N-back dual-task experiment

Hi there,

I was wondering if someone could help me program a Psychology Experiment involving a dual-task paradigm. I think two routines need to be run at the same time, with each routine involving the presentation of different stimuli. I was each trial to consist of:

  1. At the start of the trial an Arithmetic problem is presented in the centre of the screen. The participant presses the spacebar to say that they have solved the problem and then says their answer aloud. When they press the spacebar, the arithmetic problem is removed from the screen.
  2. Also at the start of the trial, a red square presented in one of 6 locations on the screen for 1 second.
  3. After 1 second, the square goes away, pauses for 1 second, and then reappears in another, random location. Again, it is presented for 1 second, disappears for 1 second, and then another red square is presented in a different location…This sequence continues until the participant presses a mouse key. When the mouse key is pressed, this red square sequence is terminated.
  4. The routine ends when both the mouse key and the spacebar have been pressed.
  5. After each trial the experimenter enters the participants answer to the arithmetic problem on a separate keypad.

The arithmetic problems come from an excel file, and will be presented in a random order.
The square stimuli are also detailed in an excel file, which I want to be presented indefinitely until the mouse click.

Can anyone offer any help?

My script is:

“”"#!/usr/bin/env python2

-- coding: utf-8 --

“”“
This experiment was created using PsychoPy2 Experiment Builder (v1.84.2),
on November 29, 2016, at 15:17
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’largerimages’ # from the Builder filename that created this script
expInfo = {‘participant’:’’, ‘session’:‘001’}
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=(1600, 900), fullscr=True, screen=0,
allowGUI=False, allowStencil=False,
monitor=‘testMonitor’, color=[0,0,0], 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 “trial”

trialClock = core.Clock()
Image = visual.ImageStim(
win=win, name=‘Image’,
image=‘sin’, mask=None,
ori=0, pos=(0, 0), size=(2,2),
color=[1,1,1], colorSpace=‘rgb’, opacity=1,
flipHoriz=False, flipVert=False,
texRes=128, interpolate=True, depth=0.0)

Initialize components for Routine “arithmetic”

arithmeticClock = core.Clock()
text = visual.TextStim(win=win, name=‘text’,
text=‘default text’,
font=u’Arial’,
pos=(0, 0), height=0.1, wrapWidth=None, ori=0,
color=u’black’, colorSpace=‘rgb’, opacity=1,
depth=0.0);

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

trials_3 = data.TrialHandler(nReps=1, method=‘random’,
extraInfo=expInfo, originPath=-1,
trialList=[None],
seed=None, name=‘trials_3’)
thisExp.addLoop(trials_3) # add the loop to the experiment
thisTrial_3 = trials_3.trialList[0] # so we can initialise stimuli with some values

abbreviate parameter names if possible (e.g. rgb = thisTrial_3.rgb)

if thisTrial_3 != None:
for paramName in thisTrial_3.keys():
exec(paramName + ‘= thisTrial_3.’ + paramName)

for thisTrial_3 in trials_3:
currentLoop = trials_3
# abbreviate parameter names if possible (e.g. rgb = thisTrial_3.rgb)
if thisTrial_3 != None:
for paramName in thisTrial_3.keys():
exec(paramName + ‘= thisTrial_3.’ + paramName)

# set up handler to look after randomisation of conditions etc
trials_2 = data.TrialHandler(nReps=1, method='random', 
    extraInfo=expInfo, originPath=-1,
    trialList=data.importConditions(u'Image_file.xlsx'),
    seed=None, name='trials_2')
thisExp.addLoop(trials_2)  # add the loop to the experiment
thisTrial_2 = trials_2.trialList[0]  # so we can initialise stimuli with some values
# abbreviate parameter names if possible (e.g. rgb = thisTrial_2.rgb)
if thisTrial_2 != None:
    for paramName in thisTrial_2.keys():
        exec(paramName + '= thisTrial_2.' + paramName)

for thisTrial_2 in trials_2:
    currentLoop = trials_2
    # abbreviate parameter names if possible (e.g. rgb = thisTrial_2.rgb)
    if thisTrial_2 != None:
        for paramName in thisTrial_2.keys():
            exec(paramName + '= thisTrial_2.' + paramName)
    
    # ------Prepare to start Routine "trial"-------
    t = 0
    trialClock.reset()  # clock
    frameN = -1
    continueRoutine = True
    routineTimer.add(1.000000)
    # update component parameters for each repeat
    Image.setImage(Images)
    # keep track of which components have finished
    trialComponents = [Image]
    for thisComponent in trialComponents:
        if hasattr(thisComponent, 'status'):
            thisComponent.status = NOT_STARTED
    
