Background

At the Black Box ToolKit we specialize in helping you achieve millisecond accurate presentation, synchronization, and response timing in your computer-based psychology experiments. Here are just a few of the things that can stop you doing just that!


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If you are unsure of how our products could work for you take a look at our What, Why and How pages. Answers to common application questions can be found in the FAQ section.

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Synchronization with other equipment in psychology experiments (EEG, MRI, MEG)


Synchronization between other equipment and the PC or Mac you are running your psychology experiment on is a typical source of timing error.

Due to inherent millisecond timing errors in your other equipment, e.g. TFT, soundcard, response device, it can be difficult to align an event marker to an EEG machine or sync signal from an MRI machine accurately. For example, if you instruct the experiment to send an event marker to coincide with the onset of an image it is fairly certain the marker will actually be sent before the images appears due to input lag on your TFT monitor. How much sooner the event marker is sent can only be determined empirically with a Black Box ToolKit v2.

The Black Box ToolKit v2 can also help you identify EEG acquisition artefacts and apply the appropriate post hoc corrections.



A Neurovisor-BMM 40 computer-based electroencephalograph (image courtesy of Masloboev Yury Petrovich)

For more information on EEG timing errors when using a combination of different manufactures equipment consult:

Jing et al (2004), "Timing errors in auditory event-related potentials"
Mulert and Lemieux (2010), "EEG- FMRI: Physiology, Technique and Applications"
Ritter et al (2010), "EEG Quality:The Image Acquisition Artefact"

Who are we


Founded in 2003 by a team of psychologists, software experts and electronic engineers we are dedicated to improving the millisecond timing accuracy and experimental rigor of researchers in the behavioral and brain sciences.

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