Open-source stimulus-latency instrument · EEG / MEG
Think your triggers are accurate?
Think again.
ElectroTime measures the real latency — the delay between your trigger and the moment a stimulus actually reaches the participant — visual or auditory, on any EEG or MEG setup.
- ≤ $80total cost
- 100%open hardware
- ~5 minper measurement
The problem
Why stimulus timing matters in EEG
ERP and ERF analyses assume your triggers line up with the stimulus — but they don't. Your software, operating system, monitor, graphics card and sound card each add a variable latency, and this delay is different every time.
Tools that measure this cost $2000–3000 and are closed, single-purpose boxes. ElectroTime does the same job for under $80, fully open.
The data
What we found
We measured the trigger-to-stimulus latency at four EEG labs in the #EEGManyLabs consortium. The delays were larger than expected — and different at every site. Left uncorrected, that's enough to change your results and break replication across labs.
Next step
Get a device
ElectroTime works with your existing experiment — no changes to your EEG or MEG setup, and measuring your stimulus latency only takes minutes.
- Contact us and we'll ship you a device.
- Follow the guide to record your data and send it back to us.
The team
Team
ElectroTime is developed by a team across several institutions as part of the #EEGManyLabs and EEG101 (Fundamentals of Open & Rigorous EEG Science) initiatives. Key team members:
Jasper van den Bosch
University of Leeds
Xuekun Li
University of Leeds
Yuri Pavlov
University of Alabama
Faisal Mushtaq
University of Leeds
Citation
Cite ElectroTime
A manuscript is in preparation. In the meantime, see our OHBM 2026 poster (PDF) for an overview of the device and our results.
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