes placed on the brain surface. By analyzing these signals, meaningful results can be extracted from the electric activities performed in the brain. EEG signals have been widely used in the diagnosis and treatment of some special brain and neurological diseases [ 1 , 2 ]. Some EEG experiments have been performed against visual, auditory or somatosensory stimuli in the literature. Thus, communications between people and their surroundings have been explored, and some brain activations have been observed. The evoked potential (EP) obtained from the brain is a superposition of various electrical activities. EP is the wave found in the EEG and arises in the brain as a result of neural activities in response to a stimulus. Visual evoked potentials (VEPs) are employed in experimental studies for the determination of the visual functions [ 3 ]. When a visual expression is used as a stimulus, some descriptive information can be reached by classifying the EP [ 4 , 5 ].

Some medical EEG devices may not be sufficient for organizing stimuli experiments. Moreover, although synchronizing EEG devices with stimuli presentation software is crucial, existing devices may not have the capability to provide this feature [ 6 ]. Furthermore, timing accuracy is important in the stimuli presentation [ 7 ]. In some scientific EEG studies, researchers are still using unprofessional software like PowerPoint. Such types of presentation software cannot synchronize with existing EEG devices and cannot mark on signals in EEG experiments. There are lots of commercial software for EEG studies, and researchers are obliged to purchase such commercial software due to the inadequacies of unprofessional software. However, these types of software are not preferred because of high prices and incompatibility with existing EEG devices.

In some previous studies, non-specialized presentation software was necessarily used due to scarce project budget resources while performing EEG experiments. In some of these studies, automated and PC-based systems were designed for performing EEG experiments [ 3 , 8 ]. And in an experiment, visual evoked potentials were recorded using a special hardware system [ 9 ]. In another study, researchers investigated fixation differences between familiar and unfamiliar face stimuli using non-specialized presentation software [ 10 ]. In another EEG experiment [ 11 ], similar-sized, high-quality shoe photographs were presented using PowerPoint. Furthermore, familiar and unfamiliar faces were displayed to subjects using non-specialized presentation software in an EEG study [ 12 ]. In another study in which animal and non-animal natural scenes were shown, PowerPoint was employed as stimuli presentation software [ 13 ]. Apart from these, non-free and commercial stimuli presentation software like E-Prime [ 14 , 15 , 16 ] and STIM2 [ 17 , 18 ] can be used in EEG experiments. Moreover, free but complicated software like PsychoPy [ 19 ] and OpenSeSame [ 20 ] can be preferred for building and running stimuli experiments in neurophysiology studies [ 21 ]. Because of their cost and complexity, these types of software may not be preferred.

As an alternative to the aforementioned software, a novel, simple and free stimuli presentation software STIPRESOFT was developed in this study. The motivation behind the study was to set up suitable, practical EEG experiments in which visual stimuli were used without the need for any additional budget. Furthermore, the developed software momentarily synchronized the EEG acquisition system with the stimuli presentation software. Besides, the mechanism of the software had good timing accuracy. In the software, small time shifts between displaying and recorded times of a stimulus were eliminated thanks to the API functions. The software was entirely free, easy to use, and had support for existing hardware. The software could make direct calls to the Windows Application Processing Interface (API) libraries. This software was simple to run on an extremely wide range of hardware like Nicolet v32/v44, Nihon Kohden EEG 1100 and NeuroFax EEG Systems. The developed software aimed to contribute to similar studies for facilitating EEG experiments and to reduce software costs.

2 Materials and methods

In this study, STIPRESOFT software was developed. This software could synchronize the existing EEG device with a stimuli presentation software. The developed software was experienced on the EEG device registered on the inventory of the Adiyaman University Training and Research Hospital Neurology service.

2.1 Hardware specifications

The EEG device was a seamless, reliable and flexible system that recorded brain wave activities and electroencephalogram signals without compromising quality. The EEG system combined photic stimulation, counting for hyperventilation, re-organization of data, reporting and many other features in one system. Furthermore, this system supported optional add-on packages such as digital video, sharp wave detection, seizure detection and sleep analysis. The device had an integrated impedance interface, a SpO2 port, an Ethernet amplifier interface, nine AC and DC ports, one high-level DC input port and a patient response button. This response button was not used in the study.

