2. Frequently Asked Questions
Researchers, academics and technical staff from around the world are equally concerned
about the accuracy of their Event Marking and often contact us with specific questions. By
analysing trends, we have put together this short FAQ that should help answer many of your
questions and allay any concerns you may have. This FAQ is an ideal place to start if you
are new to the mBlack Box ToolKit and maybe a little unsure of how you could use it within
your own area of expertise.
2.1 What is the mBlack Box Toolkit?
The mBBTK is a device that can accurately Event Mark stimuli, synchronisation signals and
responses as they are presented by your Experiment Generator on a STIM PC during an
experiment. It runs completely independently of your PC and has its own on board ARM
processor, clock and internal RAM. It reliably Event Marks and stores timestamps with sub-
millisecond accuracy and is time-locked to your own equipment.
2.2 What can it do?
Any input channel, or sensor, can be paired with between one and 24 unique TTL Event
Marking lines which can be fed into your own equipment (SCAN). In total there are 56x TTL
I/O lines made up of 24x rear TTL inputs, 8x front TTL inputs and 24x rear TTL Event
Marking Lines. In terms of sensors there are 4x 2.5mm sockets for BBTK Opto-detectors for
monitoring visual stimuli, 2x Mics for BBTK microphones for sounds and an Audio Pass-
Through In and Out for monitoring audio from a PC’s soundcard.
2.3 Why Should I use it?
If you are running studies using external equipment that require a consistent and high
temporal resolution where you Event Mark stimuli and responses and report results in units
of a millisecond then you should be using the mBBTK to ensure what you assume you are
doing is actually true in the real-world. In short using the mBBTK ensures that your Event
Marks are accurate as they have been made using a high speed device running
independently of your stimulus PC, Experiment Generator or system recording timing data,
neurological or biological activity.
2.4 When Should I use it?
Each time you collect timing critical data you should use the mBBTK to Event Mark stimulus
presentations, synch signals and participant responses. As a rule you should use the
mBBTK whenever you report data in units of a millisecond. It can be used in any study that
allows for TTL Event Marks, e.g. EEG, Eye Tracking, fMRI and many other computer
controlled cognitive paradigms.
2.5 How can I Analyse Event Marking Timing Data?
As TTL Event Marks are made the status of all 72 mBBTK channels are timestamped with
sub-millisecond accuracy (sensor inputs are also counted as channels). All timestamps are
