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.
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The authors gratefully acknowledge Donald A. Overton for early discussions on the feasibility of this project, Barbara Wanchisen for providing her laboratory as an alpha testing site for MED-PC’s algorithms, Mount Union College for providing access to its psychology laboratory, and David Olton, Jay Kaufman, and Michael Davison for their patience, support, and suggestions for enhancements to MED-PC.
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Tatham, T.A., Zurn, K.R. The MED-PC experimental apparatus programming system. Behavior Research Methods, Instruments, & Computers 21, 294–302 (1989). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03205598
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03205598