Fixing variable name conflicts in PsychoPy where all column names from a conditions file trigger "already exists" errors

Builder
1

OS (e.g. Win10): Windows 10/11

Screenshot 2025-10-06 022559
Screenshot 2025-10-06 022559958×702 68.6 KB

Screenshot 2025-10-06 020016
Screenshot 2025-10-06 0200161919×992 308 KB

PsychoPy version (e.g. 2024.2.4 Py 3.8): 2025.2.0beta

Standard Standalone Installation? (y/n) If not then what?: y

Do you want it to also run online? (y/n): n

What are you trying to achieve?:
I’m creating a bilingual Arabic-English Stroop test where participants see Arabic color words written in colored ink and press keys to identify the ink color. I need to set correct answers for each trial to measure accuracy.

What did you try to make it work?:

  1. Created a CSV conditions file with columns: word, color, condition, correct_key

  2. In Keyboard component, set “Correct answer” to $correct_key

  3. When that failed, tried renaming columns to: correctAns, stroop_correct, xyz_correct_123, right_answer, corr_key, etc.

  4. Tried different CSV formats and encodings

  5. Created brand new experiments

  6. Deleted and recreated loops

  7. Used completely unique column names that couldn’t possibly exist

Link to the most relevant existing thread you have found:
https://psychopy.org/alerts/4705.html

What specifically went wrong when you tried that?:
Every time I run the experiment, I get dozens of Alert 4705 errors for EVERY column name, even completely unique ones:

text

Alert 4705: Column name 'word' in conditions file already exists as a variable in this experiment (user).
Alert 4705: Column name 'color' in conditions file already exists as a variable in this experiment (user).
Alert 4705: Column name 'correct_key' in conditions file already exists as a variable in this experiment (user).
Alert 4705: Column name 'xyz_correct_123' in conditions file already exists as a variable in this experiment (user).
Alert 4705: Column name 'right_answer' in conditions file already exists as a variable in this experiment (user).

The strange part is that even completely unique, made-up column names like “xyz_correct_123” trigger the same error, which suggests PsychoPy thinks EVERY column name already exists as a variable.

The experiment runs despite the errors, but I cannot use the “Store correct” feature because PsychoPy won’t recognize any column names from my conditions file.

Additional Info:

  • I only have one main loop in my experiment

  • Simple routine structure: instructions → fixation → stroop trial → thank you

  • CSV is saved as UTF-8

  • Using Arabic text with RTL formatting

2

Can someone please help me, because i need to submit the assignment and I am confused where is the issue and I tried several solutions but no one worked

3

The alerts are not necessarily errors. Does it work?

If you have correct_key as a column in your CSV file and set the keyboard correct answer to $correct_key, that should work. Do you use correct_key anywhere else?

4

Thank you for your reply, I completely appreciate it

Regarding your question: No I don’t correct_key anywhere else.

And I tried changing it multiple times to different names but still not working.

5

Please could you show the errors in the stdout tab?