2.2 EEG recording software

The recording software (Studyroom) managed the job of obtaining the EEG signals. Various controls related to EEG experiments could be adjusted by this software. Furthermore, the recording process could be started by pressing the RECORD button or CTRL + R key combination in the software. This software was synchronized with STIPRESOFT during the experiment. STIPRESOFT provided the synchronization by sending CTRL + R key combination to the Studyroom software at the onset and end of the experiment.

2.3 Experimental conditions

The software randomly reflected the stimuli to the monitor in each run. Display sequences and display times for stimuli and experiment duration were recorded in a text file (behavioral). The experimental procedure was organized according to the method tried in [ 22 ]. A total of 100 cycles were processed on each run. The recording time was 9 min and 10 s for each run. The developed software in the study is convenient to be run under different experimental conditions.

2.4 Windows application processing interface (windows API)

Operating systems service their sub-processes, and this software is interrupted with Windows APIs. To develop software with APIs, the basic features and the functions served by the operating system must be known to the developer. Interactions among Windows forms, like sending a button click event from a form to another form, are possible using Windows API functions. API functions benefit from DLL files. To use these functions in another project, the corresponding DLL files have to be initially included. In this study, the form control properties of Windows API functions were employed.

2.5 Timer object

The timer object is a precise function. However, the processes defined by a timer object may cause time shifts in the more exacting time-dependent operations. Namely, when a timer object is employed in an image-processing application, values such as physical sizes, components of images and writing to a screen may cause time delays. In case there is a need for advanced precision time measurements, Query - Performance - Frequency and Query - Performance - Counter components can be benefited. The sensitivities of time-oriented functions used in the programming languages are shown in Table 1 .

2.6 Query-performance-counter (QPC)

The total number of ticks is returned by Query-Performance-Counter (QPC) in the Windows operating system. QPC is independent of any external time references. Time stamps and time interval calculations are an integral part of a computer system. In computer systems, the performance calculations include the computation of response time, throughput and latency. These operations involve the calculation of processes executed throughout a time interval that is defined by a start event and an end event. Consequently, QPC calculates the small-time intervals in a computer system.

2.7 Query-performance-frequency (QPF)

Query-Performance-Frequency (QPF) is a function dependent on QPC. This function gives the frequency of the performance counter in a computer system. The frequency of the performance counter is set when the system boots and is stable at all processor times. Hence, the frequency amount is queried at the instant of the initialization of applications, and the results obtained are cached by the computer. In a computer system, the period and resolution are equal to the reciprocal of the frequency value. The performance counter frequency is determined at system initialization and does not change while the system is running.

In the study, the software enabling synchronization between the stimuli presentation software and the EEG recording system was developed using Windows API functions. The developed software can be accessed from the address given in [ 23 ]. The visual results obtained, and software codes developed in the study are given in the following.

3.1 Graphical user interfaces (GUI)

Two graphical user interfaces (GUI) were developed through the study. One of them was the synchronization test program. In this GUI, a button aims to list the names on the Windows forms belonging to the applications running in the background. Another button sends a CTRL + R key combination to the EEG recording software. A screenshot belonging to this GUI is given in Fig.  1 .

A screenshot belongs to GUI providing synchronization

Another GUI was the main stimuli presentation software. Synchronization was provided by this GUI. Furthermore, this software sent the CTRL + R key combination through API to Studyroom software (EEG acquisition system) to start and stop the recording of EEG signals. In the first, send of the key combination started the EEG recording, and in the second, send stopped the EEG recording. Time stamps for the events occurring in the presentation were saved in a text file in each run. The decomposition of EEG signals according to the events was possible through the help of the text file. Moreover, event-related potential (ERP) could be obtained according to the instantaneous stimuli displays recorded in this file. A screenshot related to this GUI and the graphical abstract belonging to the experimental procedure are given in Fig.  2 a, b, respectively.

Developed GUI ( a ), experimental procedure ( b )

3.2 Source codes

In the STIPRESOFT software, there are three sub-functions and one main function. The names of the sub-functions are WindowFormLists, FormSynchronization and PressCTRLwithKey, respectively. These sub-functions are introduced under the headings of code snippet 1, code snippet 2 and code snippet 3 in this section. And finally, the main function is introduced under the heading of code snippet 4. The source codes of these functions are given in “ Appendix ” section, and their flowcharts are given in Figs.  3 , 4 , 5 and 6 . The codes can be followed up from the line numbers in “ Appendix ” section.

