What's new in Brain Workshop 4.8.4
Oct 30, 2012
- Version 4.8.4 adds a workaround for a bug with Windows DEP and AVBin, adds self-paced mode, and fixes a number of minor bugs. Version 4.8 adds multi-stim mode, crab-back mode, and interference, among other changes.
New in Brain Workshop 4.8.1 (Oct 13, 2010)
- Text shows up properly on Menu screens with BLACK_BACKGROUND=True.
- Bug in graphing code fixed which caused some stats.txt files to not be graphable. Option added to remove post- session feedback (requested by a researcher).
- Daily session counter fixed.
- Trials per session at startup fixed.
New in Brain Workshop 4.8 (Sep 29, 2010)
- Changed config.ini file format. Existing config.ini files will be
- renamed and replaced. Users will have to migrate their
- customizations manually.
- Added Multi-stim modes, whereby objects appear in two to four places
- in the 3x3 grid at the same time. Objects can be differentiated
- either by image or by color.
- Added Crab modes. In crab modes, you have to reverse every N stimuli
- when matching, so that in 3-back, if the stimuli you saw were the
- first line below, then you would be matching them against the
- second line, like thus:
- ABCDEFGHIJKLMNO
- ---CBAFEDIHGLKJ
- Full support for multiple users and/or profiles. This lets you
- easily keep separate statistics for different settings (for example,
- with different timings or with JAEGGI_SCORING in the config file) or
- for different users.
- Added an "interference" setting, whereby a certain percentage of the
- time Brain Workshop will generate trials designed to be particularly
- tricky, such as by making the current stimulus match the stimulus
- (n-1), (n+1), or (2n) trials ago, or (in multi-stim mode) by
- swapping the positions of the stimuli (n) trials ago.
- New mode-, sound-, and user-selection screens.
- Changed how often matches are generated for modes other than Dual
- N-back.
- Made Brain Workshop ask for donations, by default every 100 sessions.
- You should do as the program asks. (This behavior can be
- changed in the config.ini file.)
- Trial-by-trial session data are now recorded to disk in Python's
- pickle format in the USERNAME-sessions.dat files.
- Changed how scores are calculated in graphing; the percentage of
- items correct now affects the exact score in addition to the
- N-back level.
- All of the music files and some of the other media files have been
- removed for copyright reasons and replaced with free alternatives.
New in Brain Workshop 4.7 (Sep 2, 2010)
- Novice Mode was renamed to Jaeggi Mode.
- Jaeggi Mode will activate certain options to emulate the appearance
- of the software used in the original study. Two configuration options
- were added to control this behavior.
- [Note: to see the new config options, delete your current config
- file and relaunch Brain Workshop to generate a fresh config.]
- The data and res directories can now be specified on the command line
- using the --datadir and --resdir parameters
- (contributed by Timo Juhani Lindfors ).
- The daily rollover hour for stats can now be specified in the config file.
- A bug was fixed where certain trials would not show up in the list
- if the program was launched between midnight and 4 AM.
- A setting to skip the title screen was added to the config file.
- The grid lines and crosshairs can be toggled in the config file.
- Arithmetic Mode: The acceptable decimal answers can be set in the
- config file.
- Three new music clips were added.
- The Clear Stats key (Control-C) is working again.
New in Brain Workshop 4.3 (Dec 19, 2008)
- Variable n-back levels can be used with any game mode by pressing V.
- Sounds for the auditory n-back task can be selected by pressing S.
- Letter N-Back renamed to Combination N-Back.
- New Morse Code sounds can be used with any n-back mode. For the ultimate challenge try using Morse Code with Dual, Tri or Quad Combination N-Back. Press J to open a Morse Code reference page.
- Average n-back indicator will only count sessions specific to the current game mode.
- Progress graphs now start from 1.0 on the vertical axis to give a better overall picture.
- The cutoff for daily averages is is now 4:00 AM instead of midnight.
- Music and applause is stopped when entering the progress graph to avoid sound skipping. (The sound may not stop in Linux due to driver limitations.)
- Config file changes: The starting N-Back mode and game speed is now separately adjustable for each game mode, and some colors can be customized. Variable N-Back can also be set as default. [Note: to see the new config options, delete your current config file and relaunch Brain Workshop to generate a fresh config.]
New in Brain Workshop 4.22 (Nov 10, 2008)
- There's a new title screen.
- Launching in Novice Mode will no longer cause a crash.
- Progress graph: date axis will no longer skip days.
- Progress graph: data points are now indicated with a dot.
- Num pad should now work properly with Arithmetic N-Back modes.
- Difficulty of Dual Variable N-Back has been increased slightly.
New in Brain Workshop 4.2 (Nov 3, 2008)
- Added new mode to stretch working memory: Dual Variable N-Back. The n-back level is displayed in the center and changes randomly every 3 seconds.
- Added single-task n-back modes: Position N-Back and Audio N-Back.
- Default config file is no longer packaged with the download so upgrading to this version won't overwrite existing configuration settings. The config file config.ini will be created if necessary when BW is launched for the first time.
- OpenAL is now the default sound driver in Linux if available. If you're having sound problems, it may help to install the python-openal package.
- There's no longer any need to install pyglet on Mac OS X or Linux. It's now included with the source distribution.
New in Brain Workshop 4.12 (Oct 31, 2008)
- Fixed level increase threshold in Novice mode
- Novice mode now generates 4 visual matches, 4 audio matches and 2 simultaneous matches, matching the formula used in the original study.
New in Brain Workshop 4.11 (Oct 31, 2008)
- Fixed level decrease threshold in Novice mode
- Added a configuration option to use the pre-4.1 flat squares
- Two changes to Novice Mode to eliminate the last of the differences compared to the original study protocol.
- Exactly 6 position and 6 audio matches are now generated each session
- The score for the session is set as the lowest of the two individual modality scores (visual & audio).
New in Brain Workshop 4.1 (Oct 27, 2008)
- The squares in Dual & Triple N-Back have a new look.
- Individual scores for each input category (position, sound, etc) are shown in the graph screen.
- The number of sessions below 50% required to trigger a level decrease has been changed from 1 to 3.
- New piano sounds are available in the config file to test your tonal memory.
- Pressing the ESC key during a session will return you to the main screen instead of quitting the program.
New in Brain Workshop 4.04 (Oct 25, 2008)
- Added the division operation to the Arithmetic N-Back modes. Use the period key '.' to insert a decimal point. Each of the operations (add, subtract, multiply, divide) can be turned off or on in any combination in the config file.
- Fixed a bug where if you had just advanced to a new level and quit BW, the next time you restarted you would be back at the previous level.
- Added config option to play music in Manual mode.
New in Brain Workshop 4.03 (Oct 16, 2008)
- Added new number sounds (0-13). Either the letters or the numbers will be chosen randomly at the start of each session.
- The female voice sounds are now selected by default.
- Added two new game modes, Dual Arithmetic N-Back and Triple Arithmetic N-Back. Press N from the main screen to access the extra game modes.
New in Brain Workshop 4.02 (Oct 15, 2008)
- Fixed sound driver selection in Linux.
- A few minor changes related to Arithmetic N-Back mode.
New in Brain Workshop 3.01 (Aug 16, 2008)
- When first loading, if the last session completed was in Standard mode, Brain Workshop will start at the same n-back level.
- Only today's sessions are loaded in the history chart.