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Stroop Game
Colin Mitchell
Colin Mitchell
September 01, 2009
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Table Of Contents

01
The CIRCUIT
02
CONSTRUCTION
03
The PROGRAM
04
RANDOM NUMBER
05
MORE
06
THE GAME
07
Stroop Parts List
08
Stroop Parts List
09
GOING FURTHER
<!-- TODO FIXME COLIN: /stroop-game and /stroop need to be merged, and URLs updated to point to one article

StroopHeading
Stroop Heading

[Kits are available](mailto:colin@elechelp.com?Subject=Buying components for Stroop Game&Body=Please e-mail the cost of components for the Stroop Game on prototype PC board by air mail to my country:****___**** and send details of how I can pay for it. My name is:____) for this project from
Talking Electronics for $25.00 plus $7.00 postage.
Plus you will need: 6pin to 5pin adapter @ $2.50

You will also need:

  • Chip Programmer - PICkit2 from Modtronix (MPASM and MPLAB come with PICkit2) - it includes USB lead but not: 6pin to 5pin adapter.

  • PIC12F629 Data Sheet (.pdf 4,926KB)

  • Instruction Set for PIC12F629

  • blank12F629.asm template

  • PIC12F629.inc

  • See more projects using micros:

  • Elektor,EPE,Silicon Chip

  • Notepad++ or VS Code

  • Library of Sub-routines “Cut and Paste”

  • Library of routines: A-E E-P P-Z

This is a great game to test your skills.


The complete STROOP GAME. The surface-mount resistors are mounted near the IC socket

This project has been adapted from an experiment by John Ridley Stroop, who published his work in 1935. Basically it is a “trick.” It is a trick in that you are required to answer a question at a “second level of thinking.”
In our test we have three tri-coloured LEDs and below each is a push-button.
When a LED illuminates, your immediate response is to push the button below the LED.
But this is not the requirement.
The LED will illuminate as one of three colours. Red, Orange or Green.
You are required to push the first button for red, the middle button for orange and the third button for green.
In other words you have to divorce yourself from the urge to push the closest push-button and work on the colour-requirement.
Obviously you will become more-adept at this over a period of time but the most important results will come from the first few attempts.
That’s why it will be interesting to have your friends take a test.
The “Stroop effect” has been used to investigate the psychological capacities of a person. In fact it introduces capabilities that have never been investigated before. Although I don’t believe in anything to do with psychology, this test is considered to measure selective attention, cognitive flexibility and processing speed. About the only word I understand is “processing speed” and that’s how our game works. It runs for 20 seconds and gives a score on the 7-segment display.
You are required to get as many matches as possible in 20 seconds.
The game comes on by displaying the letters “S-t-r-o-o-P” on the 7-segment display and then sits ready for your first try.
The single digit display can actually display up to 99 as it flashes the tens digit first and then the units. It repeats this three times and turns off, ready for the second game. Push any button to start.

The CIRCUIT

The circuit consists of three push-buttons, three tri-coloured LEDs and a 7-segment display made from individual LEDs. All the “timing,” outputting and switch-detection is done in the PIC16F628 microcontroller.
The board contains 5 pins for In-Circuit Programming so the program can be changed and modified at any time.
The resistor values for the LEDs have been chosen to get the maximum brightness, using the 25mA available from each output.
The 7-segment display is made up of 14 individual LEDs, with two LEDs in series for each segment. This gives a voltage drop of approx 3.4v and a 22R current-limit resistor is needed.
RB7 is used for the switch inputs and this is also used as the data line when programming. To allow the data to enter the chip while programming, a 2k2 resistor has been added as the 100n upsets the data line if it is connected directly to the programming pin.
The resistor values for the switches have been chosen to separate the timing for each switch and make it easy to recognise in the program.


