WHAT   WHY   HOW   TELL ME MORE
If you are using a computer to run experiments and report timing measures in units of a millisecond then it's likely that your timings are wrong! The Black Box ToolKit enables you find out just how wrong and helps you do something about it.

For psychologists, neuroscientists and researchers in the behavioural sciences this means your supposedly millisecond accurate presentation timings will be incorrect, synchronisation between other equipment will drift and response timings will be inaccurate. More >>		   Modern computer hardware may be faster but millisecond timing accuracy gets harder to achieve year on year. A common misconception is that "millisecond precision" means "millisecond accuracy". Precision simply means that timings are reported in units of a millisecond not that they're accurate!

For example all TFT monitors suffer from input lag. If you present an image it will take longer to appear on screen than you might think. On some models this can be upwards of 60 milliseconds. Remember quoted panel response time is not the same as input lag. More >>		   We advocate that researchers self-validate, or self-certify, their own studies in terms of presentation, synchronisation and response timing accuracy.

Currently self-validation can only be done quickly and easily with a Black Box ToolKit. This acts as a programmable virtual human that can detect and respond to stimulus events with sub-millisecond accuracy. It enables you, the researcher, to check the accuracy of your own paradigm whilst running in-situ on your own equipment with no modification needed. More >>		  

Timing error means that your study is not working as you intended and that your results might be spurious.

Are you putting your reputation at risk?
ABOUT US           NEWS
Founded in 2003 by a team of psychologists, software experts and electronic engineers The Black Box Toolkit Ltd is a UK based company dedicated to improving the methods used by researchers in the behavioural and brain sciences.

We quickly realised that testing hardware and software in our lab did not reflect what researchers were doing with their own equipment and paradigms. In fact, it is now a well documented fact that timing varies depending on the hardware used. This makes it hard to single out one experiment generator, or platform, over another. What was needed was an inexpensive kit that enables researchers to quickly and easily check their own paradigms, in-situ and without modification. We have spent over a decade developing and refining the Black Box Toolkit to enable researchers like you to correct any errors in your own work prior to publication.		   BBTK v2 scheduled for release next quarter.

Meet us:
CASE STUDIES            
Priming
University of Sheffield, UK

What should have been simple turned into a major headache. We wanted to display a prime for 11mS and then evaluate social behaviour dependent on the type of prime. Unfortunately 33% of our participants could see the prime! Without the BBTK we wouldn't have been to carry out our replication successfully.

   Psychoacoustics
University of York, UK

We noticed that on some trials there appeared to be a presentation lag on the sounds we wanted to play to participants. This turned out to be due to soundcard start-up latencies. With the help of a BBTK we managed to adjust onsets so that sounds were synchronised.

   EEG and fMRI
University of Durham, UK

In some of our EEG work it was sometimes difficult to know the exact relationship between what we presented and what the EEG recorded. We used the BBTK to evaluate settling time, digital filter response, phase delay etc. to help tighten up our experiments.

   Space Applications Services, Belgium

Space Applications performs space system and software engineering for the European Space Agency, National Space Agencies and the space industry (unmanned and manned). They use a BBTK to ensure accurate presentation and response timings in their Virtual and Augmented Reality systems (eVRS)