Welcome to the social carousel 🎠

This repository contains all the scripts you need to run the behavioural paradigms for fMRI sequences of the SoCo study (henceforth: the carousel).

The carousel was developed and tested on PsychoPy 2024.2.5, and compatibility with other psychopy versions is NOT garanteed. You can download it here. From our limited testing with older PsychoPy versions, known issues include trouble with a/v sync which will affect the movie module.

Setup 🖥️

Note: If you're running the task on the stimulus computer at the 7T scanner of the MPI CBS, you can skip the setup.

• Clone (git clone) or download (as .zip) the repo to your local machine
• The stimuli can be downloaded here - just ask Jessica for the pw.
  • If you change anything in the stimuli or instructions, please also update the change log and push to the repo.
  • Any local changes (e.g. at the scanner) should be uploaded to the owncloud
• Keep the same directory structure as in the .zip file you just downloaded.
• Update config.json.
  • "io_root_dir" contains the root path to the stimuli, logs, instructions.
  • "repo_dir" is the path to the repository cloned/downloaded in the first step.
  • After updating to your ow paths, the file should look like this:
  • [note that for windows this is \\]

      "io_root_dir": "/Path/to/social_carousel_io",
      "repo_dir": "/Path/to/social_carousel"
    

Running the carousel 🌈

• The tasks are installed in prep room 004 (the the left when walking towards the MRI suite). The key to this room can be retrieved at reception. Make sure to run the tasks in DEMO mode (see below) when training the participants.
• Open PsychoPy v2024.2.5 (NOTE THE VERSION NUMBER - an older 2022 version is also installed at the scanner, and should not be used to run the carousel)
• In the PsychoPy Runner, click the blue + sign (add experiment)
• Navigate directories to add main.py to the experiment list; select it and click open.
• Click the green play button (run the script in python) to launch the GUI.
• Fill out the GUI options:
  • Subject ID: The ID code for the current participant, for example: 001 (do not enter any prefix, only the number).
    • Note on Subject ID: make sure you enter the participant ID the SAME WAY across runs and sessions for the same subject!
  • Session: Select 01 for first visit, 02 for second visit.
  • Language: To run the tasks in english, select en. To run the tasks in german, select de.
  • Mode: To run the full task, select full. For testing, debugging, showing examples to the participant, select demo. The use of the demo option will limit resting-state runs to 5 seconds, and task runs to one trial.
  • Select task: Select the task you want to run. Depending on your choice, another GUI might open (see next section).
• Follow the scanning spreadsheet and coordinate with the MTAs accordingly to make sure you are running the task in the correct mode (whole-brain vs. layer).

The tasks 📋

The carousel includes 6 modules. The name of the module is provided as it is named in the carousel GUI:

• cross: Fixation cross for unconstrained cognition (resting-state)
• movie: Movies for naturalistic viewing (resting-state)
• beliefs: False beliefs task using short stories (Dodell-Feder et al., 2011)
• social: Social cognition task using geometric shape movies (as implemented in HCP: Barch et al., 2013)
• emoinf: Emotional inference task using short stories (Jacoby et al., 2016)
• emomatch: Emotion matching task using face and checkerboards (similar to Hariri task implemented in HCP, but with different stimuli and two face conditions: Barch et al., 2013)

Task-specific notes

The subsections below provide more details on the task-specific GUI choices.

movie

Two movie choices are currently implemented. All participants should complete both movie conditions:

• cloudy: Plays Pixar's Partly Cloudy animated film. Note that language choice here is irrelevant as the movie contains no language.
• lotr: Plays Lord of the Rings - The Fellowship of the Ring scene (the council of Elrond).

Localizers: beliefs, social, emoinf, emomatch

Each task leads to a GUI asking the user to select the task run. All participants should complete both runs:

• 1: Select for run 1.
• 2: Select for run 2.

Sequence parameters 🧲

stay tuned... 👾👾👾

Contributors 💞

• Jessica Royer, MPI CBS
• Lorenz Ahle, MPI CBS
• Sofie Valk, MPI CBS