Restricted time for word retrieval (case 21249)

Hi all,

I am struggling with setting up a restricted timed response for my Media Lab file. I have read a number of threads concerning timed responses using Min-Max, but it seems like restricting free-response answer is not possible with Direct RT. So I'm trying to use Media Lab file to implement my study paradigm but it is still not working very well and I would really appreciate it if anyone could please shout out any ideas you might have!

What I am trying to do is to set the stimulus exposure time to 8 seconds for all the trials. I have some words that are partially shown, and others fully written. For the partial words, I want participants to write out the complete word, but I don't want them to be able to progress to the next trial before 8 seconds have ended so that each trial last for 8 seconds. I am able to set the response window to 8 seconds in which case the trials progress to the next trial after 8 seconds have passed, but the experiment is still allowing the participants to move on to the next trial BEFORE 8 seconds have passed when they press enter. Since I don't want participants to mindlessly race through the trials with responses, I want them to be unable to move on before 8 seconds have passed, but can't really find a way to do so at this point. I thought about disabling the enter key on the computer but then it would affect other experiments that needs the enter key...


I have attached the Media Lab file below. Please let me know if you have any ideas-- it would be much appreciated :)

Thanks,
Claire

Here are two things you can try. First, and the easier of the two, would be to turn off the message that says "Press Enter when you have typed your answer" that appears right below the response box for your fill-in-the-blank items. Take the file named substitute.txt attached to this post and put it in the same file folder as your .que and other MediaLab files. It will make the message disappear during the fill-in-the-blank item during the MediaLab session (for more information about the substitute.txt file in general, see the "Modify Message text" section on this page in the MediaLab manual: [url]http://www.empirisoft.com/medialab/help/preferences.htm[/url]). The Enter key will still be active, but this reduces the chances that participants will know to press it to move on away from the fill-in-the-blank item before the d8 parameter finishes.

Second, you could turn off the Enter key for the entire computer. See this thread on the Empirisoft support forums for information about how to try doing this: [url]http://www.empirisoft.com/support/showthread.php/3233-Disable-quot-Enter-quot-Key?highlight=Enter+key[/url].