Out Of The Box: Design Experiments
With the new version of DLStream, creating your own experiments has become much more accessible to researchers that do not want to dive into the DLStream code.
This guide will discuss the new feature as well as our base modules that can be used to generate combinations of prebuild EXPERIMENT, TRIGGER, STIMULATION modules and their parameters without any need to access the code.
First the function: design_experiment()
In your console of choice or IDE, run python design_experiment.py
You will be asked to enter the base modules that can be used to design a basic experiment in DLStream. If you want you can even change all parameters of the experiment with the function.
Once a experiment config file has been created, the experiment can be used in DLStream by entering the filename to settings.ini.
[Experiment]
EXP_NAME = CONFIG_NAME
Starting app.py and Start Experiment will load the configuration into DLStream and run the experiment based on the entered parameters.
Second, let's discuss the general build-up.
Experiments can now be combined, configured and saved in .ini files, very similiar to settings.ini:
Each module has a [Section] and corresponding PARAMETERS, that are used to configure each experiment design.
[EXPERIMENT]
BASE = BaseConditionalExperiment
EXPERIMENTER = Example
[BaseConditionalExperiment]
TRIGGER = BaseRegionTrigger
PROCESS = BaseProtocolProcess
INTERTRIAL_TIME = 40
EXP_LENGTH = 40
EXP_TIME = 3600
EXP_COMPLETION = 10
[BaseRegionTrigger]
TYPE = circle
CENTER = 550, 63
RADIUS = 30
BODYPARTS = neck
DEBUG = False
[BaseProtocolProcess]
TYPE = switch
STIMULATION = BaseStimulation
[BaseStimulation]
TYPE = NI
PORT = Dev1/PFI6
STIM_TIME = 3.5
If you want to change any parameter, you can do so directly in the experiment config file (and save them).
[BaseConditionalExperiment]
INTERTRIAL_TIME = 40
Change the number and save the file.
[BaseConditionalExperiment]
INTERTRIAL_TIME = 20
When you load the experiment again, it will use the new parameter. Note, that in case of non-sense parameter changes (e.g. INTERSTIMULUS_TIME = banana).
DLStream will throw an error and the experiment won't run (as expected).
Several parameters only except preselected options, so make sure that you check out the available options in the corresponding wiki article.
Modules are found as PARAMETERS in their corresponding parent module and as [Sections] in the .ini file.
[EXPERIMENT]
BASE = BaseConditionalExperiment
...
[BaseConditionalExperiment]
TRIGGER = BaseHeaddirectionTrigger
...
[BaseHeaddirectionTrigger]
...
Above you see that in the [Experiment] section the base experiment BaseConditionalExperiment is named, while underneath a [Section] with the same name appears with all relevant PARAMETERS.
If you do not want to manually change the modules, you can use our new functions to do so. The easiest way is to create a new experiment, with your selection of modules and then copy the parameters into the new config file.
If you want to change a module manually (e.g. TRIGGER), you will need to change the entry under TRIGGER, remove the old section [BaseHeaddirectionTrigger] and add the new section from experiment/configs/default_config.ini.
Afterwards check if all parameters are conclusive and save the file.
[EXPERIMENT]
BASE = BaseConditionalExperiment
...
[BaseConditionalExperiment]
# change to BaseRegionTrigger:
TRIGGER = BaseHeaddirectionTrigger
...
# delete this section completely:
[BaseHeaddirectionTrigger]
POINT = 550, 63
ANGLE = 30
BODYPARTS = neck
DEBUG = False
# add the new section from the default_config.ini:
[BaseRegionTrigger]
TYPE = circle
CENTER= 550, 63
RADIUS = 30
BODYPARTS = neck
DEBUG = False