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Timing accuracy of visual stimulus presentation: a A single presentation of a white blank screen. b Consecutive presentations of white and blank screens. Yellow lines indicate markers sent via the serial port before and after presenting a stimulus, and cyan lines the display response, measured with an optical sensor
Source publication
Expyriment is an open-source and platform-independent lightweight Python library for designing and conducting timing-critical behavioral and neuroimaging experiments. The major goal is to provide a well-structured Python library for script-based experiment development, with a high priority being the readability of the resulting program code. Expyri...
Contexts in source publication
Context 1
... marker was sent to the oscilloscope via the serial port. The results revealed that the onset and offset of the white blank screen were aligned to the markers sent via the serial port, showing that the time that Expyriment reported the stimulus as being presented corresponded correctly to the time that the video card began drawing onto the display (Fig. 2a). Furthermore, the spacing between the onsets of successive stimulus presentations corresponded to about 17 ms, showing that Expyriment is capable of presenting one preloaded stim- ulus each screen refresh (Fig. ...
Context 2
... reported the stimulus as being presented corresponded correctly to the time that the video card began drawing onto the display (Fig. 2a). Furthermore, the spacing between the onsets of successive stimulus presentations corresponded to about 17 ms, showing that Expyriment is capable of presenting one preloaded stim- ulus each screen refresh (Fig. ...
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... The experiment was programmed in Open Sesame 3.2 (Mathôt et al., 2012) and run on the Microsoft Windows 10 operating system with the Expyriment back end (Krause & Lindemann, 2014). During the experiment, participants were seated individually in a sound-attenuated cabin with dimmed lighting. ...
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... The experiment was executed using Expyriment in Python using an adjusted script from Linda de Voogd (version 3.7.16; Krause and Lindemann, 2014). ...
... The experiment was executed using Expyriment in Python using a script adjusted from Linda de Voogd (version 3.7.16; Krause and Lindemann, 2014). ...
Introduction
The connectivity between the spinal cord and the brain is an important pathway for motor and sensory processing. Sensory and motor preparatory processing is particularly relevant under threat when fast defensive responses such as freezing are generated and motor inhibition, as well as sensory upregulation, have to be orchestrated.
Objective
This study aims to investigate the role of corticospinal networks during threat.
Methods
We administered a resting-state scan and three threat-related tasks, while spinal cord and brain activity were measured simultaneously using a special functional magnetic resonance imaging sequence. This thesis specifically focused on resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging to validate the newly implemented sequence and replicate earlier work by Vahdat et al. (2020).
Results
Analysis among the first 16 participants, revealed connectivity patterns between the dorsal spinal cord horn and brain areas such as the primary sensory cortex and posterior cingulate cortex, whereas the ventral spinal cord horn was connected to frontal areas and the thalamus. However, a convincing dorsoventral segmentation to sensory and motor-related brain areas was lacking. Contralateral properties could partly be observed as the left spinal cord hemicord was preferably connected to the right brain hemisphere, but the right spinal cord hemicord also showed a preference for the right brain hemisphere. Moreover, 10 out of 40
independent components showed significant activation in the spinal cord and brain, mainly the midbrain and cerebellum, but large sensory or motor resting-state networks remained absent.
Discussion.
In general, the data partly conform to the functional skeleton between the brain and spinal cord. The new dedicated sequence can therefore be partly validated and the research of Vahdat et al. (2020) can be partly replicated. Means to improve data quality, normalization, and co-registration are discussed.
... Self-report questionnaires are used to assess perceived stress (e.g., subjective fear ratings). These are acquired via Expyriment [53], the software we use to present task stimuli, along with assessments of behavioural responses (e.g., reaction time, response accuracy) recorded during stress regulation tasks. Physiological response assessments of autonomic nervous system measures (e.g., skin conductance, heart rate, and pupil size) are used to measure affective responses to stressors using BrainVision Recorder (Brain Products; Gliching, Germany) and Eyelink-1000 Plus eye-tracker (SR Research, Ottawa, Canada). ...
Background
Stress-related disorders are a growing public health concern. While stress is a natural and adaptive process, chronic exposure to stressors can lead to dysregulation and take a cumulative toll on physical and mental well-being. One approach to coping with stress and building resilience is through Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR). By understanding the neural mechanisms of MBSR, we can gain insight into how it reduces stress and what drives individual differences in treatment outcomes. This study aims to establish the clinical effects of MBSR on stress regulation in a population that is susceptible to develop stress-related disorders (i.e., university students with mild to high self-reported stress), to assess the role of large-scale brain networks in stress regulation changes induced by MBSR, and to identify who may benefit most from MBSR.
Methods
This study is a longitudinal two-arm randomised, wait-list controlled trial to investigate the effects of MBSR on a preselected, Dutch university student population with elevated stress levels. Clinical symptoms are measured at baseline, post-treatment, and three months after training. Our primary clinical symptom is perceived stress, with additional measures of depressive and anxiety symptoms, alcohol use, stress resilience, positive mental health, and stress reactivity in daily life. We investigate the effects of MBSR on stress regulation in terms of behaviour, self-report measures, physiology, and brain activity. Repetitive negative thinking, cognitive reactivity, emotional allowance, mindfulness skills, and self-compassion will be tested as potential mediating factors for the clinical effects of MBSR. Childhood trauma, personality traits and baseline brain activity patterns will be tested as potential moderators of the clinical outcomes.
Discussion
This study aims to provide valuable insights into the effectiveness of MBSR in reducing stress-related symptoms in a susceptible student population and crucially, to investigate its effects on stress regulation, and to identify who may benefit most from the intervention.
Trial registration
Registered on September 15, 2022, at clinicaltrials.gov, NCT05541263.
... Two computers were used to conduct the experiment: the first presented stimuli, the second recorded the data. The first computer sent an initial trigger through the parallel port and a terminal trigger to the second computer, then the force signal was recorded using Expyriment software [67] at a sampling rate of 1 kHz through an analog-to-digital converter card. Forces were measured in millinewtons (mN). ...
People respond faster to smaller numbers in their left space and to larger numbers in their right space. Here we argue that movements in space contribute to the formation of spatial-numerical associations (SNAs). We studied the impact of continuous isometric forces along the horizontal or vertical cardinal axes on SNAs while participants performed random number production and arithmetic verification tasks. Our results suggest that such isometric directional force do not suffice to induce SNAs.