PRESENTATION: PRECISION PC STIMULATION FOR NEUROSCIENCE

我们对大脑功能的理解的持续进步取决于越来越复杂和现实的刺激的呈现。目前的刺激传递系统不足以完成这项任务--它们价格昂贵，通常基于DOS，并且在它们可以传递的刺激类型方面不灵活。我们已经开发了一个易于使用的Windows95/98程序，演示文稿，它利用Windows的DirectX游戏功能，提供复杂的刺激和监测响应亚毫秒的时间精度。它可以提供听觉，视觉或多模态刺激，同时监测反应，而无需特殊硬件。它包含了一个“TimeVerify（TV）”功能，报告时间的不确定性以及所有事件的发生时间，确保在所有条件下的有效时间记录。在第一阶段，我们将进一步改进演示，包括（1）使用硬件中断监控响应的设备驱动程序;（2）简化基于演示的实验创建的工具;（3）准备运行经典实验的示例库;以及（4）演示性能的广泛基准测试和文档。在整个过程中，我们将与功能磁共振成像，ERP和行为实验的合作实验室专家密切合作，以优化这些要求苛刻的应用程序的演示文稿建议的商业应用：建议的活动将直接导致产生一个商业软件包，用于心理学和神经科学实验中的刺激演示。

Continued advances in our understanding of brain function depend on the presentation of increasingly complex and realistic stimuli. Current stimulus delivery systems are inadequate for this task -- they are expensive, generally DOS-based, and inflexible in the types of stimuli that they can deliver. We have developed an easy-to-use Windows95/98 program, Presentation, that takes advantage of the DirectX gaming functions of Windows to deliver complex stimuli and monitor responses with sub-ms temporal precision. It can deliver auditory, visual or multimodal stimuli and simultaneously monitor responses without special hardware. It incorporates a "TimeVerify (TV)" feature that reports the temporal uncertainties as well as the time of occurrence of all events, assuring a valid timing record under all conditions. In Phase I, we will make further improvements in Presentation including (1) Device drivers to monitor responses using hardware interrupts; (2) Tools to simplify the creation of Presentation-based experiments; (3) A library of ready-to-run examples of classic experiments; and (4) Extensive benchmark testing and documentation of Presentation performance. Throughout, we will work closely with collaborating laboratories expert in fMRI, ERP and behavioral experimentation to optimize Presentation for these demanding applications PROPOSED COMMERCIAL APPLICATION: The proposed activity will lead directly to the production of a commercial software package for the presentation of stimuli in psychology and neuroscience experiments.