TriPy

A toolbox for creating joint attention paradigms with a virtual agent

When using this code (or parts of it), please cite the following paper:

Hartz, A., Guth, B., Jording, M., Vogeley, K., & Schulte-Rüther, M. (2021). Temporal Behavioral Parameters of On-Going Gaze Encounters in a Virtual Environment. Frontiers in Psychology, 12, 673982. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.673982

TriPy by Arne Hartz and Martin Schulte-Rüther is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Main contributors: Arne Hartz, Björn Guth, and Martin Schulte-Rüther

Dependencies

• PyGaze
• pyglet
• pyHook
• msgpack

Currently, only out-of-the-box support for Tobii SKD is given. As this toolbox is based on PyGaze adaption should cost minimal effort.

Running a experiment

• Start a console in folder containing run_experiment.py
• Run python run_experiment.py to start the default paradigm
• Run python run_experiment.py --exp_tpye <name> to start paradigm defined in file studies/<name>

Compiler flags for usage for testing/development

• -c / --auto_create: Creates automatically an agent
• -a/--draw_aois: Draw boxes around used AOIs
• -f: Skips the entire calibration and uses the most recent calibrations instead
• -i/--skip_instr: Skips the instruction screen at the beginning of the paradigm
• -k/--skip_key_input: No key input needed to continue during all instruction screens
• -o/--options: Set a special VARIABLE to a given VALUE
• -t: Enters pre-set test data (Name, sex, age) of test subject automatically
• -r: Reloads previously used proband
• -d, --delete: Deletes test proband log files (1337_H4x0r) before starting the paradigm. Should be used in combination with -t when same block as before is wanted
• --exp_type: Select an experiment type: basic or ja_nirs, their corresponding config file will be imported
• --gaze_cursor: Show gaze cursor ??
• --agent: Define the agent, which will be used
• --code: Sets the subject code used for saving the data ??
• --runs: Number of runs, the defined agent will do
• --gui: Only run the setup window
• --screenshots: Capture screenshots
• --aoi_border_size: Thickness of the AOI box border
• --stopwatch: Run a stopwatch during the experiment, printing the current time every SEC
• --force_quit: Force experiment to quit at the end
• --gamify: Give points and keep score
• --block: Set block to run

Important files

• agents.py: Code for agent behavior
• run_experiment.py: Starting experiment, screen presentation
• studies/basic.py: Example paradigm
• experiment_parameters.py: All experimental options can also be defined here and these default values will be overwritten by definitions in studies/<study_name>.py when running python run_experiment.py --exp_type <study_name>