Elliott Mark T, Welchman Andrew E, Wing Alan M
Behavioural Brain Sciences Centre, School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston B15 2TT, UK.
J Neurosci Methods. 2009 Feb 15;177(1):250-7. doi: 10.1016/j.jneumeth.2008.10.002. Epub 2008 Oct 14.
Investigating movement timing and synchronisation at the sub-second range relies on an experimental setup that has high temporal fidelity, is able to deliver output cues and can capture corresponding responses. Modern, multi-tasking operating systems make this increasingly challenging when using standard PC hardware and programming languages. This paper describes a new free suite of tools (available from http://www.snipurl.com/mattap) for use within the MATLAB programming environment, compatible with Microsoft Windows and a range of data acquisition hardware. The toolbox allows flexible generation of timing cues with high temporal accuracy, the capture and automatic storage of corresponding participant responses and an integrated analysis module for the rapid processing of results. A simple graphical user interface is used to navigate the toolbox and so can be operated easily by users not familiar with programming languages. However, it is also fully extensible and customisable, allowing adaptation for individual experiments and facilitating the addition of new modules in future releases. Here we discuss the relevance of the MatTAP (MATLAB Timing Analysis Package) toolbox to current timing experiments and compare its use to alternative methods. We validate the accuracy of the analysis module through comparison to manual observation methods and replicate a previous sensorimotor synchronisation experiment to demonstrate the versatility of the toolbox features demanded by such movement synchronisation paradigms.
在亚秒级范围内研究运动时间和同步性依赖于一种具有高时间保真度、能够提供输出线索并能捕捉相应反应的实验装置。当使用标准的个人电脑硬件和编程语言时，现代的多任务操作系统使这一过程变得越来越具有挑战性。本文描述了一套新的免费工具集（可从http://www.snipurl.com/mattap获取），用于MATLAB编程环境，与微软Windows系统以及一系列数据采集硬件兼容。该工具箱允许灵活生成具有高时间精度的定时线索，捕捉并自动存储相应的参与者反应，以及一个用于快速处理结果的集成分析模块。一个简单的图形用户界面用于操作该工具箱，因此不熟悉编程语言的用户也能轻松操作。然而，它也是完全可扩展和可定制的，允许针对个别实验进行调整，并便于在未来版本中添加新模块。在这里，我们讨论MatTAP（MATLAB定时分析包）工具箱与当前定时实验的相关性，并将其使用方法与其他方法进行比较。我们通过与手动观察方法对比来验证分析模块的准确性，并复制之前的一个感觉运动同步实验，以证明这种运动同步范式所需的工具箱功能的通用性。
