What is PsychoPy?

In this blog post, I will describe what PsychoPy is, and why I think psychologists- whether they be undergraduates or professionals- can benefit from using this tool. PsychoPy is an open-source software package that can be used for creating and conducting experiments.  Briefly stated, what makes PsychoPy so great is that it is precise enough that it can (and is) used by cognitive psychologist, neuroscientists and psycho-physicists while being both open source and easy to use.

 One of the advantages that makes PsychoPy so accessible is that it has a very intuitive graphical user interface (GUI). This allows most people to jump right in and begin making experiments. Therefore, PsychoPy is a great way for undergraduates to create experiments that build upon their developing research design knowledge and critical thinking skills. In fact, If I could play professor for a day, this is exactly what I would do! My lectures would focus on theory while lab time would be devoted to creating experiments correspond to the research design learnt in lecture. 

Psychopy also includes a coder for the more meticulous users--such as researchers or professionals--who wish to create precise experiments. PsychoPy leverages a powerful, yet simple computer language called Python. Python, in many respects, has been adopted by the scientific community, and many of these scientists have created powerful libraries for research purposes. Think of a library as virtual container that stores a set of routines that can be invoked when needed. These routines are most often in the form of useful reusable code. Library allow programmers to invoke these encapsulated lines of useful code rather than having to write them over and over. Some of the available libraries for Python include functionalities for artificial intelligence to fMRI[A1] recording. All of which are free! 

Everything about PsychoPy is free; free software, and free technical support which maintained by the community on the PsychoPy website forums. Even the source code is available to the community to be improved upon! Psychopy has an important feature that that some paid programs don’t; the ability to save and export data to an excel or .csv file. If, for some reason, you still aren’t sold on this software, I plan to continue to create content about PsychoPy so stay tuned to learn more!

    As my undergraduate career ends, I feel compelled to share some of the lessons that I’ve learnt. It seems naturally that one would collect some wisdom along the way as completing a degree is no easy feat. It is, for this reason, that I believe I find myself with this intrinsic motivation to help my fellow university students. 

    I began my university career after attending college and working as a personal trainer. I loved my job but felt as if something would be missing in my life if I didn’t complete higher education and reasoned that sooner was better than later.  Before college, my academic career had been dismal to say the least. I struggled a lot in public school and especially high school. Despite this, I got my act together, and in my last year of high school received grades sufficient to achieve admittance to university. 

    Why bring this up? Well, I believe it is important that I establish some credibility as not all advice is created equal. Since I struggled so much so early, I came to post-secondary education with very few tools in my toolbox. Everything I learned, I learnt the hard way through trial and error. Here are the lessons I’ve learnt along the way:

1)    Prioritize– Life gets in the way…period. Sometimes against our better judgement, we must choose one responsibility over another. Throughout my academic career, I neglected to give 100% on some of my school responsibilities. Now I am not recommending this per say but you must be very selective about your time. Prioritizing allows us to pick the most substantial task and execute it. Since I began incorporating this in my day-to-day life it has really helped me to hone in on what to do. My mantra under times of stress is “prioritize and execute. Repeat.” I admit that it may seem obvious but making a habit of prioritizing allows you to achieve so much more than you even thought possible. No more wasted moments! 

2)    Structure the day– Both this and the former complement each other very well. Using an agenda in combination with the habit prioritizing might be the most important factors to enhancing productivity in university and beyond.

    Each night before bed I try to create a list of all the responsibilities, with goals of times of day that I hope commence, with estimates of how long I think it will take. This requires the development of realistic expectations for the following or at least it does for me.  I still struggle to set realistic goals for myself but nonetheless placing it on paper is a step in the right direction. I usually send my list to myself through email, this way I can go over it as soon as I wake up the next day. For me, going over my responsibilities takes away the initial morning malaise I experience when I do not know what to do, how I am going to do it and when. 

3)    Ask for help but attempt first-I’ve noticed that too often students ask for help before they have honestly tried themselves. During my time at Trent University, I have helped several students in peer mentoring who swore they couldn’t do a statistics problem before even trying. Sensing this as well as their aptitude, I would be as hands off as possible to prove to them that they had the capability themselves.

    When you do try first and seek help later it helps to build autonomy and confidence. Moreover, it will send a signal to your professor(s) that you are a “go-getter” and a “problem solver”. Two skills that employers also cherish and look for in employees. 

4)    Make workable goals-I look at this more as a psychological shortcut that you can use to increase your productivity.  It is very helpful when something is arduous. For example, I myself strongly dislike reading academic papers (I find most papers to contain relatively simple concepts wrapped in overcomplicated language!) so I routinely set very achievable goals that motivates me to sit down and start. In my experience, the starting is the hard part; once you get over the initial discomfort you are more likely to continue past your original goal. Things seem less frightening under the blanket of something more appealing!

5)    Know when to push yourself and when to pull back- One of life’s biggest challenges can be learning when you need a break as opposed to when you should push yourself. Some pull back too soon and leave things on the table while others exhaust themselves in perpetuity. I struggle with the latter, so I will speak only to that. 

    During my first three years of university, I would push myself to near exhaustion, sacrificing productivity. For example, if something wasn’t clicking, I would force myself to sit until I understood. As you can probably guess this would lead me to get frustrated very quickly, and I would inevitably make what I was trying to understand more complicated than it was. Unfortunately for my past self, rarely did this rumination ever put me ahead.

    Lately, I have begun to practice walking away. There is something to seeing a problem with “fresh eyes” or rather a “fresh brain” to a problem or new idea. This is a lesson that has been especially helpful while learning to computer program. I learned quickly that cursing and staring at a computer terminal or a text editor was ineffective. However, after a quick mental reset and voila! the answer reveals itself to me like some sort of tech revelation.

6)    Study more efficiently- Einstein once said that “all physical theories, their mathematical expressions apart ought to lend themselves to so simple a description 'that even a child could understand them.” --Einstein: His Life and Times (1972). Later, Richard Feynman—a respectable physicist in his own right—took this concept of simplification further by developing his famous Feynman technique. Originally, he developed this technique to aid him in studying for undergraduate exams.  Later, Feynman based his infamous Caltech lectures using his technique (see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3mhkYbznBk&list=PLLzGzdSNup63lMYeOpU9)Hax6MBsTjdDas) .

    The Feynman technique involves four steps: Choose a concept, teach someone without any prior knowledge, identify gaps, and review and simplify. The only caveat I would add would be to first explain what you know to someone with knowledge of the concept (senior student, professor etc.). This will prevent you from rehearsing unnecessary or incorrect information. Once you get the confirmation from a knowledgeable person, I encourage you to practice on others who are not knowledgeable on your concept. 

    Once I discovered the Feynman technique, I became enamoured by its ability to transform complicated ideas succinctly. In fact, I credit my success in test taking to this technique. It works because it allows you to study more efficiently because you are actively learning and relearning the material. Too often students make the mistake of engaging in passive forms of memorization, e.g., reviewing notes, re-reading lecture materials, etc. I view those as tools for refreshing on previously taught material but not as efficient methods for studying. In contrast, the Feynman technique creates solidifies material deeply in memory.  

    Another reason that I love the Feynman technique is that it is recursive, by allowing you to deepen your knowledge as much as you would like. With each succession of the four steps listed above you create more opportunities to simplify and think differently about the chosen concept. If this doesn’t sound like something you would like to try, I encourage you to incorporate some other active form of studying such as: creating and quizzing yourself with cue cards, making mind maps, making a presentation, etc. Lastly, do not under any circumstance cram, opt for frequent, brief, efficient study periods instead. 

  If you enjoyed this blog, I encourage you to check out the following book - "How to become a Straight-A Student: The Unconventional Strategies Real College Students use to Score High While Studying Less", by Cal Newport. I read this book during the summer of first year and I found it very helpful. Also if you would like to learn more about the Feynman technique see https://medium.com/taking-note/learning-from-the-feynman-technique-5373014ad230