The function listing the names of Windows forms in the application

The function that sends shortcut key combination to another window forms for assuring EEG signals recording

The function for sending key combination to synchronized form

The main function of the presentation software

The first procedure and the related flowchart of the developed software are given in code snippet 1 and Fig.  3 . In the code snippet 1, the WindowFormLists procedure lists the form names of applications running at that moment in the background. The IsWindowVisible command examines the forms if they are running in the background of the operating system. The GetWindowText function copies the text of the specified window’s title bar into a buffer. The GetClassName retrieves the name of the class to which the specified window belongs, and the GetnextWindow retrieves a handle to the next or previous window in the Z-Order.

In code snippet 2, the FormSynchronization function sends the CTRL + R key combination to the EEG recording interface. This interface is handled by the WindowFormLists procedure given in code snippet 1. The FormSynchronization function serves to press the RECORD button job. A Window API function, FindWindow , retrieves a handle to the top-level window whose class name and window name match the specified strings. This function does not search for child windows and does not perform a case-sensitive search. The function uses two parameters. The first parameter is the name on the contact form, and the second parameter specifies the window class name. Another Window API function, SetForegroundWindow , brings the thread that created the specified window in the foreground and activates the window. Keyboard input is directed through the window, and various visual cues are changed for the user. The system assigns a slightly higher priority to the thread that created the foreground window than it does to other threads. In the application, handled window form is activated by this procedure. The flowchart belonging to code snippet 2 is given in Fig.  4 .

The PressCTRLwithKey function behaves as the CTRL  +  ANY KEY shortcut combination. The source codes related to this function are given in code snippet 3. The flowchart belonging to code snippet 3 is given in Fig.  5 .

The main function in STIPRESOFT is given in code snippet 4. In the first paragraph (the first 19 lines), in code snippet 4, a text file is initially generated to record the presentation times of the stimuli images. This text file makes it possible for the decomposed EEG signals to be related to the stimuli images. Between 10 and 12 lines, QPF and QPC functions record the times related to these events. The FormSynchronization function given in line 17 sends the CTRL + R key combination to the window form belonging to the EEG acquisition system to start synchronization between the two forms. In the last paragraph (lines between 20 and 59), in code snippet 4, cycles are repeated, and event times are recorded into the text file for each while loop. The flowchart designed for the main function is given in Fig.  6 .

In the software development process, the study was confronted by a problem related to the use of the timer object. The timer object did not act consistently in the study. Namely, the Sleep function inherited from the timer object was employed to maintain images on a screen for the desired time. However, this function could not maintain the images on the screen for the wanted time during the presentation. Time shifts were also confronted in this application. For instance, it was observed that the screen retention times for stimuli images might be 798 or 814 ms instead of 800 ms in some trials. Since this negativity affected the synchronization between windows forms, Windows API functions (QPF, QPC) were employed instead of the Sleep function. These functions achieved precise timing adjustments for the presentation.

Time stamps recorded during an experiment are given in Fig.  7 . Response times (GrayFix, Gray and Picture) are shown for only three stimuli presentation time in the figure. The high-resolution timing functions (QPF and QPC) are employed from the beginning of the while loop. The loop continues through the end of the experiment. During the loop, cycles are displayed one after another. One loop includes a fixation providing focusing. Throughout the loop, all events in time are recorded for each repetition.

A screenshot of a sample text file. Time stamps of displayed stimuli images are saved in the file

The iFirst and iSecond variables keep the total number of ticks that have occurred since the Windows operating system was started. The API Overhead, which is the delay between two consecutive queries, is calculated with the iDifference variable, and the iFrequency variable is defined to get the frequency value for microprocessors. The dResult is a variable that gives the time value in milliseconds. The Application.ProcessMessages command allows a program to become operational and perform other applications when a long loop like this is active in the software. The loop ends after all visual stimulus images have been displayed to the subjects. At the end of the given codes, the FormSynchronization function is recalled to terminate the synchronization between two software programs.

In the study, the quantitative time latencies were measured over 120 stimuli. According to the data obtained in three sessions, time latencies were measured as 0.0098, 0.0106 and 0.0085 ms averagely. And standard deviations of time latencies were 0.0082, 0.0106 and 0.0073, respectively, in each session. The results related to measured time latency are given in Table  2 and Fig.  8 .