STROOP GAME CIRCUIT
The 7-segment display actually has 2 yellow LEDs in series for each segment

CONSTRUCTION

You can build the circuit on any type of Proto board or design your own PC board.
Use 3 - AAA cells and not button cells as button cells do not have low enough impedance to keep the voltage high when all the LEDs are illuminated and the chip hic-cups and flashes the display.

The PROGRAM

The program has been kept simple to make it easy to understand. Very few Boolean expressions have been used as they take a lot of understanding and “working out” as to the the outcome of the instruction.
We note that a simpler program was written in “C” and it failed to compile into the 1024 memory locations, so I don’t know how the inefficiency of higher-level programming would relate to this project.
In any case, we have used the 35 instructions that come with the chip and this makes fault-finding very easy as you know the fault lies in the code you have generated.
As long as you only introduce a small amount of code at a time, you will be able to gradually get a program up-and-running.

The interesting feature of the program is the overall timing. The micro is counting in the background via timer1 and this consists of two files (registers) capable of counting to 65,536. A prescaler has been added to increase the count to 524,288. This is about half a second.
When the timer overflows, the program-execution is interrupted and the micro goes to location 4 (called the Interrupt location where it finds an instruction to go to a sub-routine called: “isr.” At isr, another file is decremented (_20Secs) thirty-nine times and this produces the 20 seconds duration for each game.
(Point to remember: Timer0 does not produce a long delay, so Timer1 has to be used).

The buttons are detected by charging the 100n and waiting 20mS to see if the capacitor has discharged. We know the cap will discharge in less than 8mS if a button is pushed.
The program now knows if a button is pushed or not.
It makes a second pass, if a button is pushed, to work out which button has been pressed.
The first button will discharge the cap in less than 2mS, the second button will discharge the cap in less than 4mS and the third button will discharge the cap in less than 8mS.
The program now performs a 1mS loop, looking for a LOW on the detecting pin.
It will exit with a value of 1-8.
The program now decrements the count file and and if it is zero after one or two decrements, button 1 has been pressed. It continues with decrements until it finds the button.

RANDOM NUMBER

The most difficult thing to produce on a computer is a random number.
You can combine and XOR various files or use a table. but nothing generates a truly random result.
We have used the “waiting time” when a player waits to provide an answer and this generates a new random number, while the program is actually using a previously generated number for the play in progress. That’s why the random number has to be generated in a sub-routine called “Create,” and this number is passed to the Random Number file for use in the next try.

The program contains a number of very important subroutines that you will be able to “cut and paste” for projects in the future.

MORE

For more details on modifying the program and burning the PIC chip, see Talking Electronics website and click on Elektor,EPE,Silicon Chip in the index.
You can find details of: PICkit-2 and Adapter connected for In-Circuit Programming at this link.

Here is the file you will need for “burning” your chip and/or modifying the program. It comes as .asm, .txt and .hex for using as a file to modify, or to read, or to burn a new chip:

;****************************************************************
;Started 18/6/2009
;STROOP GAME - Press button according to the colour of the LED
;
;Port A drives 3 tri-coloured LEDs
;Port B drives 7 segment display and keys
;****************************************************************

    list P = 16F628 ;microcontroller
    include ;registers for F628


    __Config    _cp_off & _lvp_off & _pwrte_on
        & _wdt_off & _intRC_osc_noclkout & _mclre_off

;code protection - off
;low-voltage programming - off
;power-up timer - on
;watchdog timer - off
;use internal RC for 4MHz - all pins for in-out


;****************************************************************
; variables - names and files
;****************************************************************


        ;Files for F628 start at 20h


temp1         equ 20h   ;for delay
temp2         equ 21h   ;for delay
count         equ 22h   ;counts loops for switch
Random      equ 23h ;random number file
units         equ 24h   ;
tens          equ 25h   ;
Sw_Flag     equ 26h ;
_20Secs     equ 27h ;file for counting up to 20 seconds
loops         equ 28h   ;loops for number display
Produce     equ 29h ;produce random number
temp3         equ 2Ah   ;for 500mS delay

