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Bug 1196 - conversion between spike and raw data representation should be done by ft_checkdata

Status CLOSED FIXED
Reported 2011-11-28 09:29:00 +0100
Modified 2011-12-10 11:40:32 +0100
Product: FieldTrip
Component: spike
Version: unspecified
Hardware: PC
Operating System: Mac OS
Importance: P3 enhancement
Assigned to: Martin Vinck
URL:
Tags:
Depends on:
Blocks:
See also:

Robert Oostenveld - 2011-11-28 09:29:09 +0100

At this moment there is a ft_spike_data2spike and a ft_spike_spike2data function. However, for all other xxx2yyy function we have adopted the convention that ft_checkdata should be used with the "datatype" option. So instead of data = ft_spike_data2spike(cfg, spike) the user should be doing data = ft_checkdata(spike, 'dataype', 'spike') this ensures that all conversions are done in a consistent manner and that on top of that the ongoing development and changes to the data types (e.g. updating a datatype on the fly) can be managed at a central location in the code. I suggest to reorganize the two specific functions into two local subfunctions in the ft_checkdata code, just like it is done for other conversions. @Martin, Do you see any objections against that?


Martin Vinck - 2011-11-28 13:25:55 +0100

Ok I agree, in principle. However to go from spike to a raw data structure one does need some additional inputs, for example sampling rate. So the conversion cannot be automatic but requires additional user input. So let's say we have a function ft_spikedensity(cfg,data) taking the raw data structure as input. We may then allow the user to enter ft_spikedensity(cfg,spike) but then an additional input would have to be specified, I am not sure at which level (in the cfg?). On the other hand the conversion from raw data to spike can be fully automatic and could be nicely supported by all spike functions.


Martin Vinck - 2011-11-28 13:26:36 +0100

(In reply to comment #1) sorry one needs only one additional input: sampling rate (specifying the sampling rate used for the data.trial structure).


Martin Vinck - 2011-11-28 13:49:30 +0100

there is an additional problem here: The raw data structure may contain both lfp and spike channels, so we can convert only part. We could check whether the data contains only integers, no negative data and by doing so try to automatically ignore the LFP data (which I think never only contains integers). Another option would be to allow for an additional key,value pair such that we simply use the information in cfg.spikechannel entered by the user. What do you think?


Martin Vinck - 2011-11-28 14:57:56 +0100

I have added conversion from raw data format to spike format in ft_checkdata and removed ft_spike_data2spike.m As for ft_spike_spik2data.m I am not sure how to deal with the additional information sampling rate which is needed to do this conversion


Robert Oostenveld - 2011-11-28 17:09:42 +0100

(In reply to comment #1 and #2) should we specify this in the data structure, i.e. spike.fsample? (In reply to comment #3) This problem is also there in the present converter function, and should also be reflected in the calling function. Should we consider doing it like this? spikedata = ft_checkdata(inputdata, 'dataype', 'spike'); continuousdata = ft_checkdata(inputdata, 'dataype', 'raw'); This explicitly splits the inputdata into the two different types.


Martin Vinck - 2011-11-28 17:13:52 +0100

(In reply to comment #5) As for raw to spike, I've added the respective conversion and removed ft_spike_data2spike. I'd think something like spike = ft_checkdata(data,'datatype', 'spike', 'fsample', 1000) should be the way to go. The 1000 could then be a default but one could enter an additional cfg option in scripts in which we think the conversion is useful perhaps?


Robert Oostenveld - 2011-11-29 10:35:41 +0100

(In reply to comment #6) sounds good


Martin Vinck - 2011-12-01 20:25:19 +0100

Added the subfunction spike2raw now with the extra keyval argument 'fsample' and removed ft_spike_spike2data