Mean square errors (MSE) for time latencies of 120 stimuli in different sessions

4 Discussions

In a lot of EEG researches, synchronization between stimuli presentation and EEG acquisition systems has always been a major concern when analyzing EEG signals, and for this reason, the extraction process for the EP is difficult. Therefore, experiments have to be well designed in EEG studies. In the published literature, while some EEG experiments are designed using non-specialized applications [ 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 ], some [ 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 20 , 24 ] are designed to use commercial and non-free software to meet stimuli presentation requirement. In this study, alternative software was developed to present stimuli. Moreover, this software enabled synchronization between stimuli presentation software and EEG recording software in the EEG experiments. While it was observed that the average time between the stimulus presentation and marking process is 2.27 ms, and the standard deviation was 0.70 ms in the commercial software, these values were 0.028 and 0.026 ms in the developed software, respectively. It was seen that the average time latency between stimuli presentation and the time for a marker was more precise in the proposed software. From this point of view, the study brought innovation to the field. Moreover, comparisons of the proposed software with the other competitors are given in Table  3 . The features in the table are prepared using the web page of other competitors.

In the experimental design, two main problems were confronted. One of them was the time accuracy problem occurring during the screening of stimuli, and the other was the time synchronization problem between stimuli presentation and EEG acquisition system. In previous studies, these problems were overcome either by using commercial software and devices or by some non-specialized methods. While commercial software was a burden to project budgets, non-specialized methods cause a lot of additional tiring works. In our study, these problems were overcome with the Windows API functions. The time accuracy problem was that the stimuli images could not be shown for the desired times on a screen. Because of this problem, time shifts occurred in the signals. The time accuracy problem was overcome using two Windows API functions (QPF, QPC). These functions enabled the time duration to be set in the frequency band. Thereby, more precise timing procedures were performed in the experiments. The second problem was the synchronization of the reaction times of stimuli presentation and EEG recording software. This problem was overcome with a newly developed function ( PressCTRLwithKey ) as a result of this study. Such that CTRL + R key combination was sent from STIPRESOFT to the EEG signal acquisition software at the start and the stop time of the experiment, and display times for stimuli images were saved to a text file for each run in the experiment.

Hardware and stimuli dependencies are crucial for the software used in neuroscience and psychology studies. Therefore, the developed software in the study has been designed as flexible in terms of hardware and stimuli types. Investigators can use other stimuli types instead of visual stimuli with this software. Moreover, STIPRESOFT can be integrated with EEG devices, which can be used for other projects. Accessing an input/output device from the developed software can be allowed. In our experimental procedure, the software has been used for sending the CTRL + R key combination between two computer systems. The software is also flexible enough to send other key combinations to the acquisition system. In neuroscience studies, timing is a critical issue for many experiments. Temporal precision is required to within a few milliseconds, or even in the sub-millisecond range [ 19 ]. The developed software presents a robust method to achieve very precise timing of events and to synchronize with other devices.

5 Conclusions

The developed synchronization-based stimuli presentation software (STIPRESOFT) in the study can be accessed from [ 23 ] for EEG studies, including stimuli presentations. This software can be integrated into the existing EEG devices in hand freely. Furthermore, when the developed software is employed, there is no need to use extra equipment in the EEG experiment. This software aims either to reflect the visual stimuli on the screen in random order or to synchronize the presentation times of stimuli with the times of signal recordings during the experiment. Through the software, signals can be easily decomposed according to the time stamps recorded in a behavioral file. Moreover, the developed software is novel and simple in terms of complexity compared to software that are provided free of charge [ 21 ] in the literature, and it is unpaid compared to commercial ones. And the proposed software is outperformed in terms of time latencies according to the competitors.

Consequently, the proposed software in this study is a comprehensive stimuli presentation software that can employ the Windows API library’s functions for neuropsychological experimental tasks. It is a modern tool providing well-defined paradigms that may be widely used, integrating with the existing acquisition system fully and providing synchronized trigger pulses.

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Acknowledgements

I would like to thank the staff of the Neurology Department of Adiyaman University, Adiyaman, Turkey, who has provided the necessary equipment and environment.

