Pilot vs Running mode

Online experiments Pavlovia Surveys
1

I wondered if there are any significant differences between piloting mode and running mode of experiments, in they way of how they are run in the background.

A friend of mine created surveys and then an experiment with these surveys and while the experiment runs without problems in pilot mode, it is unusable in running mode. The code is exactly the same, there is no difference in the code for piloting and running mode but somehow, when the experiment is run in running mode, some code is executed simultaneously, rendering two parts of the experiment on top of each other and making the experiment unusable.

The surveys are in running mode and creating a new experiment with the same code turns up the same bug. We are a bit at the end of our ropes here, we see no obvious mistakes in the code and Claude didn’t find anything either. It seems like the only possibility is that the background technologies between pilot and running mode are a bit different which leads to the code reacting differently.

Has anyone experienced anything like this before? Does anyone have any insights into the differences between pilot and running mode and what could cause a bug like this?

2

Are you piloting locally or in the browser? I know that embedded surveys download data during the experiment when piloting.

Please could you clarify what you mean by rendering two parts of the experiment on top of each other? Are they two different components?

3

The experiment is running online on Pavlovia and thats where the bug appears. I sadly did not manage to get the project running locally so I cannot see if the bug is there as well.

The experiment has multiple “parts”. First there is info and consent for the participant (part 1), then there is a survey (part 2) and after that comes a task where the participant has to click on things (part 3). Part 1 runs normally. Then, part 2 starts with a short information and a continue button. In running mode, this info display is displayed and at the same time part 3 is displayed. Clicking on the screen only advances in part 3. So there are literally two things happening at the same time and displayed on top of each other, you can see both texts overlapping and all. Pilot mode runs everything normal, one after another.