This is an experiment template in which participants read sentences in segments and occasionally have to answer a comprehension question. The experiment consists of the following parts:
- Obligatory ethics agreement
- Form for inputting general demographic participant information (ID, native languages, federal state, age, gender, handedness)
- Instructions
- Exercise
- Continue to experiment display
- Main experiment sequence
- End screen and experiment explanation
The experiment is in German but the comments and the majority of the code is in English.
Once the participants consent to the ethics agreement, the list (or group) counter switches to the next list/group. This is because in my experiments, multiple participants can start the experiment simultaneously. By default, PCIbex switches to the next list once the participant has finished the experiment.
Before the start of the experiment, participants are asked to consent to the ethics agreement. Then they must fill in general questions concerning their age, gender, handedness, native languages etc. Next, they read instructions detailing the experimental task and giving examples of an experimental trial. Next, they practice the task in an exercise, before continuing to the main experiment. After completing the experiment, the participants are informed about the purpose of the study and are informed about their accuracy. At the end of the study, a random code is generated that the participants should email to the principal researcher in order to receive compensation.
In the exercise and the main experiment, the sentences are presented in increments (phrase-by-phrase). The participants control when each segment of the the sentence is presented by pressing the space bar. At the beginning of a trial, an asterisk (*) appears. Then, the sentence is presented entirely, with letters substituted for dashes. When the participants press the space bar, the first part of the sentence appears in place of the dashes. The remainder of the sentence is still concealed behind dashes. Each time the participants press the space bar, a new sentence segment appears and the previous one disappears. The participants can move forward in the sentence but cannot revisit the sentence parts they have already read. After the last segment, the trial ends with another press of the space bar.
The sentence presentation is occasionally followed by a question display. The participants use two predetermined keys to answer the questions. The two possible answers are presented on the left and on the right of the screen. The distribution of the answers is randomized. In the practice trials, feedback is provided for both correct and incorrect answers, but in the experimental trials feedback and a slight delay are provided when an incorrect answer is given. This is to discourage incorrect responses.
In the exercise, the order of the sentences is random. In the main experiment procedure, the stimuli presentation is randomly shuffled between critical items and distractor sentences.
Pull requests are welcome. For major changes, please open an issue first to discuss what you would like to change.
Please make sure to update tests as appropriate.
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