Stimuli flicker on screen

Coding
1

I want to create a Dual Task where participants have to judge two numbers. I created the following function to show the stimuli and collect responses. My problem is that the shown stimuli are flickering on the screen. Why is that so and how can I prevent it from happening?

Thanks in advance!

def StimPresent(a_soa, b_s1, c_s2, posS2, posDummy):
    """
    Function StimPresent(a, b, c) presents stimulus_1 (b) for SOA ((a) number of frames),
    then it adds stimulus_2 (d) and shows both for max 60 frames
    and returns time of stimulus onset (tim)
    """

    positionMouse1 = [] # to get position of mouse at time of S1 onset
    positionMouse2 = [] # to get position of mouse at time of response
    
    allRTs = []         # array, all RTs are written in here (R1 and R2), clickTime and voiceTime will be appended
    clickAnswer = False
    clickTime = 0.0
    OnsetS1 = 0.0
    theRT1 = 0.0
    deadlineS1 = 210  # deadline for giving an answer to S1 is 3500 milliseconds
    clickArea = 'None'
    
    vk.pyo_init()
    voiceAnswer = False
    OnsetS2 = 0.0
    voiceOnset = 0.0
    voiceOffset = 0.0
    theRT2 = 0.0
    deadlineS2 = 210+a_soa  # deadline for answering to S2 is 5000 ms
    
    event.clearEvents()
    myMouse.clickReset()
     
    while True:      # loop is exited when break conditions are met
        
        for frameN in range(a_soa+60+300):      # duration is time in which participants can give an answer (SOA+60+300)    
            if event.getKeys(keyList='escape, q'):
                myWin.close()
                core.quit()
            
            if frameN <= a_soa:                 # shows S1 for SOA
                b_s1.draw() 
                rectL.draw()
                rectM.draw()
                rectR.draw()
                if clickAnswer == False:            # draws response areas for mouse click (r1) as long as no answer was given
                    r1AreaLeft.draw()    
                    r1AreaRight.draw()
                myWin.flip()
            
            elif frameN <= (a_soa+60):          # shows S1 and S2 after SOA for in total 1000ms (60 frames)
                b_s1.draw()
                rectL.draw()
                rectM.draw()
                rectR.draw()
                # set positions and add S2 and dummy
                c_s2.setPos(posS2)
                dummy.setPos(posDummy)
                c_s2.draw()
                dummy.draw()
                myWin.flip()
                if clickAnswer == False:            # draws response areas for mouse click (r1) as long as no answer was given
                    r1AreaLeft.draw()    
                    r1AreaRight.draw()
                
            else:                               # shows only rectangles until deadline has passed
                rectL.draw()
                rectM.draw()
                rectR.draw()
                if clickAnswer == False:            # draws response areas for mouse click (r1) as long as no answer was given
                    r1AreaLeft.draw()    
                    r1AreaRight.draw()
                myWin.flip()
                    
            if frameN == 0:                     # RT S1 starting immediately after flip
                OnsetS1 = RT1.getTime()
                positionMouse1 = myMouse.getPos()
    
            if frameN == (a_soa+1):
                OnsetS2 = RT2.getTime() #RT S2 starting immediately after soa flip
            
            ''' Retrieving R1'''
            #while clickAnswer == 0: # making sure that only one click is taken as answer per trial
            if myMouse.isPressedIn(r1AreaLeft, buttons=[0]): # other coding option instead of while loop: and clickAnswer == 0: 
                clickTime = RT1.getTime()
                allRTs.append(1) #(clickTime)
                theRT1 = clickTime - OnsetS1
                positionMouse2 = myMouse.getPos()
                clickArea = 'left'
                rectM.setLineColor('green')
                clickAnswer = True
            elif myMouse.isPressedIn(r1AreaRight, buttons=[0]):     # other coding option instead of while loop: and clickAnswer == 0:
                clickTime = RT1.getTime()
                allRTs.append(1) #(clickTime)
                theRT1 = clickTime - OnsetS1
                positionMouse2 = myMouse.getPos()
                clickArea = 'right'
                rectM.setLineColor('red')
                clickAnswer = True
            elif (clickAnswer == False) and (frameN > deadlineS1): # 210 as deadline for R1 (3500ms)
                clickTime = [('NaN', 0.0)]
                allRTs.append(clickTime)
                theRT1 = [('NaN')]
                positionMouse2 = [('NaN')]
                clickArea = 'None'
                clickAnswer = True
        
            ''' Retrieving R2'''
            if vk.OnsetVoiceKey(sec=2, file_out='thisTrial.trial'): # and clickAnswer == 1 # sec: duration to record in seconds; file_out: name for output filename (for microphone input)
                voiceOnset = RT2.getTime()
                allRTs.append(voiceOnset)
                rectR.setLineColor('red')
            if clock.getTime() - OnsetS2 > deadlineS2:
                voiceOnset = [('NaN', 0.0)]
                allRTs.append(voiceOnset)
                
            if frameN > deadlineS2:
                break

        theRT1 = clock.getTime() - OnsetS1
        theRT2 = clock.getTime() - OnsetS2
        
    #event.clearEvents()
    #myMouse.clickReset()
        #myWin.flip()

        if vk.OffsetVoiceKey(sec=0):
            voiceOffset = clock.getTime()
            rectL.setLineColor('red')
            voiceAnswer = True                 # to end while loop
            RSI()   
        elif (voiceOnset == [('NaN', 0.0)]) and (frameN > deadLineS2):
            voiceAnswer = True                # to end while loop
            RSI()
    #RSI()
    
    return [b_s1, c_s2, a_soa, OnsetS1, clickTime, theRT1, positionMouse1, positionMouse2, clickArea, OnsetS2, voiceOnset, voiceOffset, theRT2]
2

You don’t really describe exactly what that means, so without reading all of your code, the first thing I found that would cause at least one flicker is this, within the frameN <= (a_soa+60) condition:

myWin.flip()
                if clickAnswer == False:            # draws response areas for mouse click (r1) as long as no answer was given
                    r1AreaLeft.draw()    
                    r1AreaRight.draw()

Notice that this conditional drawing would occur after the win.flip(), so it won’t be shown at the same time as the other stimuli that were drawn here, but instead on the next window flip, which might cause some flicker artefacts of those stimuli just appearing for one frame when frameN goes beyond a_soa+60.

Also (not relevant), this typo:

keyList='escape, q'

should be:

keyList=['escape', 'q']

and also not relevant, but

myWin.close()

is not required here, as it will happen automatically as a consequence of core.quit() being called.

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