;****************************************************************
;Equates
;****************************************************************
status      equ 0x03
cmcon         equ   0x1F
rp1         equ 0x06
rp0         equ 0x05
portA       equ 0x05
portB       equ 0x06

z             equ   0x02


;****************************************************************
;Beginning of program
;****************************************************************


Start   org   0x00    ;program starts at location 000
      goto  Stroop  ;goto Stroop
      nop
      nop               ;NOPs to get past reset vector address
      org     4
      goto  isr


SetUp   bsf   status,rp0
      movlw b'00000000' ;Make RA output
      movwf 05h           ;trisA
      clrf  06h           ;trisB   Make all RB output
      movlw b'10000000' ;
      movwf OPTION_REG  ; x000 0000 x=1 = weak pull-ups disabled
      bcf     status,rp0    ;select programming area - bank0
      movlw b'00000000' ;6,7=0 disables all interrupts
      movwf INTCON        ;until we want timing to commence
      clrf  Sw_Flag
      movlw 07h           ;turn comparators off
      movwf cmcon
      clrf  portA
      clrf  portB
      clrf  units
      clrf  tens
      clrf  Random        ;random will be 1-9
      movlw .39
      movwf _20Secs
      goto  Main

;*************************************
;* Tables           *
;*************************************

table1  addwf   PCL,F             ;02h,1
          nop                           ;display random LED colour
        retlw   b'00000001'     ; Led A - red
        retlw   b'00000011'     ; Led A - orange
        retlw   b'00000010'     ; Led A - green
        retlw   b'00000100'     ; Led B - red
        retlw   b'00001100'     ; Led B - orange
        retlw   b'00001000'     ; Led B - green
        retlw   b'01000000'     ; Led C - red
        retlw   b'11000000'     ; Led C - orange
        retlw   b'10000000'     ; Led C - green

table2  addwf   PCL,F           ;02h,1  add W to program counter
        retlw   b'00111111'     ; "0"   -|F|E|D|C|B|A
        retlw   b'00000110'     ; "1"   -|-|-|-|C|B|-
        retlw   b'01011011'     ; "2"   G|-|E|D|-|B|A
        retlw   b'01001111'     ; "3"   G|-|-|D|C|B|A
        retlw   b'01100110'     ; "4"   G|F|-|-|C|B|-
        retlw   b'01101101'     ; "5"   G|F|-|D|C|-|A
        retlw   b'01111101'     ; "6"   G|F|E|D|C|-|A
        retlw   b'00000111'     ; "7"   -|-|-|-|C|B|A
        retlw   b'01111111'     ; "8"   G|F|E|D|C|B|A
        retlw   b'01101111'     ; "9"   G|F|-|D|C|B|A


;************************************
;* Sub routines         *
;************************************

Attract     ;flash all red, orange  green then random LED

        movlw   b'01000101'     ; all red
        movwf   portA
        call    _250mS
        movlw   b'11001111'     ; all orange
        movwf   portA
        call    _250mS
        movlw   b'10001010'     ; all green
        movwf   portA
        call    _250mS
        clrf    portA
        call    _250mS
        call    _250mS
        retlw   00

        ;produce random number

Create  incf    Produce,f
        movlw   .10         ;put ten into w
        xorwf   Produce,0   ;compare Random file with ten
        btfss   status,2    ;zero flag in status. Set if Random = ten
        goto    $+3
        clrf    Produce
        incf    Produce,f
        retlw   00


    ;Delays

_1mS    nop
      decfsz    temp1,f
      goto    _1mS
      retlw     00


_10mS   movlw     0Ah
        movwf     temp2
_b    nop
      decfsz    temp1,f
      goto    _b
      decfsz    temp2,f
      goto    _b
      retlw     00

_100mS  movlw     .100
          movwf   temp2
_c      nop
        decfsz  temp1,f
        goto      _c
        decfsz  temp2,f
        goto      _c
        retlw   00

