Experiments
Build and run an experiment in PsychBench by writing a short script. Make objects of various types (.g. picture, text, sound, keyPress, etc.). For each object, you can specify parameters and options by setting properties using dot statements. Lots of properties are possible but for any given experiment you can omit most to leave them at default values.
With PsychBench
The script below would run a (very) simple experiment consisting of two repetitions of three distinct trials, all in random order. In each trial, a picture of an animal shows at a height of 10 degrees visual angle. The picture stops showing when the subject presses any key. Experiment results report which animal was shown (picture file name) and response latency for each trial.
Without PsychBench
Some compact Psychtoolbox code to run the same experiment—with the same timing precision and error handling, and assuming MATLAB imread loads the pictures with no fuss—would be:
The take-away is that with PsychBench you work mainly at the level of stimulus and experiment concepts while much of the technical lifting is automated underneath. Meanwhile the precision of Psychtoolbox is preserved because underneath is Psychtoolbox code.
PsychBench also facilitates modifying experiments and reusing stimuli and functionality across experiments. Changing something just means changing property values or swapping in different objects. Any object works anywhere in any experiment.