    # -------Start Routine "trial"-------
    while continueRoutine and routineTimer.getTime() > 0:
        # get current time
        t = trialClock.getTime()
        frameN = frameN + 1  # number of completed frames (so 0 is the first frame)
        # update/draw components on each frame
        
        # *Image* updates
        if t >= 0.0 and Image.status == NOT_STARTED:
            # keep track of start time/frame for later
            Image.tStart = t
            Image.frameNStart = frameN  # exact frame index
            Image.setAutoDraw(True)
        frameRemains = 0.0 + 1- win.monitorFramePeriod * 0.75  # most of one frame period left
        if Image.status == STARTED and t >= frameRemains:
            Image.setAutoDraw(False)
        
        # 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 trialComponents:
            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 "trial"-------
    for thisComponent in trialComponents:
        if hasattr(thisComponent, "setAutoDraw"):
            thisComponent.setAutoDraw(False)
# completed 1 repeats of 'trials_2'


# set up handler to look after randomisation of conditions etc
trials = data.TrialHandler(nReps=1, method='random', 
    extraInfo=expInfo, originPath=-1,
    trialList=data.importConditions(u'Batch1.xlsx'),
    seed=None, name='trials')
thisExp.addLoop(trials)  # add the loop to the experiment
thisTrial = trials.trialList[0]  # so we can initialise stimuli with some values
# abbreviate parameter names if possible (e.g. rgb = thisTrial.rgb)
if thisTrial != None:
    for paramName in thisTrial.keys():
        exec(paramName + '= thisTrial.' + paramName)

for thisTrial in trials:
    currentLoop = trials
    # abbreviate parameter names if possible (e.g. rgb = thisTrial.rgb)
    if thisTrial != None:
        for paramName in thisTrial.keys():
            exec(paramName + '= thisTrial.' + paramName)
    
    # ------Prepare to start Routine "arithmetic"-------
    t = 0
    arithmeticClock.reset()  # clock
    frameN = -1
    continueRoutine = True
    # update component parameters for each repeat
    text.setText(Problem)
    key_resp_2 = event.BuilderKeyResponse()
    # keep track of which components have finished
    arithmeticComponents = [text, key_resp_2]
    for thisComponent in arithmeticComponents:
        if hasattr(thisComponent, 'status'):
            thisComponent.status = NOT_STARTED
    
    # -------Start Routine "arithmetic"-------
    while continueRoutine:
        # get current time
        t = arithmeticClock.getTime()
        frameN = frameN + 1  # number of completed frames (so 0 is the first frame)
        # update/draw components on each frame
        
        # *text* updates
        if t >= 0.0 and text.status == NOT_STARTED:
            # keep track of start time/frame for later
            text.tStart = t
            text.frameNStart = frameN  # exact frame index
            text.setAutoDraw(True)
        
        # *key_resp_2* updates
        if t >= 0.0 and key_resp_2.status == NOT_STARTED:
            # keep track of start time/frame for later
            key_resp_2.tStart = t
            key_resp_2.frameNStart = frameN  # exact frame index
            key_resp_2.status = STARTED
            # keyboard checking is just starting
            win.callOnFlip(key_resp_2.clock.reset)  # t=0 on next screen flip
            event.clearEvents(eventType='keyboard')
        if key_resp_2.status == STARTED:
            theseKeys = event.getKeys(keyList=['space'])
            
            # check for quit:
            if "escape" in theseKeys:
                endExpNow = True
            if len(theseKeys) > 0:  # at least one key was pressed
                key_resp_2.keys = theseKeys[-1]  # just the last key pressed
                key_resp_2.rt = key_resp_2.clock.getTime()
        
        # 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 arithmeticComponents:
            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 "arithmetic"-------
    for thisComponent in arithmeticComponents:
        if hasattr(thisComponent, "setAutoDraw"):
            thisComponent.setAutoDraw(False)
    # check responses
    if key_resp_2.keys in ['', [], None]:  # No response was made
        key_resp_2.keys=None
    trials.addData('key_resp_2.keys',key_resp_2.keys)
    if key_resp_2.keys != None:  # we had a response
        trials.addData('key_resp_2.rt', key_resp_2.rt)
    # the Routine "arithmetic" was not non-slip safe, so reset the non-slip timer
    routineTimer.reset()
# completed 1 repeats of 'trials'

thisExp.nextEntry()

completed 1 repeats of ‘trials_3’

these shouldn’t be strictly necessary (should auto-save)

thisExp.saveAsWideText(filename+’.csv’)
thisExp.saveAsPickle(filename)
logging.flush()

make sure everything is closed down

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

OK, there seem to be multiple topics here all related to the same problem: Repeat a stimulus

Would you mind deleting all the duplicate posts to avoid duplicated effort by people attempting to give answers in multiple places?

Sure, sorry.

There doesn’t seem to be a delete button though?

Thanks,

Jo