jsPsych/docs/markdown_docs/plugins/jspsych-animation.md

jspsych-animation

This plugin displays a sequence of images at a fixed frame rate. The sequence can be looped a specified number of times. The subject is free to respond at any point during the animation, and the time of the response is recorded.

Parameters

This table lists the parameters associated with this plugin. Parameters with a default value of undefined must be specified. Other parameters can be left unspecified if the default value is acceptable.

Parameter	Type	Default Value	Description
stimuli	array	undefined	Each element of the array is an array containing strings. The strings are paths to image files. Each array of strings specifies a single sequence, and each sequence will be its own trial. The length of this array determines the total number of trials.
frame_time	numeric	250	How long to display each image (in milliseconds).
frame_isi	numeric	0	If greater than 0, then a gap will be shown between each image in the sequence. This parameter specifies the length of the gap.
sequence_reps	numeric	1	How many times to show the entire sequence. There will be no gap (other than the gap specified by frame_isi) between repetitions.
choices	array	[ ]	This array contains the keys that the subject is allowed to press in order to respond to the stimulus. Keys can be specified as their numeric key code or as characters (e.g. 'a', 'q'). The default value of an empty array means that all keys will be accepted as valid responses.
prompt	string	""	This string can contain HTML markup. Any content here will be displayed below the stimulus. The intention is that it can be used to provide a reminder about the action the subject is supposed to take (e.g. which key to press).

Data Generated

In addition to the default data collected by all plugins, this plugin collects the following data for each trial.

Name	Type	Value
animation_sequence	JSON string	An array, encoded in JSON string format. Each element of the array is an object that represents a stimulus in the animation sequence. Each object has a stimulus property, which is the image that was displayed, and a time property, which is the time in ms, measured from when the sequence began, that the stimulus was displayed.
responses	JSON string	An array, encoded in JSON format. Each element of the array is an object representing a response given by the subject. Each object has a stimulus property, indicating which image was displayed when the key was pressed, an rt property, indicating the time of the key press relative to the start of the animation, and a key_press property, indicating which key was pressed.

Examples

These examples show how to define a block using the animation plugin to achieve various goals.

Displaying a single sequence multiple times

// declare variable to hold animation sequence
var animation_sequence = ["img/face_1.jpg", "img/face_2.jpg", "img/face_3.jpg", "img/face_4.jpg", "img/face_3.jpg", "img/face_2.jpg"];

// create animation block for jspsych
var animation_block = {
    type: 'animation',
    stimuli: [animation_sequence],
    repetitions: 3
};

Specifying two trials with different sequences

// declare variables to hold animation sequences
var animation_sequence_1 = ["img/face_1.jpg", "img/face_2.jpg", "img/face_3.jpg", "img/face_4.jpg", "img/face_3.jpg", "img/face_2.jpg"];
var animation_sequence_2 = ["img/face_3.jpg", "img/face_2.jpg", "img/face_4.jpg", "img/face_1.jpg"];

// create animation block for jspsych
var animation_block = {
    type: 'animation',
    stimuli: [animation_sequence_1, animation_sequence_2],
    repetitions: 3
};