Presenting segments for self-paced reading in the condition file and blocking

Builder
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condition_file copy.csv (258 Bytes) self_paced_reading.psyexp (28.0 KB)
S : macOS Catalina version 10.15.5
PsychoPy version : 3.2.4
Standard Standalone? (y/n) : Yes

Hi everyone,

I am trying to create a self-paced reading experiment in moving window paradigm. There are several questions that have been confusing me for days regarding how to set up the correct format for condition file and block trials.

  1. in condition files, I have seen two different formattings here and there-either distributing sentence stimuli in segments in rows or in columns (attached below is an example of distributing segments in different columns). How do they may affect the way the sentence stimuli are presented to the participants?

  2. In my experiment, since the length of segments (experimental presentation unit in different numbers of words) and the number of segments out of each sentence varies (see the csv.file), my question is how to manipulate builder or coder to handle these issues?

  3. My experiments consists of four blocks of experimental trials. How to build up four blocks along the routine flow and get the experimentation working by setting up a proper loop for these blocks?

Thanks in advance for those who can provide any help with my questions.

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  1. The main difference is about whether you want one row of data per sentence or per segment. Your example is appropriate for per sentence data.
  2. The easiest way to control your presentation would probably be to add an extra column for the number of segments. You could then end the routine when the number of segments is reached.
  3. I don’t quite understand your question, but I would put all four blocks in the same loop (or nested loops if necessary), so that you have a single copy of each of your core routines.

Best wishes,

Wakefield

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hi Wakefield,

Thank you for your suggestion. As for the second question, thanks in particular for reminding me of adding an extra column with the number of segments included. To end the routine when the number is reached, could this be achieved by the builder only or inserting a python command within the block loop? thanks.

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I’m pretty sure you would need a code snippet.

For the other method you might be able to avoid this by having an Excel file for every sentence (one row per snippet) and a master Excel file containing the sentences and the names of the sentence files.