EEG Lab Log

Purpose

The purpose of this page is to provide a public log of activity in the EEG lab. Please date your entries and please do not share any confidential information.

Log

9 January 2020

Setting up new experiment (Acronym experiment: TAPAS).
People involved in the lab on date: Micha, Alex (visiting), Gabriele, Suraiya, Sven.
When setting up, Psychtoolbox did not recognise the refresh rate of the CRT monitor (Syncmaster); as shown recognition with 'get flip interval' via Psychtoolbox/Matlab.
We aim to present stimuli for a brief time, increasing refresh rate is key. We checked the Nvidia control panel settings, here the monitor did not appear correctly. So, we uploaded the EDID for this device manually (as commented in the CRT section of the wiki lab).
CRT should be at 1280 x 1024 @ 85hz
Members using the lab are recommended to check that this adjustment does not change the way current and previous scripts are run (please check your timing/scripts) / Micha, Laura, Lena are informed about this.

19 September 2019

Lab users meeting. Things we discussed:

1. Monthly meetings

we decided to meet on a regular basis - all EEG lab users will come together to discuss ongoing matters on every first Monday of the month at 11:00.

2. Lab availability

there will be a list in the EEG lab (and maybe also somewhere here) with the names of all active users and months in which they (will) record data. Please, enter your information there as soon as you start planing your sessions;
if the lab is fully booked in the lab calendar, users can request slots simply by emailing the persons responsible for the bookings;

3. Mailing list

the will be a mailing list for the lab users (@Micha kindly agreed to organise it with Serkan)

4. Training / clearance for new lab members

all the new lab members have to be familiarised with the EEG and the lab. The persons responsible for that are their PIs.
PIs of the EEG lab are: Mareike Bayer, Laura Kaltwasser and Michael Gaebler.
There will be a document (a manual) describing everything a new user has to know to start working in the lab. The new users will have to read the manual and sign that they familiarised themselves with all the contents.

(Mareike Bayer and Lena Matyjek will prepare a draft of this manual.)

5. Lab manager

With Lea (who has been acting as a lab manager for a few months) soon leaving us, the labs will need a new person. The call for this position is being prepared and we should know more soon.
Until there is a new person who can act as a lab manager, the users who are using the lab should deal with washing the towels themselves: either by washing them at home or by taking them to a laundry service (Lea Damen has more info about where it is: damenlea@hu-berlin.de) and requesting reimbursement from Annette Winkelmann.

6. Communication between users

Please use the paper lab book in the lab! Enter your information (when and what) every time you're there and you use anything in the lab.
Please notify all the other users of the lab about all changes that may influence the work of others. If the changes are very small (e.g. a new program installed, which doesn't interact with any other), add them in the lab book and/or here. If the changes are bigger (e.g. you need to cover the walls, change the participant's chair, etc.) , ask in advance whether this would be ok with other members by email. If there is a problem which may influence the other users (e.g. there isn't a single towel left / the monitors don't work well), inform everyone by email immediately (especially when other users have booked slots on the following days) and seek help from your PI.

7. Equipment comments

the chin-rest used in the lab (with one screw) now will soon (end of October) be moved to the VR lab. There is another one somewhere in the lab (with two screws) and can still be used, if needed.
EEG batteries - soon the batteries (or at lest the old one) will have to be replaced at BIOSEMI. Meanwhile, please keep in mind that they should not be charged when it's not necessary. They should also not be stored in warm places (like on computers).
the red bucket wants to return to the lab, please help it :)

8. VR Lab

The now rarely used VR lab will be cleaned-up and used also for behavioural testing. You can book it in the lab calendar, just like the EEG lab. (more info: Felix Klotzsche or Lena Matyjek)
as such, the VR Lab stands from now on for Various Research Lab ;)

Thanks for a great meeting, everyone!

