Now execute the afni_proc.py command in the s01.ap.simple script. Execute it with with './s01.ap.simple' or 'tcsh s01.ap.simple'. % ./s01.ap.simple ----------------------------------------------------------------- ** warning: removing first 2 TRs from beginning of each run --> the stimulus timing files must reflect the removal of these TRs -- tcat: reps is now 150 -- volreg: base/sub indices are 0, 2 ++ updating polort to 3, from run len 300.0 s ** masking EPI is no longer the default (see 'MASKING NOTE' from the -help for details) --> script is file: proc.FT consider the script execution command: tcsh -xef proc.FT |& tee output.proc.FT ----------------------------------------------------------------- Review each message. Note that anything starting with '**' is particularly important, so be sure to understand what is shown. message: ** warning: removing first 2 TRs from beginning of each run --> the stimulus timing files must reflect the removal of these TRs Such a warning is shown anytime TRs are deleted from the beginning of each run. Recall using the afni_proc.py option '-tcat_remove_first_trs 2', telling it to remove the first 2 TRs from each run. Removal of 2 TRs may affect the stimulus timing files. Some scanners ignore the TRs prior to magnetization steady state, starting the presentation stimulus softer afterward. In such a case, the timing should not need adjusting. More commonly, the stimulus presentation software is started when the first volume is acquired, prior to the magnetization reaching a steady state. In this case, the original timing of AV1_vis might have been this for run 1: 64.0 94.0 124.0 184.0 240.0 And so assuming 2 TRs will be removed, the times would need adjusting by 4 seconds, to: 60 90 120 180 240 Note that timing_tool.py is a program that could subtract 4 seconds from each stimulus time to create the appropriate AV1_vis.txt file. timing_tool.py -timing old_visual_times.txt -add_offset -4 \ -write_timing AV1_vis.txt message: -- tcat: reps is now 150 The '--' and '++' lines are just informational (the '++' usually mean that something has been computed or created). Since 2 TRs were removed from each run, the total TRs per run have changed from 152 to 150. This is just a visual reminder. message: -- volreg: base/sub indices are 0, 2 The afni_proc.py command in s01.ap.simple has no option to specify which EPI volume should be used as the EPI alignment base. Therefore the default is applied: the third volume of the first run. The message confirms it, though it uses 0-based indices. message: ++ updating polort to 3, from run len 300.0 s Since there are now 150 TRs per run and the TR is 2s, each run lasts 300 s. That determines the default polynomial order for modeling the baseline in 3dDeconvolve. Unless the user specifies the order, afni_proc.py will use the same method that 3dDeconvolve would use with "-polort A" (telling it to choose automatically). That default is 1 + floor(duration/150 sec) Note that 300 is the cutoff between polort 2 and 3 (299.9999 would lead to a polort of 2, for example). message: ** masking EPI is no longer the default (see 'MASKING NOTE' from the -help for details) This message gets the '**' because it is a change from the way afni_proc.py previously worked. In the past, the default was to use 3dAutomask to mask out non-brain voxels in the EPI datasets. That is no longer done or recommended. It is now recommended to mask the data only in group space. See the output of "afni_proc.py -help" for details, under "MASKING NOTE". message: --> script is file: proc.FT This states that afni_proc.py created the output script 'proc.FT'. The name of the script (unless the user specifies one) is proc.SUBJECT_ID. Given the '-subj_id FT' option applied in the afni_proc.py command, the script name comes out as 'proc.FT'. Verify the script's existence in a few different ways: % ls # look at new file list % ls -l # or in long format % wc proc.FT # how many lines/words/characters are there % cat proc.FT # dump file to terminal window % less proc.FT # view file in paging command % gedit proc.FT # or maybe view with an editor message: consider the script execution command: tcsh -xef proc.FT |& tee output.proc.FT This suggests how one might run the processing script. Since the text is in tcsh syntax, it must be run with the 'tcsh' command. Options -xef are used to: -x : echo commands to terminal before executing them -e : terminate script when encountering any error -f : do not process user's ~/.cshrc file Via '|&' all output (stdout and stderr) is sent (piped) to the 'tee' program, which sends the same output: 1. back to the terminal window (so the user can monitor the progress) 2. to the specified text file 'output.proc.FT' (which can be read later, or sent to someone else) See "afni_proc.py -help" under the section "SCRIPT EXECUTION NOTE" for more details.