The user interface - Superscope II The computers are equipped with special software to control the experiment, and display and analyze data. This software allows me to create user friendly interfaces for specific experiments. There are on-screen buttons to start experiments, dials to control outputs, windows to display the data, and other controls to initiate and display specific analyses. The beauty of this software is that one can easily create an interface with only those controls that are necessary for the experiment. This means students spend less time figuring out the computer and more time doing experiments. More importantly, it is easy to modify these interfaces to do different things. I can create a custom interface for any experiment a student wants to perform. This gives much greater flexibility than "canned" programs, which lock students into a few specific experiments.

I currently have interfaces for the following experiments:
1) stimulating a nerve and recording action potentials
2) stimulating a muscle and recording a single twitch
3) recording a knee jerk reflex
4) recording voluntary reflexes in response to computer-generated visual or
auditory stimuli
5) recording an EKG and displaying the regularity of the heartrate
6) recording an EMG and calculating the area under selected bursts
7) simple chart recordings

They key to these interfaces is simplicity. Rather than making a single interface that tries to do everything, I have a number of simple interfaces that one can build upon as necessary.

If you would like copies of these interfaces to use in your lab, contact me using the link at the bottom of this page.
**You will need Superscope II software to run these interfaces.

Last revised by Andrew Smith November 20, 2000.