Jan 24 2018

Eyal and Musaab- Recording session, no special events

Jan 10 2018

Meeting Notes:

Add CLUT to path
to get out in case of emergency, in case a door is locked, check the M&B door
People get wikis via a Wiki admin
Necessity for a lab manager?
Who orders towels?
Clean stuff please!
Placing electrodes into to cupboard or into the Faraday cage?
Charging batteries - store them fully charged? fully charge only when needed? --> [Lena] Biosemi gives two hints for storing batteries unused for a longer time (over a month): 1) store them half-charged; 2) store them in a dry, cold place (preferably a dry fridge).
Add more flashy clean notes to wiki
Remove the Acq1?
What about the CRT monitor photodiode? Ask Nico?

Dec 21 - 22 2017

Dc in EEG lab for updating the wiki with documentation.

Computers were OK, but Stimulus 1 did not immediately boot with SyncMaster at 100hz.
- Solution was to select the port on the 8 in 1 out VGA selector for stim 1, open the ATI Radeon catalyst viewer app, and click "detect monitors", then force the 100hz refresh rate.
- the problem can be completely avoided if you boot the stim computer with the port for the 8 in 1 out selected at the time of power.

Dec 11 2017

DC in for color calibration with photometer.

Gamma table for color located on new stimulus computer at C:\Computer info\matlab\colorCal\ourcal.mat C:\Computer info\matlab\colorCal\monitorColorCalDemo.m shows how to load it and use it.

Eyal? please double check?

Dec 8 2017

Eyal reported a difference between how the old stimulus computer and the new stimulus computer display the color red on the CRT monitor. Dan Cook in for color calibration with photometer.

Dec 5 2017

Eyal- 16:30-19:00 - everyhing works properly

Dec 4 2017

Dan Cook in for Gamma calib.

Eyal take over for experimenter calib.

Dec 3 2017

CRT monitor and Dell monitor were not being recognized by the new stimulus computer. Problem fixed. Please see the pdf in C:\Computer info\monitors\CorrectSettings.pdf for the correct settings.

Media wiki not displaying thumbnails correctly.

1 November 2017

Python

The Anaconda 4.3.30 distribution of Python 2.7.14 is installed.

You can find the Python and conda executables in the path:

C:\Anaconda\python
C:\Anaconda\Scripts\conda

The Ananconda prompt (terminal) is in the task bar, you can use that, or powershell.

Instead of using the root environment of Python 2.7 from the Anaconda prompt, please use either 1) your own environment, or 2) use the environment: python27

To use this version/environment of python, open the Anaconda prompt or powershell and type:

activate python27

You can install/update packages within this environment, but it is better if you create your own environment. Create zour own like this:

conda create --name my_python27

or, if you want to use a different version of python (one that is not the root version of 2.7),

conda create -n my_python36 python=3.6

where "my_python27" is your unique name. Afterwards, you can activate your own environment in the prompt whenever you want, and then manage your dependencies within your own environment without messing with anyone else's dependencies:

activate my_python27

You can read more about managing environments in conda here.

As of the time of writing, the following environments are located on the system:

dcook_python27 C:\Users\AG Villinger\AppData\Local\conda\conda\envs\dcook_python27
dcook_python36 C:\Users\AG Villinger\AppData\Local\conda\conda\envs\dcook_python36
python27 C:\Users\AG Villinger\AppData\Local\conda\conda\envs\python27
python36 C:\Users\AG Villinger\AppData\Local\conda\conda\envs\python36
root C:\ProgramData\Anaconda2

You can update the list by asking conda to list the environments:

conda info --envs

Nov 2 2017

show stuff in path:

($env:Path).Replace(';',"`n")

set path:

$env:path="$env:Path;C:\Anaconda\python"

installed older version of pyschopy:
conda install -c cogsci psychopy
psychopy: 1.82.01-py27_0 cogsci
pyglet: 1.2.4-py27_0 cogsci

Sending some triggers in Python:

from psychopy import core

port = parallel.ParallelPort(address=57336)

port.setData(0)

port.setData(1)

core.wait(1.0)