Required devices

The program requires to claim devices in groups named box0, box1, box2… with device names as listed below in bold. (Note that the line numbers themselves are arbitrary and depend on how your apparatus is wired up.)

# ---------------- Box 0 definition

# INPUTS

# Lick sensors are used with peristaltic pump reinforcement (e.g. with marmosets).

# A levers is used for the rhesus version of the five-choice task, and for many tasks in dog testing apparatus.

# The "magazine door" sensor detects entry to the magazine into which pellets are delivered,

# and so is used for pellet reward collection latency (added May 2008).

line     0      box0   LICKSENSOR

line     3      box0   LEVER

line     6      box0   MAGAZINE_DOOR

line     9      box0   SHAPE

# OUTPUTS

# The houselight is on during the tasks.

# Peristaltic pumps are used in marmoset testing.

# "Pump" delivers nice juice; "Pump2" delivers punishment (e.g. saline).

# Pellet dispensers are used in rhesus testing.

# The "extra reward device" might be a tone generator installed in the box, to be associated with reward.

# The "extra punishment device" can be activated when the subject is punished.

# The lever control line is intended for use with retractable levers (see "Lever", above).

# Two other lines are used by Porton Down for interfacing to other hardware:

#   REINFORCEMENT_INFO delivers 10ms high pulses upon reward and 20ms high pulses on punishment.

#   STIMULUS_INFO is high when stimuli are being presented.

# MAGAZINE_LAMP is a light inside the pellet magazine.

line    24      box0   HOUSELIGHT

line    27      box0   PUMP

line    30      box0   PELLET

line    33      box0   EXTRAREWARDDEVICE

line    36      box0   EXTRAPUNISHMENTDEVICE

line    39      box0   LEVERCONTROL

line    42      box0   PUMP2

line    45      box0   REINFORCEMENT_INFO

line    48      box0   STIMULUS_INFO

line    51      box0   MAGAZINE_LAMP

# DISPLAY

# This is the monitor with a touchscreen attached to it.

display  0      box0   SCREEN

# AUDIO

# This is one of the computer's sound device (typically connected to a loudspeaker in the box).

# Used to reward successful monkeys with Mozart.

audio    0      box0   SOUND

# ... and so on for other boxes

Please ensure that these devices are available and listed in the device definition file in use by the server. (The snippet above shows an extract from a typical definition file.) If you do not have a particular device, and do not need it, then you should configure "fake" lines on the Whisker server, and assign the non-existent device to a fake line. For example, marmoset testing boxes might not have a pellet dispenser or a lever, while rhesus testing boxes might not have a pump.