_250mS  movlw     .240
          movwf   temp2
_d      nop
        decfsz  temp1,f
        goto      _d
        decfsz  temp2,f
        goto      _d
        retlw   00

_500mS  movlw     02
        movwf     temp3
        call      _250mS
        decfsz  temp3,f
        goto      $-2
        retlw     00

_3Sec     movlw   .12
        movwf     temp3
        call      _250mS
        decfsz  temp3,f
        goto      $-2
        retlw     00


;interrupt service routine

isr     nop
        bsf     status,rp0  ;Bank 1
        bsf     PIE1,0        ;,0 1=enables TMR1 interrupt
        bcf     status,rp0  ;bank 0
        bcf     PIR1,0        ;clear TMR1 overflow flag
        bsf     INTCON,7      ;This instruction is needed HERE!!!
        bsf     INTCON,6      ;1=enable all peripheral interrupts
        decfsz  _20Secs,f     ;creates 20Sec delay for each game.
        retfie

        bcf     PIE1,0        ;,0 0=disables TMR1 interrupt
        bcf     INTCON,6      ;0=disable all peripheral interrupts

        decf      tens,f
        incf      tens,f
        movlw     .10
        subwf     units,f
        btfsc     status,0    ;test carry bit for borrow
        goto      $-4
        movlw     .10
        addwf     units,f

        movlw     03
        movwf     loops

        movf      tens,w
        btfsc     status,z
        goto      $+.18         ;If 0-9, display single digit
        call      table2
        movwf     portB
        call      _500mS
        call      _250mS
        clrf      portB
        call      _250mS
        movf      units,w
        call      table2
        movwf     portB
        call      _500mS
        call      _250mS
        clrf      portB
        call      _500mS
        call      _500mS
        decfsz  loops,f
        goto      $-.18
        goto      SetUp

        movf      units,w
        call      table2
        movwf     portB
        call      _3Sec
        goto      SetUp


    ; show Stroop

Stroop  bsf   status,rp0
        clrf    06h               ;trisB   Make all RB output
        movlw   b'10000000'     ;
        movwf   OPTION_REG      ; x000 0000 x=1= weak pull-ups disabled
        bcf   status,rp0        ;select programming area - bank0
        movlw   07h               ;turn comparators off
        movwf   cmcon
        clrf    portA

        movlw   b'01101101'     ; "S"
        movwf   portB
        call    _500mS
        clrf    portB
        call    _250mS
        movlw   b'01111000'     ; "t"
        movwf   portB
        call    _500mS
        clrf    portB
        call    _250mS
        movlw   b'01010000'     ; "r"
        movwf   portB
        call    _500mS
        clrf    portB
        call    _250mS
        movlw   b'01011100'     ; "o"
        movwf   portB
        call    _500mS
        clrf    portB
        call    _250mS
        movlw   b'01011100'     ; "o"
        movwf   portB
        call    _500mS
        clrf    portB
        call    _250mS
        movlw   b'01110011'     ; "P"
        movwf   portB
        call    _500mS
        clrf    portB
        goto    SetUp


Sw      clrf    Sw_Flag
        bsf   status,rp0
        bcf   06h,7             ;trisB   Make bit 7 output
        bcf   status,rp0
        bsf   portB,7             ;make bit 7 HIGH
        call    _1mS                ;create delay to charge 100n
        bsf   status,rp0
        bsf   06h,7             ;trisB   Make bit 7 input
        bcf   status,rp0
        call    _10mS
        call    _10mS
        btfsc   06h,7               ;if HIGH, button not pushed
        retlw   00
        clrf    count
        bsf   status,rp0
        bcf   06h,7             ;trisB   Make bit 7 output
        bcf   status,rp0
        bsf   portB,7             ;make bit 7 HIGH
        call    _1mS                ;create delay to charge 100n
        bsf   status,rp0
        bsf   06h,7             ;trisB   Make bit 7 input
        bcf   status,rp0
SwA     call    _1mS
        call    _1mS
        incf    count,f
        btfsc   06h,7               ;is input HIGH?
        goto    SwA               ;count exits with 1-8
        bsf   Sw_Flag,0       ;button has been pushed
        decfsz  count,f
        goto    $+3
        bsf   Sw_Flag,1
        retlw   00
        decfsz  count,f
        goto    $+3
        bsf   Sw_Flag,1
        retlw   00
        decfsz  count,f
        goto    $+3
        bsf   Sw_Flag,2
        retlw   00
        decfsz  count,f
        goto    $+3
        bsf   Sw_Flag,2
        retlw   00
        decfsz  count,f
        goto    $+3
        bsf   Sw_Flag,2
        retlw   00
        bsf   Sw_Flag,3
        retlw   00


