OpenSesame help
This is the offline help page. If you are connected to the internet, you
can browse the online documentation by clicking
here.
Introduction
OpenSesame is a graphical experiment builder for the social sciences. It
allows you to easily create experiments, using a point-and-click graphical
interface. For complex tasks, OpenSesame supports
Python scripting.
Getting started
The best way to get started is to follow the tutorial and/ or take a look at
example experiments. This, and much more, can be found online in the
OpenSesame documentation area.
Interface
The graphical interface consists of the following parts. You can get context
sensitive help by clicking on the help icons at the top-right of each tab.
- The menu (at the top of the window) offers a variety of options,
such as opening and closing files, inserting items (see below) and checking
for updates. The menu cannot be hidden or closed.
- The main toolbar (the big buttons below the menu) offers a
selection of the most relevant options from the menu. The main toolbar
cannot be hidden, but it can be moved or detached from the main window.
- The item toolbar (the big buttons on the left of the window)
displays a list of available items. You can drag items from the items
toolbar into the overview of the experiment. The items toolbar cannot be
hidden, but it can be moved or detached from the main window.
- The tab area contains the tabs that are used to edit the
experiment. If you click on an item in the 'overview' window, a
corresponding tab will be opened in the tab area. Help is displayed in the
tab area as well. The tab area cannot be moved or hidden.
- The overview area provides an overview of your experiment. The
structure of your experiment is visualized as a tree. The overview item
can be hidden, moved and detached from the main window.
- The file pool (Control + P) provides an overview of the files
that are bundled with your experiment. If you save your experiment in the
.opensesame.tar.gz format, the file pool will be saved along with your
experiment. The file pool can be hidden, moved, and detached from the main
window.
- The variable inspector (Control + I) provides an overview of the
variables that are used in your experiment. The variable inspector can be
hidden, moved, and detached from the main window.
- The debug window. (Control + D) shows the messages that are
written to the standard output during an experiment. This is mostly useful
for debugging inline_script items. A Python interpreter is provided as
well. The debug window can be hidden, moved, and detached from the main
window.
Items
Items are the building blocks of your experiment. There are 10 core items
that provide the basic functionality that is necessary to create an experiment.
Core items can be dragged into to your experiment from the item toolbar.
- The loop item runs another item multiple times. You can also
define independent variables in the loop item.
- The sequence item runs multiple other items in sequence.
- The sketchpad item presents visual stimuli. A built-in drawing
tool allows you to easily create stimulus displays.
- The feedback item is similar to a sketchpad, but is not prepared
in advance. Therefore, a feedback item can be used to present feedback to
the participants.
- The sampler item plays back a single sound file.
- The synth item generates a single sound.
- The keyboard_response item collects keypress responses.
- The mouse_response item collects mouseclick responses.
- The logger item writes variables to the log file.
- The inline_script item allows you to execute Python code and
offers a built-in programming editor.
If installed, plug-in items provide additional functionality.
Plug-ins appear alongside the core items in the item toolbar. An overview of
available plug-ins can be found
online.
Running your experiment
You can run your experiment in full-screen mode (Control+R; Run -> Run
fullscreen) or in a window (Control+W; Run -> Run in window). When the
'auto-response' option (Run -> Enable auto-response) is enabled, OpenSesame will
simulate keypress and mouseclick responses, which can be useful when testing
your experiment.
Saving your experiment
Experiments can be saved in two file formats:
- .opensesame files contain only the experiment script. Therefore,
the file pool will not be saved along with your experiment when saving in
.opensesame format. The .opensesame format is a plain-text format.
- .opensesame.tar.gz files contain the experiment script and all the files
from the file pool. The .opensesame.tar.gz format is a .tar.gz compressed
archive, which can be opened with most file compression tools.