User manual

rERPy doesn’t work quite like other ERP analysis tools. rERP analysis allows for stimuli that vary in complex ways on multiple dimensions – therefore, we need a way to describe such stimuli. rERP analysis is flexible, allowing for many potentially different analyses of the same data, which means that we may need to spend some time exploring different options – therefore, we would like the process of specifying a new model to be as quick and simple as possible. And rERP analysis requires us to set up predictors, which for categorical variables requires the application of dummy, treatment, or other more exotic coding schemes, and for continuous variables may involve transformations like centering, log transformations, the use of spline bases, and so forth. Therefore, we would like a simple way to describe complex sets of predictors.

To accomplish these goals, rERPy has two key features. First,

Getting oriented

rERPy holds EEG/MEG data in Dataset objects. These objects store several types of information, all bundled up together:

First, they hold the actual EEG/MEG data, divided into contiguous spans of recording. Since we need some way to refer to these spans, we call them recspans. If you combine two subjects’ data for an analysis, you will have multiple recspans in one Dataset. If you record from a subject for a bit, and then pause the recording, and then record some more, then you will have multiple recspans. We find this easier and less error-prone then the other common technique of storing all data concatenated into one long array, with a separate record of where the “boundary points” are between subjects/pauses, etc.; by having one array per recspan, we can never accidentally treat non-contiguous data as if it were contiguous. If you have a Dataset, then data_set[0] gives you the first recspan (represented as a pandas.DataFrame), len(data_set) tells you how many recspans there are, for recspan in data_set: ... lets you iterate over all of them, etc.

Second, they hold basic metadata needed to interpret the EEG/MEG: sampling rate, units, channel names, etc., represented as a DataFormat object. This can be accessed with data_set.data_format. This provides various convenience methods; e.g., you can conveniently convert between millisecond-based and tick-based representations of time using DataFormat.ms_to_ticks() and DataFormat.ticks_to_ms().

Third, they hold a record of what events have occurred, when they occurred (relative to the recording), and arbitrarily detailed information about each event.

rERPy’s system for storing event data is very different from that used in other systems, and is extremely rich and powerful. For each event, we record: * In which recspan it occurs. * Which tick it starts on. * Which tick it ends on (to allow for temporally extended events,

e.g., marking the extent of an artifact).

Loading data

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Examining data

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Estimating rERPs

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Visualizing results

TBD

Exporting results

TBD