Sending Triggers to EEG with Parallel Port

Builder
#1

OS (e.g. Win10): Windows 7
PsychoPy version (e.g. 1.84.x):
Standard Standalone? y If not then what?:
What are you trying to achieve?:

I am trying to get Psychopy to send triggers to the acquisition computer for EEG data acquisition (via Curry 7)

What did you try to make it work?:

I have followed the instructions on this thread: Cannot send a signal via ParallelPort using PsychoPy on Windows7 (64bit) - Coding - PsychoPy

I have I installed the Inpout drivers from the website below. First I tried copying inpoutx64.dll into both system32, SysWOW64 and the experiment folder, as psychopy version I am using is 64 bit. However, I also tried Inpout32 when this didn’t work.

[http://www.highrez.co.uk/Downloads/InpOut32/default.htm ]

I have also installed the driver and I got the following message “Successfully installed and opened 64bit InpOut driver InpOutx64.sys.”

What specifically went wrong when you tried that?:
Include pasted full error message if possible. “That didn’t work” is not enough information.

Following these steps did solve the original warning error which I had: “warning psychopy.parallel has been imported but no parallel port driver found. Install either inpout 32, inpout×64 or dlportio.”

Psychopy now runs my experiment with no errors, however I still cannot see any triggers on the acquisition computer via Curry 7. The address I entered for the port was 0xC000. This address works fine when using eprime on the same computer, which sends triggers with no problem to the acquisition computer. I have also checked this parallel port address on the computer by clicking on system - hardware - parallel ports etc.

I am not sure what else I can try, please help!

#2

Out of curiosity, does your computer have a built-in parallel port? or are you using a USB-parallel port adapter?

#3

Hi @habboud the computer has a built-in parallel port

#4

That’s good, at least you will have good timing. USB-parallel port adapters do not have good timing.

I am not fluent with PsychoPy to be able to help with your question. But if interested, see our “c-pod for Neuroscan” product. It offers a 2ms delay that is jitter free. Perhaps more importantly, the output is asynchronous.

#5

I have solved this problem. I just had to make sure the duration for the parallel port components in Psychopy were set to 100ms.

#6

That sounds like a long time, especially if the experiment has to pause for 100ms. But I’m glad it’s working.

#7

Hi @habboud the experiment does not have to pause for this duration. This is the length of time the triggers appear on the acquisition computer whilst recording