Author: William J. Vaughn

Submitted by: Edward V. Evarts, M. D., National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, Maryland

The program accepts as input two channels of analog data, one of which contains pulses at least 1 msec apart and the other being a control signal consisting of seven separate DC voltages. The first channel will usually represent continuous spike activity from a single neuron cell (it should not be the raw recording, however, but the output of a pulse generator whose input is the raw neuron potential), and the second a time record of stimulus and responses of some task performed during the recording.

The system does the following: 1) Translates the analog data into a digital record on LINCtape in a standard format; 2) Reads the digitized data from LINCtape and forms a raster, histogram and neural response display; 3) Outputs the data via a printout or by some suitable photographic setup.

The unique feature of this system is the ability to easily correlate spike activity not only with the stimulus but also with the response. The system is self-contained and may be loaded from the switches or from "DIAL". It requires an 8K PDP-12 with a KW12 clock, A-D channels, and two LINCtape transports. An "Interface" box will also be needed to monitor and control the two input channels from the tape recorder. The digitizing process is run separately from the analysis program, and other programs are available to catalog and label the data.

The system requires no programming experience to use, but some acquaintance with the PDP-12 will be necessary.

The system has its own Monitor/Loader which is loaded from the switches or which may be loaded from LAP6-DIAL by (LF) NAP,O (CR). The Monitor/Loader presents the "menu" of programs which are then loaded and started by use of the keyboard. The binaries cannot be loaded independently by the DIAL loader as they have no header block.

A system for generating two analog tape channels which the system digitizes is necessary. The digitizing resolution is 1 msec, whereas the final displays only show a 2 msec resolution.

Source Language: LAP6-DIAL

Catalog: December 1974