OpenSesame help

Contents

Introduction

OpenSesame is a graphical experiment builder for the social sciences. That is, with OpenSesame you can create psychological experiments in a point-and-click way. For more complex tasks, OpenSesame supports Python inline coding <http://www.python.org/>.

Getting started

The best way to get started is to follow one of the tutorials and/ or look at example experiments. These can be found at <http://www.cogsci.nl/opensesame>

The interface

The graphical interface consists of the following parts. You can get detailed help on the file pool, the variable inspector, and the debug window by clicking on the help buttons in the corresponding areas.

Items

Items are the building blocks of your experiment. There are 10 core items, which provide the basic functionality that is necessary to create an experiment. Core items can be added to your experiment using the corresponding toolbar buttons.

If installed, plug-in items provide additional functionality, such as integration of Eyelink eyetrackers, a Mantra object tracker or a Serial Response Box (SR Box). Plug-ins appear alongside the core items in the item toolbar. An overview of available plug-ins can be found online <http://www.cogsci.nl/opensesame>

You can get detailed help on each item by clicking on the help button at the top-right of an item's tab.

Running your experiment

You can run your experiment in full-screen mode (Run → Run fullscreen) or in a window (Run → Run in window). When the 'auto-response' option (Run → Enable auto-response) is enabled, OpenSesame will simulate key press and mouse click responses, which can be useful when testing your experiment.

Saving your experiment

Experiments can be saved in two file formats: