Welcome to the ShowPlay help introduction. ShowPlay is a CIGAL paradigm program that can present a variety of audio and visual stimuli under real-time control, while simultaneously monitoring behavioral and physiological responses. This program is written in CIGAL (Compilable Image Graphics Analysis Language), the interactive programming environment for the ShowPlay program. The 'Running' portion of this ShowPlay help page contains a general overview of how to install, use, and quit CIGAL for the purposes of running stimulus files and collecting data from stimulus presentation runs. Please refer to the CIGAL help document for a more detailed explanation of how to use CIGAL's many tools.

The ShowPlay program is a text file 'showplay.imp'. It allows customized stimulus presentation as well as integration with fMRI analysis software. The major input to ShowPlay is a text file specifying display parameters and a list of the stimuli to present. This stimulus file is commonly named with a '.ppf' extension (for "paradigm parameter file"). The stimuli are specified in a text list in which each line indicates the type, timing, and screen location of an individual stimulus event. Running ShowPlay can be done from the CIGAL command line or from the Graphical User Interface (menus). ShowPlay output files exist in several forms and contain all data relating to the presentation of stimuli. For information about how to get help for CIGAL and ShowPlay, troubleshooting, and for answers to Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs), click on the corresponding links in the left panel.

This introduction covers the following topics:
ShowPlay Help
A ShowPlay example
Showplay.imp
CIGAL Menus

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