For the hands-on sessions you have to start MATLAB. To ensure that everything runs smooth, we will work with a clean and well-tested version of fieldtrip that is distributed on a USB stcik, rather than the version you might already have installed. Furthermore, the tutorial data does not have to be downloaded but will also be distributed on the USB stick.

1. Copy the complete Frankfurt directory from the USB stick to your computer
2. Unzip the fieldtrip-xxxxxxxx.zip file.
3. Unzip the Subject01.zip file, you should place the contents in the tutorial directory.

After copying all files to your computer and unzipping then, you start MATLAB. To ensure that the right version of fieldtrip is used, and not another version (such as the one included in SPM or EEGLAB), you type in the MATLAB command window

restoredefaultpath
cd path_to_directory/Fieldtrip-xxxxxxxx
addpath(pwd)
ft_defaults

The restoredefaultpath command clears your path, keeping only the official MATLAB toolboxes. The addpath(pwd) statement adds the present working directory, i.e. the directory containing the fieldtrip main funcctions. The ft_defaults command ensures that all required subdirectories are added to the path.

If you get the error “can't find the command ft_defaults” you should check the present working directory.

After installing fieldtrip to your path, you change into the tutorial directory

cd path_to_directory/tutorial

In general the tutorials start by reading the raw data from “Subject01.ds”, which is a data directory. You should not go into the SUbject01.ds directory, but stay at the level of the tutorial directory. If a specific tutorial instructs you to load data (and if you want the skip the step just prior to that because of time limitations), you should go into the respective tutorial subdirectory, i.e. tutorial/eventreltedaveraging.