Is there a way to plot multiple boxplots in a subplot?

F(sub,day).Cond(Cond).Targ(TarInd_y,TarInd_x).RT(trcnt(Cond,TarInd_y,TarInd_x))=RT;

Unrecognized function or variable 'sub'.

figure;

for day=1:1
    for Cond=1:3
        for sub=1:1
            for r=1:rows
                for c=1:columns
                         subplot(rows,columns,(r-1)*columns+c), hold on;
                         boxplot(F(sub,day).Cond(Cond).Targ(r,c).RT)
                         
                         xticklabels({'Cond One', 'Cond Two', 'Cond Three'});
                   
                end
            end
        end
    end
end




%F(1, 1).Cond(1).Targ(1, 1).RT this would be==>%Subject 1 Day one conditions 1:3,Target row 1 column 1(aka top
%left).Reaction time values

So I have some data from an experiment where I had subjects come in on 3 different days for a hand reaching task. In this experiment we had right, left and choice (subject chooses between r and l hand to reach to a target) trials.

I am trying to plot the reaction time values (a vector of 10 values for cond=1 or 2, 20 for cond=3) for all 33 targets (3 rows of 11 columns) for one subject for each different condition (3) as it's own boxplot in a subplot. The code above plots the boxplots on top of one another.

The question is very simple: is there a way to plot cond=1 trials/RT values as the first x-axis tick boxplot and cond2 and cond 3 as second and third tick on the x-axis.

Thanks!

Answer 1

[Cris LaPierre]

Sure. Turn your condition (0, 1, 3) into a categorical array, and use that to group your data using boxchart.

% tiledlayout(3,11)
C1 = rand(10,1)*10; 
cond1 = categorical(zeros(size(C1)));

C2 = rand(10,1)*10; 
cond2 = categorical(ones(size(C2)));

C3 = rand(20,1)*10; 
cond3 = categorical(ones(size(C3))*3);

C = [C1; C2; C3];
cond = [cond1; cond2; cond3];
boxchart(cond,C)

[Leutrim Mehmeti]

Did you mean to implement it like this? How would this work for 3(Conds) * 33 targets?

 if Cond==1
                         C1 = F(sub,day).Cond(Cond).Targ(r,c).RT;
                         cond1 = categorical(size(C1));
                     end
                     
                     if Cond==2
                         C2 = F(sub,day).Cond(Cond).Targ(r,c).RT; 
                         cond2 = categorical(size(C2));
                     end
                     
                     if Cond==3
                         C3 = F(sub,day).Cond(Cond).Targ(r,c).RT; 
                         cond3 = categorical(size(C2));
                     end
                     C = [C1; C2; C3];
                     cond = [cond1; cond2; cond3];
                     boxchart(cond,C)

[Cris LaPierre]

We don't have your data, but you can certainly run your code and see if it works.

If you'd like us to run and test, please share your data. You can save your variable F to a mat file and attach it to your post using the paperclip icon.

[Leutrim Mehmeti]

See attached!

[Cris LaPierre]

In this situation, I don't think your condition loop is gaining you anything. Just hard code it. Here's one approach. Note that due to the number of graphs, you will want to make the figure fullscreen.

Since boxplots are a visual way to quickly compare different datasets, I might also suggest fixing the ylims of all boxcharts so that you can easily compare them.

tiledlayout(rows,columns)
for day=1:1
    for sub=1:1
        for r=1:rows
            for c=1:columns
                C1 = F(sub,day).Cond(1).Targ(r,c).RT;
                cond1 = categorical(zeros(size(C1)));

                C2 = F(sub,day).Cond(2).Targ(r,c).RT;
                cond2 = categorical(ones(size(C2)));

                C3 = F(sub,day).Cond(3).Targ(r,c).RT;
                cond3 = categorical(ones(size(C3))*3);

                C = [C1, C2, C3];
                cond = [cond1, cond2, cond3];
                nexttile
                boxchart(cond,C)
                ylim([0,0.6])
                
            end
        end
    end
end

[Leutrim Mehmeti]

Okay that worked well. Thank you!

It took me a second to figure out how to turn the grayish color between subplots into white so the graph looks a little cleaner.

t=tiledlayout(rows,columns,'Padding','none');
for day=1:1
    for sub=1:1
        for r=1:rows
            for c=1:columns
                C1 = F(sub,day).Cond(1).Targ(r,c).RT;
                cond1 = categorical(zeros(size(C1)));
                C2 = F(sub,day).Cond(2).Targ(r,c).RT;
                cond2 = categorical(ones(size(C2)));
                C3 = F(sub,day).Cond(3).Targ(r,c).RT;
                cond3 = categorical(ones(size(C3))*3);
                C = [C1, C2, C3];
                cond = [cond1, cond2, cond3];
                nexttile
                boxchart(cond,C)
                ylim([0,0.60])
                
                h=gca;
                S=gcf;
                set(gcf,'WindowState','maximized','Color', [1 1 1]);
                h.Children.LineWidth=0.3
                
                    if c>1
                        h.YAxis.Visible='off';
                    end
                 
                title(t,'Targets')  
                xlabel(t,'Conditions')
                ylabel(t,'Reaction Time [ms]')
%                 t.TileSpacing='tight'
%                 t.Padding='tight'
                
            end
        end
    end
end