Download data: JSON file format¶

JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) is a text-based format to store arbitrary object structures. It can be read by a variety of programming languages, making it the most versatile option for data analysis.

When to use JSON¶

JSON is ideal when you need to:

Work with hierarchical or nested data (e.g., the Tree structure)
Process data programmatically in Python, R, JavaScript, or other languages
Preserve the full structure of your experiment data
Access all available variables and metadata

For simple tabular data that you want to open in a spreadsheet, CSV may be more convenient.

Compatible data structures¶

JSON format is available for these data structures:

Tree structure — Full hierarchical data with all variables and metadata
Table structure — Rows and columns of form responses
Annotations structure — One entry per stimulus annotation

Loading JSON data¶

PythonRMATLABJavaScript / Node.js

import json
from pprint import pprint

# Load the JSON file
with open('Meadows_myStudy_tree.json') as data_file:
    data = json.load(data_file)

# Display the data structure
pprint(data)

library(jsonlite)

# Load the JSON file
data <- fromJSON('Meadows_myStudy_tree.json')

# Display the data structure
str(data)

For MATLAB, install the JSONLab toolbox and use:

data = loadjson('Meadows_myStudy_tree.json')  % replace with your filename

const fs = require('fs');

// Load the JSON file
const data = JSON.parse(fs.readFileSync('Meadows_myStudy_tree.json', 'utf8'));

// Display the data
console.log(data);