FieldDB/PsychScript

#PsychScript

A HTML5/Javascript library for online behavioural experiments.

PsychScript is intended to make the process of creating and running psychology experiments online much less bewildering. It consists of the following:

JavaScript functions which abstract away as much of the difficult programming as possible
HTML templates to create the structure of many standard paradigms.
CSS to make it all look pretty.
The necessary server-side code (PHP) to save responses to a database.

The idea is to allow users' to write one line of PsychScript to make the experiment do what they want it to, rather than a dozen of JavaScript.

For example, collecting a keyboard response, which previously would have looked something this:

var accepted_keys = new Array('a', 'b', 'c');
var response
document.onkeydown = function(event) {
    var key = String.fromCharCode(event.keyCode)
	if (accepted_keys.indexOf(key) != -1) {
		response = key
	}
	else if (accepted_keys.indexOf(key.toLowerCase()) != -1) {
		// In case acccepted_keys were given in lowercase.
		response = key
	};
};

PsychScript allows us to achieve the same with:

var response = get_keyboard_response('abc');

A definite improvement!

###Demos To see some of PsychScript in action, check out the following demos:

###Progress

Please note that this project is in development, and is not yet ready for use.

However, there are a number of templates which are fully functional, specifically versions of the classic lexical decision task, using either keyboard responses, onscreen buttons, or (in Beta) mouse-tracking. There will be online demos of these features available in the near future.

###Contribute This is a project for everyone, and all contributions are welcome.

The immediate problems to be solved include:

Abstracting as much code as possible away from the end user, while still allowing flexibility through the passing of arguments to functions.
Making it easier to create HTML as required by the experimenter (hopefully using existing open tools).
Testing and benchmarking, especially with regard to timing accuracy.
Creating templates for more common paradigms.

Looking further ahead, it might be nice someday to include the following:

A GUI for building experiments (like OpenSesame or EPrime)
Mobile support
A Behavior Research Methods paper?

FieldDB / PsychScript

A HTML5/Javascript library for online behavioural experiments.

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