Logic Flow - shanaam/VisuomotorExperimentFramework GitHub Wiki

Once the input parameters are read from the JSON. ExperimentController.cs acts as a singleton and handles the construction and destruction of Tasks.

What is a Task: A type of experiment consisting of a series of steps the user is required to complete. Currently, only one task is done for an entire experiment. This task consists of multiple Blocks which each Block containing a certain number of Trials. For context, an example of a task would be reaching to a target object, or placing an object into a receptacle.

How does the controller execute tasks: The logic of a task is housed in a class. This class is a child of the BaseTask class. For all tasks, we must implement the following variables:

Home -> a GameObject that acts as our starting point for the trial

Target -> a GameObject that acts as the destination for the user

Since they are GameObjects, they can arbitrarily be anything.

Each task has a number of steps, as defined by maxSteps.

• Logic to set up the next step of the trial should be done in the task class (By overriding IncrementStep).
• Logic that changes the current step should be done outside of the task class (By calling IncrementStep).

The current task can be referenced by accessing the singleton ExperimentController.Instance()

Execution Order:

1. UXF triggers OnTrialBegin which runs BeginTrialSteps in ExperimentController.
2. ExperimentController instantiates a component of class BaseTask. The class is dependent on the JSON file.
3. ExperimentController runs the setup logic that is implemented by that task
4. Once the trial reaches the maximum number of steps, EndAndPrepare is called.
5. EndAndPrepare destroys the task component, logs any parameters, then ends the trial.
6. UXF triggers OnTrialEnd whichs runs PrepareNextTrial in ExperimentController.
7. PrepareNextTrial waits one frame before telling UXF to begin the next trial.
8. The process repeats until there is no more trials. The program exits.