6

sure: Generating PsychoPy script…

############## Running: C:\Users\شيماء\Downloads\st00_lastrun.py ###############
13301.1193 INFO Loaded monitor calibration from [‘2025_09_24 02:34’]
13301.5495 INFO Loaded monitor calibration from [‘2025_09_24 02:34’]
PsychHID-WARNING: Could not get module handle to PsychHID mex file. Did you rename it? Please don’t do that!
PsychHID-WARNING: Will try application module handle as fallback. This may end badly, e.g., with a crash. Cross your fingers!
3.2171 WARNING Font Manager failed to load file C:\Users\شيماء\AppData\Local\Programs\PsychoPy\lib\site-packages\psychopy\assets\fonts\Arvo-Bold.ttf
Traceback (most recent call last):
3.2173 WARNING Font Manager failed to load file C:\Users\شيماء\AppData\Local\Programs\PsychoPy\lib\site-packages\psychopy\assets\fonts\Arvo-BoldItalic.ttf
3.2174 WARNING Font Manager failed to load file C:\Users\شيماء\AppData\Local\Programs\PsychoPy\lib\site-packages\psychopy\assets\fonts\Arvo-Italic.ttf
3.2175 WARNING Font Manager failed to load file C:\Users\شيماء\AppData\Local\Programs\PsychoPy\lib\site-packages\psychopy\assets\fonts\Arvo-Regular.ttf
3.2176 WARNING Font Manager failed to load file C:\Users\شيماء\AppData\Local\Programs\PsychoPy\lib\site-packages\psychopy\assets\fonts\DejaVuSerif.ttf
3.2178 WARNING Font Manager failed to load file C:\Users\شيماء\AppData\Local\Programs\PsychoPy\lib\site-packages\psychopy\assets\fonts\IndieFlower-Regular.ttf
3.2180 WARNING Font Manager failed to load file C:\Users\شيماء\AppData\Local\Programs\PsychoPy\lib\site-packages\psychopy\assets\fonts\JetBrainsMono-Italic-VariableFont_wght.ttf
3.2182 WARNING Font Manager failed to load file C:\Users\شيماء\AppData\Local\Programs\PsychoPy\lib\site-packages\psychopy\assets\fonts\JetBrainsMono-VariableFont_wght.ttf
3.2183 WARNING Font Manager failed to load file C:\Users\شيماء\AppData\Local\Programs\PsychoPy\lib\site-packages\psychopy\assets\fonts\NotoSans-Bold.ttf
3.2184 WARNING Font Manager failed to load file C:\Users\شيماء\AppData\Local\Programs\PsychoPy\lib\site-packages\psychopy\assets\fonts\NotoSans-BoldItalic.ttf
3.2185 WARNING Font Manager failed to load file C:\Users\شيماء\AppData\Local\Programs\PsychoPy\lib\site-packages\psychopy\assets\fonts\NotoSans-Italic.ttf
3.2186 WARNING Font Manager failed to load file C:\Users\شيماء\AppData\Local\Programs\PsychoPy\lib\site-packages\psychopy\assets\fonts\NotoSans-Regular.ttf
3.4813 WARNING Font Manager failed to load file C:\Users\شيماء\AppData\Local\Programs\PsychoPy\lib\site-packages\psychopy\assets\fonts\Arvo-Bold.ttf
3.4814 WARNING Font Manager failed to load file C:\Users\شيماء\AppData\Local\Programs\PsychoPy\lib\site-packages\psychopy\assets\fonts\Arvo-BoldItalic.ttf
3.4815 WARNING Font Manager failed to load file C:\Users\شيماء\AppData\Local\Programs\PsychoPy\lib\site-packages\psychopy\assets\fonts\Arvo-Italic.ttf
3.4817 WARNING Font Manager failed to load file C:\Users\شيماء\AppData\Local\Programs\PsychoPy\lib\site-packages\psychopy\assets\fonts\Arvo-Regular.ttf
3.4818 WARNING Font Manager failed to load file C:\Users\شيماء\AppData\Local\Programs\PsychoPy\lib\site-packages\psychopy\assets\fonts\DejaVuSerif.ttf
3.4819 WARNING Font Manager failed to load file C:\Users\شيماء\AppData\Local\Programs\PsychoPy\lib\site-packages\psychopy\assets\fonts\IndieFlower-Regular.ttf
3.4820 WARNING Font Manager failed to load file C:\Users\شيماء\AppData\Local\Programs\PsychoPy\lib\site-packages\psychopy\assets\fonts\JetBrainsMono-Italic-VariableFont_wght.ttf
3.4821 WARNING Font Manager failed to load file C:\Users\شيماء\AppData\Local\Programs\PsychoPy\lib\site-packages\psychopy\assets\fonts\JetBrainsMono-VariableFont_wght.ttf
3.4823 WARNING Font Manager failed to load file C:\Users\شيماء\AppData\Local\Programs\PsychoPy\lib\site-packages\psychopy\assets\fonts\NotoSans-Bold.ttf
3.4824 WARNING Font Manager failed to load file C:\Users\شيماء\AppData\Local\Programs\PsychoPy\lib\site-packages\psychopy\assets\fonts\NotoSans-BoldItalic.ttf
3.4825 WARNING Font Manager failed to load file C:\Users\شيماء\AppData\Local\Programs\PsychoPy\lib\site-packages\psychopy\assets\fonts\NotoSans-Italic.ttf
3.4826 WARNING Font Manager failed to load file C:\Users\شيماء\AppData\Local\Programs\PsychoPy\lib\site-packages\psychopy\assets\fonts\NotoSans-Regular.ttf
5.8406 WARNING User requested fullscreen with size [1024 768], but screen is actually [1920, 1080]. Using actual size
6.6686 WARNING Font b’Noto Sans’ was requested. No similar font found.
6.7593 WARNING Font b’Noto Sans’ was requested. No similar font found.
1.5734 WARNING Stopping key buffers but this could be dangerous ifother keyboards rely on the same.
File “C:\Users\شيماء\Downloads\st00_lastrun.py”, line 1407, in
run(
File “C:\Users\شيماء\Downloads\st00_lastrun.py”, line 625, in run
if str(stroop).lower() == ‘none’:
UnboundLocalError: local variable ‘stroop’ referenced before assignment
######## Experiment ended with exit code 1 [pid:22384] #########

7

Your error is

if str(stroop).lower() == ‘none’:
UnboundLocalError: local variable ‘stroop’ referenced before assignment

Where do you use stroop as a variable?

8

I used Stroop as variable for the correct key.