Brain Imaging & Analysis Center

When you log in at the BIAC scanners the video mode should always automatically revert to 1024×768 pixels in single-monitor mode. This means you will always need to change the video display properties before running CIGAL in background mode on the second video monitor.

To change the video settings, do the following:

• right-click on the Windows desktop and select Properties
• select the “Settings” tab in the Display Properties window
• you should see 2 monitor icons – click on monitor “1” (it should be on the left)
• adjust the Screen Resolution slider to choose your desired video resolution
• you may need to confirm the screen resolution change to keep it
• if the box labelled “Use this as the primary monitor” is unchecked, check it ON
• now click on the monitor “2” icon
• adjust the Screen Resolution for monitor 2 to be the same as monitor 1
• check ON the box that says “Extend my Windows desktop onto this monitor”
• Close the Display Properties window

To run programs on the 2 monitors you will need to make sure that the computer display actually shows up on those monitors. To do that you will probably need to change the settings of the Video Switch (an external device controlling which video display signal goes to which video display). There are 3 ways to change the Video Switch settings: 1) run the VideoSwitch stand-alone program, 2) use CIGAL to control the Video Switch, or 3) manually press buttons on the switch box itself (definitely not recommended!).

If you use the VideoSwitch stand-alone program, configure the settings so that CPU 1 goes to monitor 1, CPU 2 goes to monitor 2, (I will need to check on these other settings). You can have the subject in the scanner looking at CPU screen 1, or the DVD player, or the eye-camera screen, whichever you like. When it's time to run your tasks make sure the subject is also seeing what is on CPU screen 1.

If you use CIGAL to control the switch you may need to first run CIGAL on monitor 1 in order to see the VideoSwitch menu options. To run CIGAL on monitor 1 simply double click the “LocalCIGAL” shortcut. In the VideoSwitch menu, select “Default settings” to make sure that the displays are set to reasonable values. Then choose other options in the VideoSwitch menu if you want to change what the subject sees or if you want to put the DVD on the middle monitor. When it is time to get ready to run the task part of the session, select the “Default settings” option again in the VideoSwitch menu to make sure that you can see both screens of the stimulus computer and the subject is looking at screen 1. Then quit CIGAL if you were running it on screen 1 and restart it (see below) on screen 2.

See Also:
Running CIGAL for background recording
Overview of compatibility for running CIGAL in background
Configuring CIGAL for background recording
Configuring EPrime for compatibility with CIGAL in background
Configuring Presentation for compatibility with CIGAL in background
Configuring Matlab for compatibility with CIGAL in background

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