In the Lee Lab, we utilize a custom software system to coordinate the activities of behavioral data collection (e.g. eye and joystick positions), neural data collection, and experiment execution. It abstracts the complexity of obtaining precise timings, dealing with the non-real time nature of the computer operating system (traditional desktop operating systems such as Windows XP/Vista and Mac OS are not capable of running true real-time applications), synchronizing the presentation of stimuli with the timing of the visual display, providing rewards, and the like. It also validates all of the collected data and prepares it for statistical and other analysis, primarily done in Matlab. 

Orion

The current system in active use is Orion version 1.5.1 for Windows. Orion was originally created by John Swan-Stone in the Center for Visual Science at the University of Rochester; versions 1.1 and newer were written by Mark Hammond of the Lee Lab. Orion is a C++ based framework, and experiments are authored directly in C++ - typically using a modern development environment such as Visual Studio 2005 or 2008. 

Picto

We are actively developing a new system, code named Picto, which moves to a visual system for authoring and executing experiments. While many experiments will be able to be created without any programming, Picto will provide a full programming model, based on JavaScript, to provide maximum flexibility. This programming model is explicitly designed and tailored for authoring experiments - it will be aware of experimental design concepts, and present contextually relevant information to the user rather than low level machine details, as is the case with C++, or mathematical constructs, as is the case with Matlab. When complete, we plan to make the system available for use by the broad scientific community.