title: A relational database for trial-based behavioral experiments.
abstract: We describe a relational database (RDB) structure suitable for trial-based experiments such as human psychophysics and neural recording studies in trained animals. An RDB is a collection of tables, each composed of columns. Some of the tables contain columns that reference specific columns of other tables. This referencing system links the tables to each other and makes it possible to extract any subset of the data with trivial commands. An equally important advantage of an RDB is that it imposes a consistent data format on applications that generate and analyze data. The result is a centralization and standardization of data storage that facilitates the pooling, cross-checking and re-analysis of data from various experiments. We present a robust RDB structure originally designed for neurophysiological data; however, it is abstract enough to accommodate data from a variety of trial-based experimental designs. Moreover, we demonstrated the advantages of this RDB structure and indicated its implementation in other laboratories.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, The University of Chicago, 5048 South University Avenue, Green 314, Chicago, IL 60637, USA. bradley@uchicago.edu
authors.forename: David C
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Bradley
authors.forename: Massimo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mascaro
authors.forename: Satish
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Santhakumar
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D000818:Animals; D001525:Behavioral Sciences / Q000379:methods*; D016208:Databases, Factual / Q000592:standards / Q000639:trends*; D006801:Humans; D016247:Information Storage and Retrieval / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards / Q000639:trends*; D009482:Neurophysiology / Q000379:methods*; D012107:Research Design / Q000592:standards / Q000639:trends*; D012984:Software; D012985:Software Design