Neuroscience programming with psychopy/python: Line Bisection Task (Video 3) - making random stimuli

Описание: In this series of videos we will be using Psychopy and Python (version 3) to create the line bisection task. If you would like to know how to go about creating and designing a working Neuroscience experiment using Python programming language, then this is a nice and gentle introduction.

The line-bisection task can be used to probe visual-spatial attention / visual neglect in people with impaired parietal lobe function. More specifically, in this task we present our subjects with a transected line and ask them to decide if the left (or the right) side of the line is longer or shorter. In some of the trials, we will present a line that is perfectly bisected (so left and right are the same). We will base our experiment off a previous paper (Kim et al., 2005 Neuroscience Letters) and build a working program from scratch.

In this particular video we will randomise the lengths of the stimulus lines (remember we need from 36 to 40 degrees Visual Angle). We will also randomise the presentation of left/right longer lines (transected lines) and the bisected lines. The way I achieve this in the video is not the best way at all (you should avoid using loops as they’re slow), however I have purposefully made our arrays using loops and boolean statements to introduce you to their use in python programs. I encourage you to try and find quicker and easier ways of creating random arrays.

All of the code is written on the screen at a speed that should be easy to reproduce. All programs are open-source and all you will need is a working Python3 installation and working Psychopy Installation.

Software Used
Python 3 : www.python.org
PsychoPy: www.psychopy.org
Atom Text Editor: atom.io

This video series was programmed on a MacBook Air (8GB ram, i5 core).