pytaste

Taste threshold estimation based on a QUEST algorithm.

Important information

We are still finishing up the software and the installation procedure. Please bear with us while we prepare a fresh release shortly after AChemS XL. If you would like to get in touch, please drop me a message at richard.hoechenberger@gmail.com.

Installation

The software depends on PsychoPy (which itself
requires numerous scientific Python packages) and
Matplotlib. Because installation of all required
dependencies is often a non-trivial endeavor, we provide conda environment
files for simple installation with the
Anaconda and
Miniconda Python distributions.

Install Anaconda or Miniconda

If you don’t have an existing installation of Anaconda or Miniconda, first
download and install one of them. If you are unsure, grab Miniconda, as it
is smaller download and installation. It does not matter whether you get
the 32- or 64-bit version, and both the Python 2.7 and Python 3.6 should work
just fine.

Once you have downloaded setup file, run the installer and accept all the
default settings.

Download `pytaste`

If you haven’t done so already, navigate to
the pytaste Github page, click on
Clone or download, download the .zip file and unpack it, for example to
your desktop.

Set up a conda environment for `pytaste`

To ensure pytaste will behave identically on different systems and you get
all required dependencies, we will now create a new virtual Python environment
just for use with pytaste. All dependencies and their exact version numbers
are listed in the environemt files which can be found in the pytaste/conda
subdirectory of the main pytaste folder you just extracted.
You don’t have to deal with this manually, though! We created installation
scripts for Windows and macOS to ease the process.

On Windows, simply double-click on the install_win.bat file to execute it.
A console
window should appear and display the progress of the installation. On macOS,
open a terminal, navigate to the pytaste installation directory
(e.g., cd Desktop/pytaste), and run ./install_macos.sh.

You are now all set to use the software!

Run `pytaste`

pytaste is simply a Python script that needs to be executed inside the
Python environemt the installer just created. Again, we created convenience
scripts for Windows and macOS to simplify the process. On Windows,
dobule-click on run.bat. On macOS, open a terminal, navigate to the
pytaste directory, and run ./run.sh

That’s it!

A window should pop up, asking for participant information. You are now ready
to run the experiment!

Log files and figures

All log files and threshold estimates will be saved in the Data subdirectory
of the pytaste folder. Similarly, figures will be saved to the Figures
folder.

Citing

If you publish research based on this software, please cite the following publication:

Richard Höchenberger & Kathrin Ohla (2017): Rapid Estimation of Gustatory Sensitivity Thresholds with SIAM and QUEST. Frontiers in Psychology, 8:981. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00981