Comments on: Tracking How Well My Brain is Working http://www.blog.sethroberts.net/2009/01/05/tracking-how-well-my-brain-is-working/ Self-Experimentation, Scientific Method, the Shangri-La Diet, etc. Thu, 18 Mar 2010 10:11:23 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.0.7 by: Seth’s blog » Blog Archive » Hey, What Happened to My Brain? (part 1) http://www.blog.sethroberts.net/2009/01/05/tracking-how-well-my-brain-is-working/#comment-325162 Fri, 17 Jul 2009 16:55:25 +0000 http://www.blog.sethroberts.net/2009/01/05/tracking-how-well-my-brain-is-working/#comment-325162 [...] I’ve blogged about this. The virtues of this test include: 1. Fast. Takes only a few minutes. 2. Portable. Requires only a laptop. 3. Many possible answers (1, 2, 3, etc.). This reduces anticipation errors. 4. Many numbers (reaction times) per test.  This allows me to get a measure of variability for each session and can correct for the difficulty of the problem. Aspects with room for improvement include: 1. Speed/accuracy tradeoff. Accuracy isn’t fixed. Depending on how accurate I want to be, I’ll go faster or slower. (I aim for 95% correct.) 2. No complex actions. The most enjoyable games have a motor-skill aspect that this task does not. [...] […] I’ve blogged about this. The virtues of this test include: 1. Fast. Takes only a few minutes. 2. Portable. Requires only a laptop. 3. Many possible answers (1, 2, 3, etc.). This reduces anticipation errors. 4. Many numbers (reaction times) per test.  This allows me to get a measure of variability for each session and can correct for the difficulty of the problem. Aspects with room for improvement include: 1. Speed/accuracy tradeoff. Accuracy isn’t fixed. Depending on how accurate I want to be, I’ll go faster or slower. (I aim for 95% correct.) 2. No complex actions. The most enjoyable games have a motor-skill aspect that this task does not. […]

]]> by: Joe http://www.blog.sethroberts.net/2009/01/05/tracking-how-well-my-brain-is-working/#comment-257514 Fri, 09 Jan 2009 16:09:04 +0000 http://www.blog.sethroberts.net/2009/01/05/tracking-how-well-my-brain-is-working/#comment-257514 Unfortunately, I use R on OSX. R in OSX does include getGraphicsEvent, but you're right that it doesn't appear to work. The example code in ?getGraphicsEvent throws up an X11 error. Anyhow, thanks for the offer to send the code, and for the info on how you collect RTs with R. Unfortunately, I use R on OSX. R in OSX does include getGraphicsEvent, but you’re right that it doesn’t appear to work. The example code in ?getGraphicsEvent throws up an X11 error.

Anyhow, thanks for the offer to send the code, and for the info on how you collect RTs with R.

]]> by: seth http://www.blog.sethroberts.net/2009/01/05/tracking-how-well-my-brain-is-working/#comment-257425 Fri, 09 Jan 2009 05:34:19 +0000 http://www.blog.sethroberts.net/2009/01/05/tracking-how-well-my-brain-is-working/#comment-257425 Joe, it would be difficult to post the R code. There are 20-30 functions involved. I measure reaction times using Sys.time, which provides accuracy to about 1/60th of a second. Since there are about 100 measurements per session, that provides plenty of accuracy. I use getGraphicsEvent to detect a keystroke. Unfortunately getGraphicsEvent only works with Windows. If you have other questions I am happy to answer them. If you know how to use R, have a Windows computer, and promise to run yourself for several days, I will send you the R workspace. But there is nothing very interesting about the code, apart from what I just said. Joe, it would be difficult to post the R code. There are 20-30 functions involved. I measure reaction times using Sys.time, which provides accuracy to about 1/60th of a second. Since there are about 100 measurements per session, that provides plenty of accuracy. I use getGraphicsEvent to detect a keystroke. Unfortunately getGraphicsEvent only works with Windows. If you have other questions I am happy to answer them.

If you know how to use R, have a Windows computer, and promise to run yourself for several days, I will send you the R workspace. But there is nothing very interesting about the code, apart from what I just said.

]]> by: Joe http://www.blog.sethroberts.net/2009/01/05/tracking-how-well-my-brain-is-working/#comment-257405 Fri, 09 Jan 2009 02:47:01 +0000 http://www.blog.sethroberts.net/2009/01/05/tracking-how-well-my-brain-is-working/#comment-257405 Would you mind posting your R code for the arithmetic task, Seth? It would be particularly interesting to see how you record reaction times in R. Is there a built-in function that provides ms accurate timing? Would you mind posting your R code for the arithmetic task, Seth? It would be particularly interesting to see how you record reaction times in R. Is there a built-in function that provides ms accurate timing?

]]> by: Seth’s blog » Blog Archive » A Statistics Package in the News http://www.blog.sethroberts.net/2009/01/05/tracking-how-well-my-brain-is-working/#comment-257359 Thu, 08 Jan 2009 23:20:47 +0000 http://www.blog.sethroberts.net/2009/01/05/tracking-how-well-my-brain-is-working/#comment-257359 [...] Tracking How Well My Brain is Working [...] […] Tracking How Well My Brain is Working […]

]]> by: seth http://www.blog.sethroberts.net/2009/01/05/tracking-how-well-my-brain-is-working/#comment-256314 Wed, 07 Jan 2009 02:04:20 +0000 http://www.blog.sethroberts.net/2009/01/05/tracking-how-well-my-brain-is-working/#comment-256314 The statistics package I use is R. It is open source. I'm not sure what qualitative methods are but almost all of my self-experimentation has involved numerical measurement so I guess the answer is no. The statistics package I use is R. It is open source. I’m not sure what qualitative methods are but almost all of my self-experimentation has involved numerical measurement so I guess the answer is no.

]]> by: stephen http://www.blog.sethroberts.net/2009/01/05/tracking-how-well-my-brain-is-working/#comment-256028 Tue, 06 Jan 2009 05:15:25 +0000 http://www.blog.sethroberts.net/2009/01/05/tracking-how-well-my-brain-is-working/#comment-256028 nice work seth. very interesting. what statistics packages do u prefer? i use excel, word, spss and a few online calculators.. also, have u ever used qualitative methods for self experimentation? nice work seth. very interesting. what statistics packages do u prefer? i use excel, word, spss and a few online calculators.. also, have u ever used qualitative methods for self experimentation?

]]>