The MED-PC experimental apparatus programming system

Abstract

MED-PC is a software system that implements the MEDSTATE NOTATION dialect of state notation on IBM PC and compatible computers equipped with MED Associates interfacing. It provides a programming environment in which users can write short programs in a specialized language to control and record the events of operant and classical conditioning experiments. As many as eight experimental stations, each with up to 8 inputs and 32 outputs, running the same or different experimental procedures, may be active simultaneously. The system provides a standard set of run-time features, including mechanisms for displaying real-time data, simulation of responses, manipulation of array and variable contents, and writing of disk files. The system is based upon polling techniques, and is implemented as a translator that generates Pascal units, which are then linked to previously compiled Pascal routines. © 1989 Psychonomic Society, Inc.