Two scenarios

[Leisha Wharfield]

Regarding point #2, I'm wondering how it is determined which sentence 
will be played 7 different times. Is it the first sentence? Because if 
it is, I might make all 64 x 3 possible questions available in an 
initial task, then use that random pick to establish which set of 6 
other sentences would be played later. I would use both nesting and 
inline code.

Supposing that from the initial list the sentence picked is Sentence39. 
Get that attribute from the response to the initial trial, and use it to 
call out a list in the next, main trial. So, Sentence39 = Amp39, say, 
where Amp39 is a list with your 6 other sentence39s in it. Amp39 is the 
value of another attribute, say [AmpList], which will be called out in 
the main trial.

Then you could set up the main trial, nesting happy, sad, & neutral 
sentences in one line that has a weight of 63. On a second item in the 
main list, nest [AmpList], and give that item and its associated list a 
value of 6. If the selection is random, you will get the additional 6 
variations of Sentence39 scattered throughout the task, along with the 
63 other sentences.

Of course if you want half the judged pairs of sentences to be the same 
and half not to be the same, you'll have to manipulate how the items are 
selected from the nested lists, because if you have three lists in the 
task, where each list has the same number of items and the same weight, 
odds are you'll get twice as many random samples that are not matched.

I'm sure there's an easy way to make this adjustment via weight and 
selection settings. Hopefully someone else on the list will jump in with 
a suggestion.

Leisha Wharfield
Decision Research
Eugene, Oregon, USA

Rachel Mitchell wrote:

>Hello everybody :-)
>
>I have 2 scenarios that I need some help setting up.
>I can think of very long winded ways of doing what I need, i.e. by typing in
>64x64 lines in the stimuli list, but I suspect there are experts out there
>who know that it can be done much more simply.
>
>1) I have 64 happy sentences, 64 sad sentences and 64 neutral sentences. 
>Trials involve hearing 2 sentences, and judging whether they convey the same
>emotion (happy followed by a different happy sentence, sad followed by sad)
>or a different emotion (happy then sad, happy then neutral, sad then happy,
>sad then neutral, neutral then happy, neutral then sad).
>I need to make sure half my trials are same judgements and half different
>judgements, without there being an easily detectable pattern, e.g. alternate
>same and different all the way through.
>In simple terms, how can I achieve this?
>
>2) I have 64 sentences, and each is recorded at 7 different amplitude
>levels.
>During the whole task I intend to play 70 sentences.
>If e.g. sentence 39 is selected by e-prime, then I need to make sure that at
>some point during the task, the subject will hear all 7 versions of
>sentences 39.
>But, importantly, these 7 versions must be scattered randomly throughout the
>trials, i.e. they must not follow each other consecutively.
>
>
>I must confess I don't quite understand nesting, and have a deep-seated
>phobia of in-line script!
>
>Hoping you can help
>
>Best wishes
>Rachel
>
>
>--------------------------------------------------------
>Dr Rachel L. C. Mitchell.
>Lecturer in Cognitive Psychology, University of Reading.
>Senior Honorary Research Fellow, Institute of Psychiatry.
>Research Psychologist, Berkshire Healthcare NHS Trust.
>
>Correspondence Address:
>School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences,
>Whiteknights Road
>University of Reading
>Reading
>Berkshire
>RG6 6AL
>
>Tel: +44 (0)118 378 8523
>Direct Dial: +44 (0)118 378 7530
>Fax: +44 (0)118 378 6715
>----------------------------------------------------------------------- 
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>
>
>  
>

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