        ;switch released

Sw_Rel  clrf    Sw_Flag
        bsf   status,rp0
        bcf   06h,7             ;trisB   Make bit 7 output
        bcf   status,rp0
        bsf   portB,7             ;make bit 7 HIGH
        call    _1mS                ;create delay to charge 100n
        bsf   status,rp0
        bsf   06h,7             ;trisB   Make bit 7 input
        bcf   status,rp0
        call    _10mS
        call    _10mS
        btfsc   06h,7               ;if HIGH, button not pushed
        retlw   00
        bsf   Sw_Flag,0
        retlw   00


;*************************************
;* Main                 *
;*************************************

            ;Stroop comes on "blank" looking for button-push
Main    call    Create
      call  Sw
      btfss Sw_Flag,0
      goto  $-3 ;no
        ;button pressed and Random Number generated

        ;Stroop goes into ATTRACT mode then stops on Random LED

    call    Attract

            ;Display Random LED colour, waiting for sw press


;****************************************************************
;* Start Timer1 to count 20 seconds in the background       *
;****************************************************************

      bsf     status,rp0    ;Bank 1
      movlw b'10000000' ;
      movwf OPTION_REG  ; x000 0000 x=1= weak pull-ups disabled
      bcf     status,rp0    ;bank 0

      movlw b'11000000' ;b'11000000'
      movwf INTCON        ;,0  1=RB port change interrupt flag
    ;,1  1=RB0 interrupt occurred
    ;bcf    INTCON,2    ;1=TMR0 overflowed. Clear overflow flag
    ;bcf    INTCON,3    ;1=enable RB port change interrupt
    ;bcf    INTCON,4    ;1=enable RB external interrupt
    ;bsf    INTCON,5    ;1=enable TMR0 overflow (interrupt)
    ;bcf    INTCON,6    ;1=enable all peripheral interrupts
    ;bsf    INTCON,7    ;1=enable all unmasked interrupts

    movlw   b'00110101' ;b'00110001'
    movwf   T1CON           ;,7  not used
                ;,6 0=Timer1 is ON
                ;,5,4  11=8 prescale (max) 01=1:2
                ;,3 bit ignored
                ;,2 This MUST BE SET!!!!!!
                ;,1 0=int clock
                ;,0 1=enable timer1

    bsf status,rp0  ;Bank 1 (Must use Bank1)
    bsf PIE1,0      ;,0 1=enables TMR1 interrupt
    bcf status,rp0  ;bank 0
    bcf PIR1,0      ;clear TMR1 overflow flag

    clrf    TMR1L       ;clear the Timer1 low register
    clrf    TMR1H       ;clear the Timer1 high register
                ;Timer0 is not used
                ; will go to isr when overflow in TMR1
                ;0.52 sec when prescaler=1:8  524,288uS

    bsf status,rp0  ;Bank 1 (Must use Bank1)
    bsf PIE1,0      ;,0 1=enables TMR1 interrupt
    bcf status,rp0  ;bank 0

