The Biopsychology-Toolbox: A free, open-source Matlab-toolbox for the control of behavioral experiments

Rose, Jonas; Otto, Tobias; Dittrich, Lars

doi:10.1016/j.jneumeth.2008.08.006

Cited by 86 publications

(55 citation statements)

References 7 publications

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“…We used a modification of a task introduced by Valentin et al (2007); the task was created with the help of the Biopsychology toolbox (Rose et al, 2008). In this task, three trial types were presented: chocolate, orange, and neutral.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Stress Prompts Habit Behavior in Humans

Schwabe¹,

Wolf²

2009

J. Neurosci.

544

428

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Instrumental behavior can be controlled by goal-directed action-outcome and habitual stimulus-response processes that are supported by anatomically distinct brain systems. Based on previous findings showing that stress modulates the interaction of "cognitive" and "habit" memory systems, we asked in the presented study whether stress may coordinate goal-directed and habit processes in instrumental learning. For this purpose, participants were exposed to stress (socially evaluated cold pressor test) or a control condition before they were trained to perform two instrumental actions that were associated with two distinct food outcomes. After training, one of these food outcomes was selectively devalued as subjects were saturated with that food. Next, subjects were presented the two instrumental actions in extinction. Stress before training in the instrumental task rendered participants' behavior insensitive to the change in the value of the food outcomes, that is stress led to habit performance. Moreover, stress reduced subjects' explicit knowledge of the actionoutcome contingencies. These results demonstrate for the first time that stress promotes habits at the expense of goal-directed performance in humans.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Stress Prompts Habit Behavior in Humans

Schwabe¹,

Wolf²

2009

J. Neurosci.

544

428

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…All training and testing were conducted in an operant chamber, controlled via PC and parallel-port interface by Matlab (The Mathworks Inc., Natick, MA, USA) and the Biopsychology Toolbox (Rose et al, 2008). Matlab was also used for all data analysis.…”

Section: Apparatus and Stimulimentioning

confidence: 99%

Striatal dopamine D1 receptors are involved in the dissociation of learning based on reward-magnitude

2013

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Abstract-Here we investigate the contribution of striatal dopamine receptors (D1) to the influence of reward-magnitude on learning. Pigeons (Columba livia) were trained on a discrimination-task with two pairs of stimuli; correct discrimination resulted in a large reward in one pair of stimuli and in a small reward in the other pair. Acquisition of the discrimination-task was accompanied by intracranial injections to the medial striatum, either of a dopamine-antagonist (Sch23390) or of vehicle. In the control-condition the rate of learning was modulated by the magnitude of the reward; discrimination was learned faster if contingent rewards were large and learning was slower if contingent rewards were small. Following injections of D1 antagonist this effect vanished even though the ability to discriminate between the rewards was unaffected. Interestingly, the mean rate of learning was indistinguishable between the control and antagonist conditions. Consequently, it appears that not learning per se but the effect of reward-magnitude on learning is mediated through D1 receptors in the striatum. We argue that the injections of dopamine-antagonist cause a shift in strategy underlying learning. In the control-condition animals rely on positive feedback and thus learning is affected by the magnitude of the contingent reward; in the antagonist-condition, however, learning might rely on negative feedback and is thus insensitive to reward-magnitude.

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“…MATLAB is a high-level programming language that emphasizes ease of use and portability at the expense of performance (i.e., processing speed) and access to low-level hardware functions (e.g., memory management). In the past, the idea of running experiments, which require millisecond-level timing precision for presenting stimuli and recording responses, in a high-level programming environment such as MATLAB was not feasible because the performance of the software was inadequate for applications requiring millisecond-level temporal performance.Recent improvements both in computing hardware and MATLAB software have made it possible to achieve temporally precise control over experiments using MATLAB (Asaad and Eskandar 2008a; Brainard 1997;Gardner and Larsson 2012;Kleiner et al 2007;Rose et al 2008;Zeki 2012). Previous reports described efforts to create a flexible and fullfeatured tool for controlling behavioral and neurophysiological experiments (Asaad and Eskandar 2008b) in MATLAB.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Recent improvements both in computing hardware and MATLAB software have made it possible to achieve temporally precise control over experiments using MATLAB (Asaad and Eskandar 2008a;Brainard 1997;Gardner and Larsson 2012;Kleiner et al 2007;Rose et al 2008;Zeki 2012). Previous reports described efforts to create a flexible and fullfeatured tool for controlling behavioral and neurophysiological experiments (Asaad and Eskandar 2008b) in MATLAB.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

High-performance execution of psychophysical tasks with complex visual stimuli in MATLAB

Asaad

Santhanam

McClellan

et al. 2013

Journal of Neurophysiology

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Asaad WF, Santhanam N, McClellan S, Freedman DJ. Highperformance execution of psychophysical tasks with complex visual stimuli in MATLAB. J Neurophysiol 109: 249 -260, 2013. First published October 3, 2012 doi:10.1152 doi:10. /jn.00527.2012, and physiological experiments often require the ability to present sensory stimuli, monitor and record subjects' responses, interface with a wide range of devices, and precisely control the timing of events within a behavioral task. Here, we describe our recent progress developing an accessible and full-featured software system for controlling such studies using the MATLAB environment. Compared with earlier reports on this software, key new features have been implemented to allow the presentation of more complex visual stimuli, increase temporal precision, and enhance user interaction. These features greatly improve the performance of the system and broaden its applicability to a wider range of possible experiments. This report describes these new features and improvements, current limitations, and quantifies the performance of the system in a real-world experimental setting.behavior; methodology; neurophysiology; psychophysics; vision THE ABILITY TO CONTROL PRECISELY the presentation of sensory stimuli to subjects and to monitor their behavioral responses is critical for performing experiments in a wide range of research fields from social and cognitive psychology to systems and cognitive neuroscience. Furthermore, such experiments may utilize a diversity of model organisms, ranging from insects and rodents to nonhuman primates and human subjects. Although the exact needs of different experimental approaches can differ widely, all studies investigating perception, cognition, or action of an awake subject share a number of common requirements. First, researchers need control over the sensory stimuli delivered to the subject. Second, researchers need the ability to monitor and respond to subjects' actions. Third, such research requires the ability to analyze behavioral data both in real-time and in offline analysis. Finally, when working with subjects engaged in complex behaviors, the ability to create quickly and easily a wide range of tasks and to modify task parameters rapidly is essential.A number of software tools for controlling such experiments have been developed over the years, virtually all of which were designed to run on a specific and narrow range of hardware and software, and most required the user to program in a relatively low-level programming language (e.g., C or Cϩϩ). One limitation of this approach is that not all experimentalists arrive at the laboratory with a strong programming background. If they do have a programming background, they may not be familiar with the particular language or platform required by the experiment control software used in that laboratory. In a number of research fields, including neurophysiology, cognitive neuroscience, and perceptual psychophysics, MATLAB has become a nearly ubiquitous tool that many investigators use extensiv...

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The Biopsychology-Toolbox: A free, open-source Matlab-toolbox for the control of behavioral experiments

Cited by 86 publications

References 7 publications

Stress Prompts Habit Behavior in Humans

Stress Prompts Habit Behavior in Humans

Striatal dopamine D1 receptors are involved in the dissociation of learning based on reward-magnitude

High-performance execution of psychophysical tasks with complex visual stimuli in MATLAB

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