AVOKE: an open-source toolbox for audiovisual web experiments in jsPsych
Abstract
As web-based experiments become increasingly popular, the need for advanced, accessible research methods is greater than ever. Existing solutions for designing and building an experiment are often closed source and proprietary, which limits configurability, affordability, and testability. Moreover, inconsistent terminologies, domain-specific coding and documentation, and practices such as open-washing impair the ease of adoption and effective use of these tools by novice researchers and practitioners. To address these shortcomings, we release AVOKE-a collection of free and open source tools for web-based behavioural experiments. AVOKE extends the functionalities of the widely adopted jsPsych library, matching community standards for code reusability and comprehensive documentation. The current release of AVOKE supports temporally-precise presentation of audiovisual media (including generated animations, preloaded files, and external sources like YouTube), as well as the collection of behavioural responses, like keypresses and video capture (e.g., for recording face videos of participants). This paper elaborates on the functionalities, implementation, and usage of the included plugins and extensions in AVOKE. These extensions and plugins have been validated with simulation testing and utilised in previous and ongoing studies. AVOKE is openly available at https://www.github.com/beatlab-mcmaster/AVOKE and archived on Zenodo. We welcome contributions to AVOKE and discuss potential future additions to ease the development of advanced web-based experiments for all users.