Experiment Randomly Freezing

juochoa
New Member

Posts: 4

Experiment Randomly Freezing Jan 6, 2021 17:35:32 GMT

Quote

Post by juochoa on Jan 6, 2021 17:35:32 GMT

The code I have written seems to be working exactly how I want it, however, the experiment will freeze at random points. I believe it has something to do with the "if $a == $r" condition not working properly. The code will run fine then after some time of it working, it will simply stop. After several days of troubleshooting, I have not been able to pinpoint what might be causing it. If anyone has an idea of what might be causing the code to freeze, please let me know! The code for the experiment can be found below:

options
fullscreen
mouse on
escape

bitmaps
SD
Sdelta
Neutral
Reinforcement
Instructions
Thankyou

task baseline_left
mouse on
set $clicksSD 0
set $clicksSdelta 0
set $cubecounter 0
set $a 0
timestamp start
while $cubecounter < 10
set $r random 5 11
draw off
show bitmap SD -225 0
show bitmap Sdelta 225 0
draw on
readmouse l 1 100 range 1 2
if STATUS == 1
set $clicksSD increase 1
set $a increase 1
fi
if STATUS == 2
set $clicksSdelta increase 1
fi
if $a == $r
mouse off
show bitmap Reinforcement
set $a 0
set $cubecounter increase 1
delay 1000
clear -1
mouse on
fi
while-end
timestamp stop
set $time timestamp-diff start stop
save BLOCKNAME $time $clicksSD $clicksSdelta $cubecounter

block baseline
message Instructions
tasklist
baseline_left 2
end

silk
Experienced

Posts: 32

Experiment Randomly Freezing Jan 9, 2021 16:16:24 GMT PsyToolkit likes this

Quote

Post by silk on Jan 9, 2021 16:16:24 GMT

Hi there,

I think I found where is the problem in your script. In fact, your experiment doesn't freeze, it just runs indefinitly because of your $a variable. You were right when you said that the if $a == $r condition is responsible of the "freeze".
In your experiment :

You assign a random number between 5 and 11 to your $r.
Sometimes you increase your $a variable, and if this variable is equal to $r you reset $a to 0.

So you expect that, at some point in your script, $a will be equal to $r. However there is a situation where it never happens : when $a is increased over 11, which is the "upper-limit" of the $r variable. Since the value assigned to $r is random, there is a possibility that $a is never equal to $r for the 11 first times you increase $a. If so, $a will be increased over the upper-limit of $r and you will be stuck in a loop where $a can never be equal to $r.

One way to correct this is to add a condition to make sure that the script won't continue if $a is superior to 11. However the place where you want to put this condition depends a lot of what you want to do with your experiment. My fix would be to say something like "if $a is equal to $r, or if $a is superior to 11, then blablabla", which could be scripted as :

if $a == $r || $a > $r

juochoa New Member Posts: 4	Experiment Randomly Freezing Jan 12, 2021 19:07:56 GMT PsyToolkit likes this Quote Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Member Give Gift Back to Top Post by juochoa on Jan 12, 2021 19:07:56 GMT This fixed it!! Thank you so so so much for your help! I will remember to add in a safeguard for limits like this in the future. Thank you again!!

Experiment Randomly Freezing

Post by juochoa on Jan 6, 2021 17:35:32 GMT

Post by silk on Jan 9, 2021 16:16:24 GMT

Post by juochoa on Jan 12, 2021 19:07:56 GMT