Managing Complexity in Psychology Experiment Generation

项目描述（申请人提供）：本项目将开发新技术，以提高心理学实验生成工具的效率、功率、精度、安全性和易用性。拟议研究的结果将在为创新和产品提供技术基础方面发挥关键作用，这些创新和产品将在数千个研究实验室中使用。这将改进对与学习、心理健康、发展和社会交往有关的心理问题的研究，从而使数百万公民受益。本提案发展的方法将使心理学、神经科学和临床研究人员能够应对日益复杂的基于计算机的实验和基于互联网的数据收集。该项目将解决与基于计算机的行为和生物数据收集相关的五个关键挑战。它将提供研究和技术解决方案，包括：1)实验规范技术，该技术将允许有效地创建复杂准确的计算机化行为实验，研究人员的学习时间有限，出错概率低；2)在标准个人计算机上保持精确定时（0.1 ms）的方法，即使操作系统定时不稳定且用户对系统性能调优的理解有限；3)允许分布式实验管理的互联网工具，可以跨多个站点和跨防火墙保持定时精度和安全性，用户只需付出很少的努力；4)自动化数据管理和分析工具，可以快速学习并连接到标准分析流；5)教学工具、范式库和数据管理的可理解集成。该项目将开发接口、定时、通信、数据管理和支持技术，并对可用性进行广泛的经验测试。第一阶段的SBIR工作达到了雄心勃勃的里程碑，并产生了关于实验生成可用性的第一个正式的行为数据。工程原型超出了精度要求，并导致了作为临时专利申请基础的新方法。这项研究可能会产生市场领先的产品，这些产品可能会在第二阶段工作开始之日起的五年内被5000多个研究实验室购买和安装。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This project will develop new technologies to advance the efficiency, power, precision, security, and ease of use of tools for psychology experiment generation. Results from proposed studies will play a pivotal role in providing the technical foundation for innovations and products that will be used in thousands of research laboratories. This will improve the research on psychological problems related to learning, mental health, development, and social interaction which in turn may benefit millions of citizens. This proposal develops methods that will allow psychological, neuroscience and clinical researchers to cope with the growing complexity of computer based-experimentation and Internet-based data collection. This project will address five key challenges related to computer-based behavioral and biological data collection. It will provide research and technical solutions including: 1) an experiment specification technology that will allow efficient creation of complex accurate computerized behavioral experiments with modest learning time for the researcher and low probability of error; 2) methods to maintain precision timing (0.1 ms) on standard personal computers even when the operating system timing is erratic and the user has limited understanding of performance tuning of the system; 3) Internet tools that allow distributed experiment management that can maintain timing precision and security across multiple sites and across firewalls with low user effort, 4) automated data management and analysis tools that can quickly be learned and connected to standard analysis streams; and 5) comprehensible integration of tutorial tools, paradigms libraries and data management. The project will develop interface, timing, communication, data management, and support technologies and extensive empirical testing of usability. The Phase I SBIR effort met the ambitious milestones and produced the first formal behavioral data published regarding usability in experiment generation. The engineering prototypes exceeded the precision requirements and lead to new methods that were the basis of a provisional patent application. The research will likely result in market-leading products that are likely to be purchased and installed in over 5000 research laboratories within five years of the start date of the Phase II effort.