Load images in experiment

OS (e.g. Win10): Linux
PsychoPy version (e.g. 1.84.x): v1.84.2
Standard Standalone? y If not then what?:
What are you trying to achieve?:
I have build a Navon experiment (with Builder, than compiled the script),
where hierarchially structered letter stimuli shall show up on
different positions on the screen for 40ms. Afterwards a mask should
cover the stimulus until the participant’s response and the end of the
trial. The problem is, that sometimes the images do not show up at all
or just a grey field appears. More importantly the problem gets bigger
to the end of the experiment, where often no images are shown at all.
The first images of the experiment are often shown quite well. It seems
as if the same problem also happens with sound, but not that worse.

What did you try to make it work?:
I have already tried to run it on a windows system. It did not help. Additionally I
deleted the mask images, but the problem also appears without the mask
directly after the target image. I also closed all other windows while
running the experiment.

What specifically went wrong when you tried that?:
The same Problem appears. But there is no error message. However on the
Linux System we do have problems with inconsistent frame rate and
dropped frames (not on Windows, apparently).

This is the core code of the problem
#!/usr/bin/env python2

-- coding: utf-8 --

“”“
This experiment was created using PsychoPy2 Experiment Builder (v1.84.2),
on Do 09 Mär 2017 14:18:14 CET
If you publish work using this script please cite the PsychoPy publications:
Peirce, JW (2007) PsychoPy - Psychophysics software in Python.
Journal of Neuroscience Methods, 162(1-2), 8-13.
Peirce, JW (2009) Generating stimuli for neuroscience using PsychoPy.
Frontiers in Neuroinformatics, 2:10. doi: 10.3389/neuro.11.010.2008
"”"

from future import absolute_import, division
from psychopy import locale_setup, gui, visual, core, data, event, logging, sound
from psychopy.constants import (NOT_STARTED, STARTED, PLAYING, PAUSED,
STOPPED, FINISHED, PRESSED, RELEASED, FOREVER)
import numpy as np # whole numpy lib is available, prepend 'np.'
from numpy import (sin, cos, tan, log, log10, pi, average,
sqrt, std, deg2rad, rad2deg, linspace, asarray)
from numpy.random import random, randint, normal, shuffle
import os # handy system and path functions
import sys # to get file system encoding

Ensure that relative paths start from the same directory as this script

_thisDir = os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(file)).decode(sys.getfilesystemencoding())
os.chdir(_thisDir)

Store info about the experiment session

expName = u’basic’ # from the Builder filename that created this script
expInfo = {u’session’: u’001’, u’participant’: u’’}
dlg = gui.DlgFromDict(dictionary=expInfo, title=expName)
if dlg.OK == False:
core.quit() # user pressed cancel
expInfo[‘date’] = data.getDateStr() # add a simple timestamp
expInfo[‘expName’] = expName

Data file name stem = absolute path + name; later add .psyexp, .csv, .log, etc

filename = thisDir + os.sep + u’data/%s%s_%s’ % (expInfo[‘participant’], expName, expInfo[‘date’])

An ExperimentHandler isn’t essential but helps with data saving

thisExp = data.ExperimentHandler(name=expName, version=’’,
extraInfo=expInfo, runtimeInfo=None,
originPath=None,
savePickle=True, saveWideText=True,
dataFileName=filename)

save a log file for detail verbose info

logFile = logging.LogFile(filename+’.log’, level=logging.EXP)
logging.console.setLevel(logging.WARNING) # this outputs to the screen, not a file

endExpNow = False # flag for ‘escape’ or other condition => quit the exp

Start Code - component code to be run before the window creation

Setup the Window

win = visual.Window(
size=(1920, 1200), fullscr=True, screen=0,
allowGUI=True, allowStencil=False,
monitor=‘testMonitor’, color=[-1.000,-1.000,-1.000], colorSpace=‘rgb’,
blendMode=‘avg’, useFBO=True)

store frame rate of monitor if we can measure it

expInfo[‘frameRate’] = win.getActualFrameRate()
if expInfo[‘frameRate’] != None:
frameDur = 1.0 / round(expInfo[‘frameRate’])
else:
frameDur = 1.0 / 60.0 # could not measure, so guess

Initialize components for Routine “Trails_L”

