ESP2 (an Experimental Stimuli Presentation Platform) is a prototypical implementation of a thin software layer on top of the Java™ environment for coding experiments in scientific disciplines like cognitive psychology, cognitive ergonomics and behavioral sciences. The platform is composed of a set of libraries providing a basic application programming interface (API) for the implementation of cognitive experiments, and a lightweight application framework for stimuli definition, presentation, and subsequent processing of user response. Experiments can either be executed in stand-alone mode, or driven by an external unit which remotely controls experiment execution on an arbitrary number of target machines concurrently and transparently, thus allowing to implement parallel experimental sessions, when applicable, with no additional costs in terms of experimenter's time or effort. The internal libraries allow simultaneous streaming of information regarding presented stimuli and user response timings to an arbitrary number of external devices (e.g. EEG monitors, ambulatory polygraphs, external computing units), by using a simple custom network protocol that may also be used to synchronize or annotate recorded data. In the present chapter the ESP2 platform is presented, and its main characteristics – cross-portability, software extensibility, network integration, timing accuracy, performance – introduced and discussed.
ESP2: A Platform for Experimental Design in Cognitive Ergonomics
SOTTILE, ROBERTO;DI MARCO, LUIGI YURI;CHIARI, LORENZO
2010
Abstract
ESP2 (an Experimental Stimuli Presentation Platform) is a prototypical implementation of a thin software layer on top of the Java™ environment for coding experiments in scientific disciplines like cognitive psychology, cognitive ergonomics and behavioral sciences. The platform is composed of a set of libraries providing a basic application programming interface (API) for the implementation of cognitive experiments, and a lightweight application framework for stimuli definition, presentation, and subsequent processing of user response. Experiments can either be executed in stand-alone mode, or driven by an external unit which remotely controls experiment execution on an arbitrary number of target machines concurrently and transparently, thus allowing to implement parallel experimental sessions, when applicable, with no additional costs in terms of experimenter's time or effort. The internal libraries allow simultaneous streaming of information regarding presented stimuli and user response timings to an arbitrary number of external devices (e.g. EEG monitors, ambulatory polygraphs, external computing units), by using a simple custom network protocol that may also be used to synchronize or annotate recorded data. In the present chapter the ESP2 platform is presented, and its main characteristics – cross-portability, software extensibility, network integration, timing accuracy, performance – introduced and discussed.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.