            ;game has started with random LED

Main2   movf    Produce,w
      movwf Random
      call  table1
      movwf portA       ;show random number
            ;program gets to here after 1 press

      call  Create
      call  Sw
      btfss Sw_Flag,0   ;has button been pressed?
      goto  $-3     ;no
            ;button pressed

      movlw 01
      xorwf Random,0    ;yes
      btfss status,z    ;test zero bit for compare
      goto  $+5
      btfss Sw_Flag,1   ;random=1   Is sw = button1
      goto  release
      incf  units,f
      goto  release

      movlw 02
      xorwf Random,0    ;yes
      btfss status,z    ;test zero bit for compare
      goto  $+5
      btfss Sw_Flag,2   ;random=2   Is sw = button2
      goto  release
      incf  units,f
      goto  release

      movlw 03
      xorwf Random,0    ;yes
      btfss status,z    ;test zero bit for compare
      goto  $+5
      btfss Sw_Flag,3   ;random=3   Is sw = button3
      goto  release
      incf  units,f
      goto  release

      movlw 04
      xorwf Random,0    ;yes
      btfss status,z    ;test zero bit for compare
      goto  $+5
      btfss Sw_Flag,1   ;random=4   Is sw = button1
      goto  release
      incf  units,f
      goto  release

      movlw 05
      xorwf Random,0    ;yes
      btfss status,z    ;test zero bit for compare
      goto  $+5
      btfss Sw_Flag,2   ;random=5   Is sw = button2
      goto  release
      incf  units,f
      goto  release

      movlw 06
      xorwf Random,0    ;yes
      btfss status,z    ;test zero bit for compare
      goto  $+5
      btfss Sw_Flag,3   ;random=6   Is sw = button3
      goto  release
      incf  units,f
      goto  release

      movlw 07
      xorwf Random,0    ;yes
      btfss status,z    ;test zero bit for compare
      goto  $+5
      btfss Sw_Flag,1   ;random=7   Is sw = button1
      goto  release
      incf  units,f
      goto  release

      movlw 08
      xorwf Random,0    ;yes
      btfss status,z    ;test zero bit for compare
      goto  $+5
      btfss Sw_Flag,2   ;random=8   Is sw = button2
      goto  release
      incf  units,f
      goto  release

      incf  units,f
      goto  release

release clrf    portA
        call    _500mS
        goto    Main2

    End

THE GAME

The game is played by switching the project on and seeing which colour is illuminated.
Press the first button if the colour is RED, the second button if the colour is Orange and the third switch if the the colour is GREEN.
The aim is to get as many correct in 20 seconds.
The score appears on the 7-segment display. The display flashes the tens digit and then the units. It then blanks for 2 seconds and repeats the number. It does this 3 times then turns off.

Stroop Parts List

Cost:au $25.00plus $7 postage
Kits are available

Stroop Parts List

Cost: au $25.00plus $7 postage
Kits are available

GOING FURTHER

This project is one of a number of projects using a PIC microcontroller.
The overall concept of Talking Electronics is to show what can be done with a “micro.”
The project has been laid out on a prototyping board to show that an idea can be put together very quickly using the componentry from Talking Electronics. This especially includes a number of prototyping boards that have been designed by TE to cater for all sorts of “quick designs.”
Most of our projects are now built using surface mount componentry.
Once you go to SM, you never go backwards.
Surface mount may be fiddly and slower to put together but the end result is much smaller, cleaner and the project looks much simpler.
With the Stroop project, the challenge is to add more features.
You can add another 3 switches and 3 more LEDs or you can change the program to decrement the score for a false button-press or cancel the score completely.
You can also increase the time to get a better spread of results.
No matter what you do, the fact that you have modified the program is the important part.
There are too many “armchair” hobbyists that only carry out the simplest of endeavours.
Only by modifying the program will you learn anything.

This project is only one of 10 ideas we have designed for greeting cards. Instead of opening a $6.00 card to see the words “Happy Birthday,” you will also get a game using micro-thin electronics.


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#elektor
Colin Mitchell

Colin Mitchell

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