MATLAB and Psychophysics Toolbox for Behavioural Scientists
Date:
06/01/2020 - 10/01/2020
Organised by:
Essex University
Presenter:
Dr Vanessa Loaiza is a lecturer in Psychology at the University of Essex. Her research focuses on memory and cognition across the lifespan. She has regularly used MATLAB and the Psychtoolbox for conducting experiments over the last 5 years.
Dr Keith May is a lecturer in Psychology at the University of Essex. His research focuses on visual perception and computational neuroscience. He has used MATLAB for nearly every aspect of his work for the last 20 years.
Dr Alasdair Clarke is also a lecturer in Psycholgy, with a background in mathematics and computer science. He uses MATLAB for image processing and designing eye-tracking experiments using the Psychtoolbox.
Dr Loes Van Dam is a lecturer in Psychology at the University of Essex. Her research is focused on visual perception and perception & action. She is an experienced programmer in several languages and has used MATLAB for her research for the last 15 years.
Level:
Entry (no or almost no prior knowledge)
Contact:
01206 873077
Map:
View in Google Maps (CO4 3SQ)
Venue:
1.703 - Psychology Building
University of Essex
Wivenhoe Park
Colchester
Description:
Programming skills are increasingly important both in academic research as well as industry and the world at large. This course will introduce students to MATLAB and the Psychophysics Toolbox (PsychToolbox or PTB), and will be particularly geared toward behavioural scientists (e.g., academic psychologists) who are interested in learning this method for conducting studies. The first two days will be devoted to learning the basic features and commands in MATLAB, and the last three days will be how to integrate these MATLAB basics with the features provided in PTB. The course will be hands-on, interactive, and provide many examples and exercises in order to facilitate learning. The overarching goal of the course is that a behavioural scientist having no formal programming background could program and execute a Stroop task (and hopefully a further experiment relevant to their research area) by the end of the week.
The course is self-contained and will assume no prior knowledge of MATLAB or other programming languages. However, it will be helpful to have some prior experience with MATLAB or programming. In addition, it is expected that students will have a good background in experimental design and research methods (e.g., independent versus dependent variables, randomisation and counterbalancing of conditions, etc.).
Cost:
£500 - External students/ academics
£1000 - Commercial participants
Website and registration:
https://shortcoursesgateway.essex.ac.uk/Guests/GuestCourse.aspx?CourseRef=PSY:ML&dates=
Region:
East of England
Keywords:
Data Collection, ICT and Software, Research Management and Impact, Research Skills, Communication and Dissemination
Related publications and presentations:
Data Collection
ICT and Software
Research Management and Impact
Research Skills, Communication and Dissemination