Realtime Computing
Labs/Hardware
CLIPR provides extensive software and hardware support and consultation for realtime computing and data collection in the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience. In addition, CLIPR manages 3 realtime computing labs housed in the department; rooms E013, E021, and E317. Each room is configured somewhat differently, so each will described in turn below.
E013
Room E013 houses 12 individual subject-running rooms. Each room contains an iMac which can boot either into Mac OSX Leopard or Windows XP. In In addition, each computer has a special millisecond-accurate keyboard attached. Thus responses accurate to the millisecond can be obtained from these keyboards when the appropriate software is used. See below for more details. Also, please do not deface these keyboards (e.g., remove keys, etc.). They are expensive and should not be tampered with. Use an old keyboard if you are compelled to remove keys or whatnot. (FYI—The special realtime keyboards are marked with a blue sticker on them.)
E021
Room E021 houses 4 computers in an open setting (i.e., all in one room though with carrels for a modicum of privacy). The computers are iMacs which boot into either Mac OSX or Windows XP. These computers also have the millisecond-accurate keyboards as described above.
E317
Room E317 houses 6 computers in an open setting, affording the least privacy of all the available options. The computers in this room are eMacs running OSX. They are not as high-powered as the computers in our other rooms, nor can one run a Windows-based experiment on these computers. They are fine for most purposes, however, including but not limited to web-based experiments.
Button Boxes
CLIPR has 6 button boxes from IOLab. These button boxes provide a means of obtaining millisecond-accurate responses when used in conjunction with Psyscope X described below under software. The boxes are designed to work with Psyscope X, but they can be made to work with the other Macintosh programming environments described below (contact a CLIPR staff member for help). The button boxes can also be used as an interface for voice-key experiments (with an appropriate microphone).
The button boxes are housed in E013. They are are available for checkout to be used in individual investigator’s labs for a finite amount of time with permission. Please see Ernie, Linda, or Jon with these requests.
Software
Macintosh
On the Macintosh, CLIPR supports several programming environments. Among these are Psyscope X, PyEPL (Python Experiment-Programming Library, and PsychoPy. Each of these environments has its own pluses and minuses. Rather than going into these details here, please consult with a CLIPR staff member before starting your project. The latter two software packages are based on the open-source Python programming environment. We heartily encourage so-inclined researchers to learn how to program in Python as it is a very powerful language and can help you solve all sorts of problems (stimulus manipuation, data massage, etc.) besides allowing you to run experiments to boot. CLIPR has a couple of loaner Python tutorial books to assist you in this effort.
Windows
On Windows (XP), the E-Prime environment is available, though we are unable to provide much consultation support. The two computers on the south wall of the E329 CLIPR lab are available for developing E-Prime experiments. The computers in both E013 and E021 have the E-Prime run-time environment installed. In addition, the PsychoPy program and environment also work on Windows XP.
Web-based Software
We have a license for the survey software Qualtrics. Qualtrics is a flexible, online survey creation, implementation, and data collection solution. For more information, visit http://www.qualtrics.com/#survey-software.html.
To create your own account, visit https://ucsas.qualtrics.com/ControlPanel. Use your @colorado.edu email address for your username.