Template: Tracking Key / Button Pressing Down Time for Behavior Studies

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Tracking Key / Button Pressing Down Time for Behavior Studies

Required Experiment Builder Version: 1.5.1 or higher
EyeLink Required: No
Type: Complete Example
Difficulty Level: Moderate (Custom Class and Knowledge of Python Required)

This example illustrates:

• How to use Cedrus node for the Cedrus response box (see below)
  
• How to use Mouse trigger to get participant's response
  
• How to use Custom Class to keep track the total button press time
  
• How to use Result File node to save trial performance
  

Description:

This project can be used for the following experiment paradigm in the study of human or animal behavior:

1. In the physical world, there are two objects, one on the left and the other on the right side;
   
2. A kid (human being) or a mouse (other animal) may alternatively touch one of the two objects for a very short time; the touches may not necessarily be continuous; there might be arbitrary time interval between two consecutive touches;
   
3. The experimenter tracks the time duration of each touch by pressing down a left- or a right-mouse key / Cedrus button corresponding to the location of the two objects (left key / button for left object and right key / button for right object being touched); the duration of the key / button being kept pressing down corresponds to that of the object being touched;
   
4. To analyze the touch patterns within a pre-specified timeout duration (e.g., when the accumulated duration of all touches on the two objects reaches 10 seconds), the current experiment session terminates within such an timeout duration (e.g., when the 10-second timeout duration elapses);
   
5. At the start of the experiment, one of the 8 pre-specified timeout durations can be selected.
   

Two versions of the project are provided. The mouse version is for demonstrative purpose as almost everyone can play with it; however, for more accurate key response collection, please use the Cedrus version which requires:

1. A RB-730 Cedrus response pad be used, see https://cedrus.com/rb_series/index.htm
   
2. The USB driver for the RB-730 Cedrus response pad be installed (see http://www.cedrus.com/support/rb_series) before the project can be run.
   

In the mouse version, left- and right-mouse keys are used for collecting responses; in the Cedrus version buttons 1 and 7 are used.

**Additional detailed information about the project is given in the notes section for most nodes. To see notes for a given node, either mouse over that node or click on it to display the notes window. If the notes window is not visible, go to the "View" drop down menu in Experiment Builder, select "Properties", and check "Note".

Instructions:

1. Download the TrackingKeyDownTimeDuration_Mouse.ebz or TrackingKeyDownTimeDuration_Cedrus.ebz example from this message.
   
2. Launch the Experiment Builder application.
   
3. Unpack the TrackingKeyDownTimeDuration_Mouse.ebz or TrackingKeyDownTimeDuration_Cedrus.ebz file to a location on your Experiment Builder PC with "File menu -> Unpack".
   
4. Open the project in Experiment Builder.
   
5. Deploy the project to a new folder.
   
6. Run the TrackingKeyDownTimeDuration_Mouse.exe or TrackingKeyDownTimeDuration_Cedrus.exe from the deployed directory.
   

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  TrackingKeyDownTimeDuration_Cedrus.ebz (Size: 138.27 KB / Downloads: 7)

  TrackingKeyDownTimeDuration_Mouse.ebz (Size: 139.21 KB / Downloads: 13)

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