An R interface to peekbank

The peekbankr package allows you to access data in Peekbank, an open database of developmental eye-tracking data, from R. Data are retrieved from the versioned peekbank dataset on Redivis; the get_ functions return tidy tables without you having to write queries. The package vignette provides examples of the data loading functions and what the resulting data look like.

Installation

# install.packages("remotes")
remotes::install_github("peekbank/peekbankr")

The first data request will open a browser window to authorize Redivis access (free account). For non-interactive use, set a REDIVIS_API_TOKEN environment variable instead.

Usage

Here's a simple workflow for using peekbankr to get data from a single study.

library(tidyverse)
library(peekbankr)

con <- connect_to_peekbank()   # pins the current database version

aoi_timepoints <- get_aoi_timepoints(connection = con, dataset_name = "pomper_saffran_2016")
administrations <- get_administrations(connection = con, dataset_name = "pomper_saffran_2016")

ps_data <- aoi_timepoints %>%
  left_join(administrations)

Database versions

Peekbank is released in named versions (e.g. 2026.1). By default connect_to_peekbank() uses the latest release and prints which one that is; pass db_version = "2025.1" (or a Redivis version tag like "v1.2") to pin an earlier release for reproducibility. get_db_info() lists the available versions.

Data files

Raw data, processed intermediates, and per-dataset READMEs live in the companion peekbank_files dataset:

get_readmes(datasets = "pomper_saffran_2016")          # dataset documentation
stimuli <- download_stimuli(con, datasets = "reflook_v4")  # stimulus images

Development

After making changes, run roxygen2::roxygenise() to update exports and documentation, and testthat::test_local() for the offline test suite.

Running the full test suite requires Redivis credentials: Without them the network tests skip. Copy .Renviron.template to .Renviron, fill in a personal API token from your Redivis workspace settings, and set PEEKBANK_NETWORK_TESTS=true.