Using Arduino Microcontroller Boards to Measure Response Latencies.

 https://www.academia.edu/6819935/Using_Arduino_Microcontroller_Boards_to_Measure_Response_Latencies

 

 

Using Arduino microcontroller boards to measure
response latencies
Thomas W. Schubert & Alessandro D’Ausilio &
Rosario Canto
Published online: 13 April 2013
# Psychonomic Society, Inc. 2013
Abstract Latencies of buttonpresses are a staple of cognitive
science paradigms. Often keyboards are employed to collect
buttonpresses, but their imprecision and variability decreases
test power and increases the risk of false positives. Response
boxes and data acquisition cards are precise, but expensive
and inflexible, alternatives. We propose using open-source
Arduinomicrocontroller boards as an inexpensive and flexible
alternative. These boards connect to standard experimental
software using a USB connection and a virtual serial port, or
by emulating a keyboard. In our solution, an Arduino measures
response latencies after being signaled the start of a trial,
and communicates the latency and response back to the PC
over a USB connection. We demonstrated the reliability, robustness,
and precision of this communication in six studies.
Test measures confirmed that the error added to the
measurement had an SD of less than 1 ms. Alternatively,
emulation of a keyboard results in similarly precise measurement.
The Arduino performs as well as a serial response box,
and better than a keyboard. In addition, our setup allows for
the flexible integration of other sensors, and even actuators, to
extend the cognitive science toolbox.
Keywords Response latencies . Reaction times . Response
box . Arduino . E-Prime
Paradigms that measure latencies of responses are a staple of
many areas of experimental research on cognition. In theory,
latencies of many different actions can be measured:
keypresses, spoken answers, or movements of fingers,
hands, eyes, or other body parts.
Very often, however, experimental psychologists simply
ask participants to react to computer-presented stimuli by
pressing keys on regular keyboards. We believe this is unfortunate
for two reasons: First, regular keyboards are notoriously
imprecise input devices that add noise to the data. Second,
keypresses are most often arbitrarily matched to the outcome
of some cognitive process, whereas other movements might
index the investigated process more directly. Experimental
psychologists may be aware of both shortcomings and still
choose the keyboard out of habit, convenience, or lack of
alternatives.
With the present work, we propose an alternative platform
that allows both more precise measurement and more
creative dependent variables. It uses the open-source
Arduino microcontroller platform and thereby harvests the
creativity of a large developer community. In the following,
we will elaborate on the imprecision of regular keyboards,
before we describe and test how the Arduino can be used as
a response latency measurement platform.
Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article
(doi:10.3758/s13428-013-0336-z) contains supplementary material,
which is available to authorized users.
T. W. Schubert
Instituto Universitário de Lisboa (ISCTE-IUL),
Centro de Investigação e Intervenção Social,
Av. Forças Armadas, Ed. ISCTE-IUL,
1649-026 Lisbon, Portugal
A. D’Ausilio : R. Canto
RBCS—Robotics, Brain and Cognitive Sciences Department,
Italian Institute of Technology (IIT), Genoa, Italy
A. D’Ausilio
e-mail: alessandro.dausilio@iit.it
R. Canto
e-mail: rosario.canto@unife.it
T. W. Schubert (*)
Psykologisk Institut, P.O. Box 1094, Blindern,
0317 Oslo, Norway
e-mail: schubert@igroup.org
Behav Res (2013) 45:1332–1346
DOI 10.3758/s13428-013-0336-z