Trails_LClock = core.Clock()
Fixation_L = visual.TextStim(win=win, name=‘Fixation_L’,
text=’+’,
font=‘Arial’,
pos=(0, 0), height=0.2, wrapWidth=None, ori=0,
color=‘white’, colorSpace=‘rgb’, opacity=1,
depth=0.0);
local_sound = sound.Sound(‘A’, secs=-1)
local_sound.setVolume(1)
ISI_L = core.StaticPeriod(win=win, screenHz=expInfo[‘frameRate’], name=‘ISI_L’)
local_stim = visual.ImageStim(
win=win, name=‘local_stim’,
image=‘sin’, mask=None,
ori=0, pos=[0,0], size=(0.368, 0.600),
color=[1,1,1], colorSpace=‘rgb’, opacity=1,
flipHoriz=False, flipVert=False,
texRes=128, interpolate=True, depth=-4.0)

Create some handy timers

globalClock = core.Clock() # to track the time since experiment started
routineTimer = core.CountdownTimer() # to track time remaining of each (non-slip) routine

set up handler to look after randomisation of conditions etc

exp_local = data.TrialHandler(nReps=40, method=‘random’,
extraInfo=expInfo, originPath=-1,
trialList=data.importConditions(’…/Paradigms/Navon_material/conditions_local_Navon.csv’),
seed=None, name=‘exp_local’)
thisExp.addLoop(exp_local) # add the loop to the experiment
thisExp_local = exp_local.trialList[0] # so we can initialise stimuli with some values

abbreviate parameter names if possible (e.g. rgb = thisExp_local.rgb)

if thisExp_local != None:
for paramName in thisExp_local.keys():
exec(paramName + ‘= thisExp_local.’ + paramName)

for thisExp_local in exp_local:
currentLoop = exp_local
# abbreviate parameter names if possible (e.g. rgb = thisExp_local.rgb)
if thisExp_local != None:
for paramName in thisExp_local.keys():
exec(paramName + ‘= thisExp_local.’ + paramName)

# ------Prepare to start Routine "Trails_L"-------
t = 0
Trails_LClock.reset()  # clock
frameN = -1
continueRoutine = True
routineTimer.add(5.500000)
# update component parameters for each repeat
local_sound.setSound('/home/wenhart/Dokumente/Experimente Psychopy/Paradigms/Navon_material/GlobalLocalTask.iqzip_FILES/Signal.wav', secs=0.050)
KeyL = event.BuilderKeyResponse()
# keep track of which components have finished
Trails_LComponents = [Fixation_L, local_sound, KeyL, ISI_L, local_stim]
for thisComponent in Trails_LComponents:
    if hasattr(thisComponent, 'status'):
        thisComponent.status = NOT_STARTED

# -------Start Routine "Trails_L"-------
while continueRoutine and routineTimer.getTime() > 0:
    # get current time
    t = Trails_LClock.getTime()
    frameN = frameN + 1  # number of completed frames (so 0 is the first frame)
    # update/draw components on each frame
    
    # *Fixation_L* updates
    if t >= 3.0 and Fixation_L.status == NOT_STARTED:
        # keep track of start time/frame for later
        Fixation_L.tStart = t
        Fixation_L.frameNStart = frameN  # exact frame index
        Fixation_L.setAutoDraw(True)
    frameRemains = 3.0 + 0.500- win.monitorFramePeriod * 0.75  # most of one frame period left
    if Fixation_L.status == STARTED and t >= frameRemains:
        Fixation_L.setAutoDraw(False)
    # start/stop local_sound
    if t >= 3 and local_sound.status == NOT_STARTED:
        # keep track of start time/frame for later
        local_sound.tStart = t
        local_sound.frameNStart = frameN  # exact frame index
        local_sound.play()  # start the sound (it finishes automatically)
    frameRemains = 3 + 0.050- win.monitorFramePeriod * 0.75  # most of one frame period left
    if local_sound.status == STARTED and t >= frameRemains:
        local_sound.stop()  # stop the sound (if longer than duration)
    
