ABSTRACT

Psychology and neuroscience are popular academic disciplines, and frequently dominate science headlines around the world. At the centre of these complex and fascinating institutions is one humble device: the behavioral experiment. Psychologists and neuroscientists design rigorous tasks to explore human behavior. This usually requires competent computer programming skills in addition to strong scientific skills. Modern-day experiments typically run on a computer, with participants sitting in front of a keyboard and pressing buttons in response to sensory stimuli. One instruction might be: ‘If you see a green circle, press the spacebar; if you see a red circle, do not press the spacebar.’ For standard tasks like these, the computer must present stimuli while simultaneously recording participant responses and giving feedback. This means the scientist needs to write and run an interactive computer program.