Connecting FNIR to Vizard
Note: Currently tested and working with Vizard 6
Description from Biopac on FNIR: "An fNIR System provides researchers with real-time monitoring of tissue oxygenation in the brain as subjects take tests, perform tasks, view advertisements, experience ergonomic layouts, or receive stimulation. It allows researchers to quantitatively assess brain functions—such as attention, memory, planning, and problem solving—while individuals perform cognitive tasks. Monitor cognitive state of the subject in natural environments".
“Easily sync with stimuli presentation systems and integrate with other physiological and neurobehavioral measures that assess human brain activity, including eye tracking, pupil reflex, respiration, and electrodermal activity”.
After connecting the hardware for your FNIR you will need to start up COBI studio to stream the FNIR data to Vizard.
Under Data Source add your hardware
In Marker Source you can add markers that you can send to sync with events, such as key presses.
In the Network Broadcast section, add a TCP protocol broadcast and not the port number and host IP address.
Click on Prepare and make sure your hardware is set up and ready to go. Place the FNIR device under your headset and connect left and right side connections.
Click on “Experiment”. Here you can enter experiment information to catalog the data. If you are just checking the data or demoing the system, you can click “No Experiment”
Click on Record and then click the red triangle to begin recording your data
Next you will run a Vizard script to collect and save the data.
Vizard Code
Contact Worldviz for the “cobibiopac.py” module that is needed to send FNIR data to Vizard
Use the following code as an example to send data to Vizard. Make sure to place the cobibiopac.py module in the same folder as your code (or reference the path that it is located).
For further analysis of data use the FNIR soft software
Connecting Vizard to BIOPAC AcqKnowledge
By Jeff Loomis
BIOPAC provides a large range of monitoring devices for detecting physical or physiological changes over time. The BIOPAC virtual reality platform provides:
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Controlled and replicative experimental setups
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Manipulation of the environment (and avatars) that would be impossible or prohibitively expensive in the real world
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Synchronization of the events from the virtual world with physiological data
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Biofeedback data transfer protocol for real-time digital communication, which allows the participant’s physiological feedback to control the VR world