    # *KeyL* updates
    if t >= 3.5 and KeyL.status == NOT_STARTED:
        # keep track of start time/frame for later
        KeyL.tStart = t
        KeyL.frameNStart = frameN  # exact frame index
        KeyL.status = STARTED
        # keyboard checking is just starting
        win.callOnFlip(KeyL.clock.reset)  # t=0 on next screen flip
        event.clearEvents(eventType='keyboard')
    frameRemains = 3.5 + 2- win.monitorFramePeriod * 0.75  # most of one frame period left
    if KeyL.status == STARTED and t >= frameRemains:
        KeyL.status = STOPPED
    if KeyL.status == STARTED:
        theseKeys = event.getKeys(keyList=['h', 's'])
        
        # check for quit:
        if "escape" in theseKeys:
            endExpNow = True
        if len(theseKeys) > 0:  # at least one key was pressed
            if KeyL.keys == []:  # then this was the first keypress
                KeyL.keys = theseKeys[0]  # just the first key pressed
                KeyL.rt = KeyL.clock.getTime()
                # was this 'correct'?
                if (KeyL.keys == str(corrAns)) or (KeyL.keys == corrAns):
                    KeyL.corr = 1
                else:
                    KeyL.corr = 0
                # a response ends the routine
                continueRoutine = False
    
    # *local_stim* updates
    if t >= 3.5 and local_stim.status == NOT_STARTED:
        # keep track of start time/frame for later
        local_stim.tStart = t
        local_stim.frameNStart = frameN  # exact frame index
        local_stim.setAutoDraw(True)
    frameRemains = 3.5 + 0.100- win.monitorFramePeriod * 0.75  # most of one frame period left
    if local_stim.status == STARTED and t >= frameRemains:
        local_stim.setAutoDraw(False)
    # *ISI_L* period
    if t >= 0 and ISI_L.status == NOT_STARTED:
        # keep track of start time/frame for later
        ISI_L.tStart = t
        ISI_L.frameNStart = frameN  # exact frame index
        ISI_L.start(3-t)
    elif ISI_L.status == STARTED:  # one frame should pass before updating params and completing
        # updating other components during *ISI_L*
        local_stim.setPos((0.6,0.375))
        local_stim.setImage(GL_fileName)
        # component updates done
        ISI_L.complete()  # finish the static period
    
    # check if all components have finished
    if not continueRoutine:  # a component has requested a forced-end of Routine
        break
    continueRoutine = False  # will revert to True if at least one component still running
    for thisComponent in Trails_LComponents:
        if hasattr(thisComponent, "status") and thisComponent.status != FINISHED:
            continueRoutine = True
            break  # at least one component has not yet finished
    
    # check for quit (the Esc key)
    if endExpNow or event.getKeys(keyList=["escape"]):
        core.quit()
    
    # refresh the screen
    if continueRoutine:  # don't flip if this routine is over or we'll get a blank screen
        win.flip()

# -------Ending Routine "Trails_L"-------
for thisComponent in Trails_LComponents:
    if hasattr(thisComponent, "setAutoDraw"):
        thisComponent.setAutoDraw(False)
local_sound.stop()  # ensure sound has stopped at end of routine
# check responses
if KeyL.keys in ['', [], None]:  # No response was made
    KeyL.keys=None
    # was no response the correct answer?!
    if str(corrAns).lower() == 'none':
       KeyL.corr = 1  # correct non-response
    else:
       KeyL.corr = 0  # failed to respond (incorrectly)
# store data for exp_local (TrialHandler)
exp_local.addData('KeyL.keys',KeyL.keys)
exp_local.addData('KeyL.corr', KeyL.corr)
if KeyL.keys != None:  # we had a response
    exp_local.addData('KeyL.rt', KeyL.rt)
thisExp.nextEntry()

completed 40 repeats of ‘exp_local’

thisExp.abort() # or data files will save again on exit
win.close()
core.quit()

Hi Teresa.

Some tips for getting responses on the forum:

1- it’s great that you’ve added more information about your problem - but duplicate posts are generally frowned upon. Please either edit the original or delete it.

2- The information you have provided is in-usable to anyone other than yourself. We have no conditions file, no images and the paths to these would raise exceptions.

3- It’s also really long (took 7 scrolls to get to the bottom). This will usually result in a tl:dr. If you are going to provide code please produce a minimal example. If you are using builder, upload the psyexp file, conditions file and images so people can run them (if they have time).

4- try the demos - there is a Navon demo in psychopy - does this have the same problem? Try opening it and changing the parameters to meet your needs, that will rule out a number of factors (could be your images for example).

Best wishes,

Oli