09-04-2020, 08:53 AM
SR Research Experiment Builder is a sophisticated and intuitive drag-and-drop graphical programming environment for creating computer-based psychology and neuroscience experiments. It runs on Windows and macOS.
Installation:
Configure your Display PC's network connection to communicate with the EyeLink Host PC. You can find detailed instructions about this in the following post: You can download the latest version of Experiment Builder for your OS from the following link:
Software License Installation:
You need to use a USB license key (or be running on a computer that is on a network with a networked license key on it) whenever designing or editing an Experiment Builder experiment to prevent the software from running in an unlicensed, demo mode. Please note, though: Once an Experiment Builder experiment has been finalized, you go through a process called "Experiment Deployment" (see "VI. Experiment Builder Life Cycle" below). You do not need the USB license key or a network license to run that deployed Experiment Builder experiment (i.e., you don't need a license to collect data).
Make sure to follow the licensing instructions in the section of the Experiment Builder Manual "Installation -> Windows / Mac OS X Installation and Licensing") to ensure proper license installation.
If using a Hasp USB license key, you will need to install the Hasp Driver for the license key:
Windows: After Experiment Builder has been installed, you can go to Start -> Programs -> SR Research -> Install Hasp Driver to install the Hasp driver
Mac OS X: The Hasp runtime environment installer (the Hasp driver) is packaged with the Experiment Builder / Data Viewer DMG file. After launching the Experiment Builder DMG, please find the driver in HASP -> Sentinel Runtime.dmg. You can launch the Sentinel Runtime.dmg to install Sentinel Runtime Environment to install the driver.
Learning Experiment Builder:
For a general introduction to Experiment Builder programming, please check out the Video Tutorial series that is on our support forums at the following link. It gives a general overview of the basics of Experiment Builder programming. You can download the experiment discussed in the video tutorial series from the same link to follow along with the experiment being discussed: You can also webinars that discuss different topics in Experiment Builder programming (including an introductory webinar, webinars for tricks / methods in Experiment Builder programming, and webinars for programming in the context of specific research areas, like psycholinguistics and pupillometry) at the following link: Another great way to learn Experiment Builder is by playing around with the Experiment Builder examples (see below). You can read about how the example experiments that come pre-installed with Experiment Builder were created in the Experiment Builder User Manual (Help menu -> Contents) under the "Examples" section.
Experiment Builder Templates / Example Experiments:
Experiment Builder Pre-Installed Examples: Several examples come pre-installed when you install Experiment Builder. You can access these examples by going to File menu -> Examples, and you can find a description of how they were created in the Experiment Builder User Manual under the "Examples" section.
You can also find a large repository of Experiment Builder examples that implement particular research paradigms at the following link:
Experiment Builder Project Checklist and Frequently Asked Questions:
Perhaps the best resource for helping you to troubleshoot issues with an Experiment Builder Project is the Experiment Builder Project Checklist. This checklist is part of the Experiment Builder User Manual, which can be accessed via Help menu -> Contents. You can also find it at the following link: The Frequently Asked Questions section of this support forum is also a useful resource for troubleshooting issues with programming and Experiment Builder usage. You can find that section at the following link:
The Experiment Builder Life Cycle (from programming to data analysis):
The life cycle of an experiment that is programmed in Experiment Builder is as follows:
Installation:
Configure your Display PC's network connection to communicate with the EyeLink Host PC. You can find detailed instructions about this in the following post: You can download the latest version of Experiment Builder for your OS from the following link:
Software License Installation:
You need to use a USB license key (or be running on a computer that is on a network with a networked license key on it) whenever designing or editing an Experiment Builder experiment to prevent the software from running in an unlicensed, demo mode. Please note, though: Once an Experiment Builder experiment has been finalized, you go through a process called "Experiment Deployment" (see "VI. Experiment Builder Life Cycle" below). You do not need the USB license key or a network license to run that deployed Experiment Builder experiment (i.e., you don't need a license to collect data).
Make sure to follow the licensing instructions in the section of the Experiment Builder Manual "Installation -> Windows / Mac OS X Installation and Licensing") to ensure proper license installation.
If using a Hasp USB license key, you will need to install the Hasp Driver for the license key:
Windows: After Experiment Builder has been installed, you can go to Start -> Programs -> SR Research -> Install Hasp Driver to install the Hasp driver
Mac OS X: The Hasp runtime environment installer (the Hasp driver) is packaged with the Experiment Builder / Data Viewer DMG file. After launching the Experiment Builder DMG, please find the driver in HASP -> Sentinel Runtime.dmg. You can launch the Sentinel Runtime.dmg to install Sentinel Runtime Environment to install the driver.
Learning Experiment Builder:
For a general introduction to Experiment Builder programming, please check out the Video Tutorial series that is on our support forums at the following link. It gives a general overview of the basics of Experiment Builder programming. You can download the experiment discussed in the video tutorial series from the same link to follow along with the experiment being discussed: You can also webinars that discuss different topics in Experiment Builder programming (including an introductory webinar, webinars for tricks / methods in Experiment Builder programming, and webinars for programming in the context of specific research areas, like psycholinguistics and pupillometry) at the following link: Another great way to learn Experiment Builder is by playing around with the Experiment Builder examples (see below). You can read about how the example experiments that come pre-installed with Experiment Builder were created in the Experiment Builder User Manual (Help menu -> Contents) under the "Examples" section.
Experiment Builder Templates / Example Experiments:
Experiment Builder Pre-Installed Examples: Several examples come pre-installed when you install Experiment Builder. You can access these examples by going to File menu -> Examples, and you can find a description of how they were created in the Experiment Builder User Manual under the "Examples" section.
You can also find a large repository of Experiment Builder examples that implement particular research paradigms at the following link:
Experiment Builder Project Checklist and Frequently Asked Questions:
Perhaps the best resource for helping you to troubleshoot issues with an Experiment Builder Project is the Experiment Builder Project Checklist. This checklist is part of the Experiment Builder User Manual, which can be accessed via Help menu -> Contents. You can also find it at the following link: The Frequently Asked Questions section of this support forum is also a useful resource for troubleshooting issues with programming and Experiment Builder usage. You can find that section at the following link:
The Experiment Builder Life Cycle (from programming to data analysis):
The life cycle of an experiment that is programmed in Experiment Builder is as follows:
- Experimental Design / Programming: The experimental paradigm is conceptualized and programmed
- Test-running Experiment: The experiment is tested using Experiment -> Test Run. Note, a Test Run should never be used for real data collection. It is a way to quickly test the experiment from the Experiment Builder interface to ensure that the experiment is working as intended. This can be useful for debugging the experiment. The data that is collected during a Test Run should be checked (using whatever analysis method you plan to use) to ensure that all the data / measures that you need to analyze can be accessed. Such pilot testing is critical to prevent potential headaches in data analysis.
- Experiment Deployment: Once the experiment is ready to go, you deploy the experiment (Experiment -> Deploy). This will create a standalone, finalized version of the experiment. This deployed experiment will be saved to its own folder at a location specified during the deployment process. To run this deployed experiment you can then navigate to the deployed folder location in Windows Explorer or Finder for Mac and double click on the EXE file (APP file in Mac) to run the deployed experiment. Note, you do not need to use the USB license key to run the deployed experiment (i.e., you do not need the experimental license for real data collection).
- Data Collection: The deployed Experiment Builder experiment is run, and data is collected on subjects.
- Data Analysis: Data analysis can be carried out using Data Viewer or several other options for data analysis. Please see the thread at the following link for more information on data analysis options.