connect to parallel port and send EEG-trigger

[phileasheim]

Hi everyone,

we are currently working on moving our jspsych-online-experiment back to lab and we would like to send trigger-signals to our ANT Neuro EEG system. We've installed the C++ program (both versions) and also the chrome-extension but weren't able to connect to the parallel port. We know the port is working because we are able to send triggers with the presentation (neurobehavioral systems) program that we've used in the past.

Do you have any further advice for getting this connection to work? We're also not sure about the right hex-number for the parallel port, although we've used the instructions. As we interpret the extension, the connection never seemed successful. We've read that we might have to adapt the extension-code to the version of the chrome-browser?

Additionally in our demo-code we've tried to use an on_start function to send the triggers, but we are also not sure if this is correct.

var stimuli = {
type: 'image-keyboard-response',
stimulus: 'stimuli/vis_right1.png',
choices: jsPsych.ALL_KEYS,
response_ends_trial: false,
trial_duration: 1000,
on_start: function () {
document.dispatchEvent(new CustomEvent('jspsych', {
detail:{
target:'parallel',
action:'trigger',
payload: 64
}
}));
}
};

[jordandeakin]

Hi @phileasheim

Did you manage to get this sorted in the end? We are currently experiencing a similar issue, where the icon never turns green after putting in the port address. We also send our triggers through an on_start function but nothing is being sent to the pins. We are unsure what to do next...

[luisamschmidt]

Hi @jordandeakin and @phileasheim,

did you get any further with this? We are also currently trying to send triggers from jsPsych to our Brain Vision Recorder but are unsure how to implement it.

Would be thankful for any advice!

Best,
Luisa

[jordandeakin]

@luisamschmidt Hi Luisa, we didn't manage to sort it. We managed to get the extension to recognise the port but our Bio Semi system would not pick up on any triggers. Weirdly, I used a parallel port tester which showed triggers were being sent but our hardware never picked up on them. Ended up recoding the experiment in Matlab and using LabJack

[luisamschmidt]

@jordandeakin Hi Jordan, thank you for your answer - seems like this is a difficult thing to do... We are still trying to figure it out, but if we don't succeed we'll need to go with a different task or software.

[ElianeDeschrijver]

Hello @jordandeakin @luisamschmidt @phileasheim, I seem to be experiencing the same problem. The C++ program doesn't do anything when opened so I am unsure where to give in the parallel port's name. In addition it is also not entirely clear to me how to code the triggers in JsPsych, as was raised already above. Has anyone of you found a solution in the end? Thanks.

[rivasd]

Hello everyone!

Thought I'd give some info as this used to be a project close to my heart. Unfortunately, since first developing this solution, I have left academia and thus am no longer around parallel ports and other such legacy hardware 😉 .

In the meantime I've been contacted a couple of times for similar inquiries, so I can see there is still some interest for the tech! I'd be willing to make some time to work on this again if any of you are open to collaborate via email and possibly help a bit regarding the not-having-a-parallel-port-anymore issue!

In the meantime I can only redirect you to the readmes of both this repo and the the accompanying program (which I can remember does not need to be executed on its own but simply needs to be installed)

in any case, cheers!