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Abdurrahman Özbeyaz

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Özbeyaz, A. STIPRESOFT: an alternative stimuli presentation software synchronizing with current acquisition systems in EEG experiments. SN Appl. Sci. 1 , 1635 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42452-019-1683-x

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Received : 18 August 2019

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Published : 19 November 2019

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/s42452-019-1683-x

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Remote Control Server 2: Control your EEG recording from your stimulus presentation software

by Dr. Thomas Emmerling Scientific Consultant (Brain Products)

In order to successfully run an experiment, it is imperative that EEG data acquisition and stimulus presentation run in an integrated fashion. Beginning an EEG recording without starting the presentation of your experimental paradigm can lead to many errors and, in the worst case, data loss. Unfortunately, many of us know this feeling and the associated outcomes. For this reason, automatizing as many steps as possible along the way reduces the chances for error and maximizes the likelihood of successfully executing your experiment. The Remote Control Server 2 provided by Brain Products makes it easy to control our recording software, BrainVision Recorder, from any stimulus presentation software. Several new features have been implemented in the new version , including notifying the experimenter about recording errors as well as the possibility to send annotations to Recorder.

The RCS can be easily set up on the same computer running BrainVision Recorder. RCS listens on a network port for connecting clients and translates received messages into OLE commands for Recorder . An earlier version of this tool was released in 2012, however, we have updated it for modern Windows versions, improved the messaging protocol, and introduced new features. With these features, unnecessary errors are behind you and you are well on your way to hassle-free recordings.

As with the former version of the tool, one can initialize an EEG recording session (defining the workspace and filenames to be used) as well as use control commands to start, pause, resume and stop an EEG recording . This automation prevents human error and provides direct control of your EEG recording through stimulus presentation software like E-Prime® . E-Prime® makes use of these handy features in their newest toolbox “ E-Prime® Extensions for Brain Products “, which makes syncing your E-Prime® presentation with our recording software a breeze.

A very powerful new feature of RCS is bidirectional communication between the client and the server : clients, like for example E-Prime®, can not only send messages to RCS but also get informed about unexpected changes in BrainVision Recorder without the need to request this information actively. This allows for maintaining information about the current Recorder mode (monitoring, impedance, test signal), the state of acquisition, and any acquisition error (if it occurred) in an asynchronous fashion (i.e., independent of your stimulus loops). These useful new features of RCS can be used to notify the experimenter of important user errors (i.e., accidentally paused a recording) or technical errors (i.e., a cable to the amplifier coming loose or unplugged) and react accordingly, for example, by pausing your stimulus presentation or gracefully shutting down the experiment without data loss.

There is no need to worry about mismatched participant codes and filenames anymore. EEG recordings can be initialized by providing filenames for Recorder Workspaces and EEG data (created from IDs for the experiment and the participant). The experimenter enters the participant ID only once and it is synced everywhere. Together with the default setting of file overwrite protection, this secures the integrity of your valuable datasets. No more mislabeled EEG files or overwritten recordings! This type of unparalleled data synchronization between recording and stimulus presentation software provides a new level of comfort and stability for the experimenter during data acquisition. One less thing to think about!

Do you need to mark blocks or other events in your EEG file? RCS is now able to receive annotation commands that are saved along your EEG data file, similar to a trigger marker. These annotations are not a substitute for the millisecond precise timing needed for ERP analysis where hardware triggers sent via the parallel port or the TriggerBox , are still the best choice. However, the annotation command can provide an additional way to tag your data with arbitrary text codes when timing is not critical, e.g., to define larger blocks of an experiment.

In recognizing the utility of this new tool, PST has implemented a client for RCS by releasing their new toolbox “E-Prime Extensions for Brain Products”. This E-Prime® toolbox now makes it even easier to set up your E-Prime® experiment and Brain Products EEG recording – it only involves a few clicks to ensure almost complete automation of your EEG recording! In principle, RCS can be used with any stimulus presentation software that is able to connect to a TCP/IP socket. In the installation files for RCS, a sample Remote Control Client (RCC) is provided in order to see what is possible and provide inspiration for those who wish to develop their own client. Programming examples and a complete documentation give a detailed overview of the implementation and the typical usage of a client for RCS. Please notice , that RCS is not a supported product but made available as a free add-on tool without official support by Brain Products.

The free Remote Control Server 2 download is available on our website .

Remote Control Client (RCC 2.0 dialog)

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