Glossary

node

The basic building block of a pipeline. A small, configurable unit that produces, consumes, transforms, or controls data. See the Node Catalog.

pipeline

The running graph of nodes. Started with python -m thalamus.pipeline (or thalamus.task_controller).

node widget

The custom configuration UI that appears for a selected node when its settings are richer than a few inline properties.

subscription

The link by which a consumer/transformer receives a producer’s data. You “subscribe” a consumer (e.g. STORAGE2) to the nodes whose data it should act on.

capture file (.tha)

Thalamus’s recording format: a flat, append-only sequence of length-prefixed StorageRecord protobuf messages. See Concepts and Architecture.

span

Within an analog record, a named slice of the flat data array that maps a range of samples to one channel.

hydrate

Convert a .tha capture into a single HDF5 file for analysis, with python -m thalamus.hydrate.

steady clock

The monotonic nanosecond time base Thalamus stamps records with. It measures intervals precisely but is not a wall-clock date (use a WALLCLOCK node to anchor to absolute time).

task

One behavioral trial paradigm run by the Task Controller (e.g. a delayed reach).

task cluster

A weighted group of tasks the Task Controller samples from to schedule trials.

subject view / operator view

The two windows of behavioral tools: the subject view shows what the subject sees; the operator view adds operator-only overlays and controls.

pin

In Eye Calibration Angular-Scaling mode, a control point that sets the gaze scale/rotation at a particular direction.

plugin

A native (C/C++/Rust) shared library that adds a node type to the pipeline via the plugin API.