FPVS Studio
About FPVS Studio
FPVS Studio was designed with the non-expert user in mind. It is a user-friendly software package that allows users to create and run FPVS experiments with zero coding knowledge required.
Once an experiment has been created, users simply need to open FPVS Studio, select their experiment, and run it. FPVS Studio logs all of the necessary information (eg., fixation cross accuracy, reaction times, image display seeds, etc) automatically, and outputs everything that is needed for a future publication. FPVS Studio is designed to work directly with the FPVS Toolbox - users can export their FPVS Studio project to be imported into FPVS Toolbox, which streamlines data analysis.
Installation and Setup Guide
This guide walks through installing FPVS Studio on Windows 10/11 and creating your first project.project. No Python installation or coding is required.
1. Download and install
Open the GitHub releases page, find the most recent release marked Latest, and expand its Assets if needed.
Download the Windows installer whose name begins with FPVS-Studio-Setup and ends in .exe. For example, you’ll liekly see several patch files, but the installer is in the format of “FPVS-Studio-Setup-1.8.0.exe”
You can also download the source code zip file, but it’s not required to run FPVS Studio.
- Open the downloaded installer and follow its prompts. Then launch FPVS Studio from the Start menu or desktop shortcut. Note that Windows will likely flag this software as potentially malicious because the installer is not signed. You’ll need to bypass these flags in order to install FPVS Studio for the first time.
If Windows or your browser shows a warning: first check that the file came from the zcm58/FPVS-Studio-2.0 release page above. A browser may offer Keep or Keep anyway; Windows SmartScreen may offer More info → Run anyway.
2. Choose a root folder
On first launch, choose an FPVS Studio Root Folder. FPVS Studio uses this root folder to store all of your projects and their data. I recommend creating a new folder for this purpose titled something like “FPVS Studio Root”. I also recommend creating a folder that is NOT a cloud sync folder (like OneDrive, Google Drive, etc) as syncing can interfere with loading or runnning your experiments.
If needed, you can change this location later using Change Root Folder… on the welcome screen or File → Settings → Root Folder Setup….
3. Create your first project
From the welcome screen, select Create Project, choose an experiment family, and click Continue.
- FPVS Oddball Paradigm: Inside this family, you can design both imaged based and word-based FPVS-oddball experiments. This is the what FPVS Studio was initially designed for.
Give the project a descriptive name, such as Practice FPVS Project, choose the appropriate experiment template, and check the save location. By default, FPVS Studio will create a new project folder inside your project root folder. Click Create Experiment, then follow the guided setup wizard to configure your experiment.
4. Select your images
For an image-based oddball project, you’ll need to separate your base images in one folder and the oddball images in another folder on a per condition basis. If you have three FPVS conditions, you’ll need three separate folders of base images, one for each condition, and three separate folders of oddball images, one for each condition. For example:
Condition 1/
Base Images/
base-01.png
base-02.png
Oddball Images/
oddball-01.png
oddball-02.pngThen,
Condition 2/
Base Images/
base-01.png
base-02.png
Oddball Images/
oddball-01.png
oddball-02.pngIn the Conditions setup step, name your condition and select its base and oddball image folders. Check that each folder contains the intended images before continuing. Repeat this step for each condition.
I suggest using square images with consistent dimensions and file type; PNG is a good starting point. For example, prepare all images at 512 × 512 pixels. The built-in Tools → Image Resizer can create resized PNG copies in this format, but you can also prepare your images outside of FPVS Studio however you like.
5. Review the experiment and try it
Work through the remaining setup screens. Check your conditions, timing, display settings, repetitions, and any fixation or response task before saving. Use settings appropriate to your study and display rather than assuming the template defaults match your design.
Return to Home and choose Launch Experiment for a practice run. Follow the participant and start prompts, then check that the stimuli and responses behave as expected. Run outputs are stored in the project’s runs folder, with project run history under logs. You’ll need to navigate to File > Settings to enable test mode. Otherwise, FPVS Studio will block the run unless you have that pc connected to your BioSemi software via the COM3 serial port.
Future FPVS Studio updates will add support for other EEG systems, but for now, BioSemi is the only supported system.
6. Reopen your project
The next time you launch FPVS Studio, choose Open Existing Project on the welcome screen and select the project you created. You do not need to repeat installation or create the experiment again. Just open FPVS Studio, select your project, and run it.
Updates and bug reports
Use File → Check for Updates to look for a newer version. You can also return to the GitHub releases page for installers and release notes.
If something goes wrong, choose File → Report a Bug…. Include what you were trying to do, what happened, your FPVS Studio version, and the steps needed to reproduce the problem. These reports get automatically delivered to me via email and github issues. I will respond as soon as possible.