“Basic black” renascent: A new wardrobe

In the dozen years since publication of Uttal’s fundamental paper, “‘Basic Black’ in Com-puter Interfaces for Psychological Research,” many changes have taken place in on-line real-time computing. A look at the basic wardrobe today reveals some striking changes and certain fundamental constants. Most of the interface elements in the wardrobe specified by Uttal are still commonplace in the fashion catalogs of real-time computing. However, they are offered now as fully integrated circuits, chips, or subsystems that are added by inserting a chip into a socket or a printed circuit board into a chassis. Missing in Uttal’s specification are the essential software tools for using the hardware of that wardrobe. The current real-time computing laboratory psychologist will find that the most significant elements in a really adaptable wardrobe are software tools.