Present an picture, record response and RT?

[I][edited from support email][/I]

Hi,

In a study that I read, they used a paradigm that required subjects to look at the screen and determine if the arrows on the screen were all facing the same direction, or if they were facing opposite directions. The reaction time was recorded for when they actually clicked on the button to determine which way the arrows are pointing. I was interested in using this type of testing for a future study. Does Direct RT have the congruent/incongruent arrows as an option?

Thank you.

Sounds very doable. You would need to generate or obtain the arrow
images. Once you have them, DirectRT could easily display them and allow subjects to make such a judgment while also recording the RT on each trial.

Blair

[I][edited from follow-up support email][/I]

The images that I am looking for would look like this:

>>>>>
>><>>

The arrows scroll from left to right, and the subject needs to determine if the middle arrow is congruent or incongruent with the trailing arrows. They press one button for congruent and one button for incongruent.
We would need for the timing to start when image is completely on the screen. Is there a way of having a cue for the subjects so they know the arrows will be coming? Also, how easy is to to store data? Is there an ASCI file? Thank you for the help!

All of this is pretty easily accomplished. Take a look at the sample located:

C:\DirectRT\Samples\4 applications\image priming\implicit.csv

You can just replace the images with your own. There are a number of ways to create images. Best would be to contact the author of the earlier work and get their pictures. Otherwise, can you create the look and feel you want in Word? If so, I can tell you how to convert them into picture files.

Here is a brief paraphrased excerpt from the manual (see [URL="http://www.empirisoft.com/directrt/help/directrt_notes_about_image_files.htm"]www.empirisoft.com/directrt/help/directrt_notes_about_image_files.htm[/URL])

[LIST=1][*][LEFT]Set your system's display settings to match the screen resolution in which you'll be running your DirectRT session (e.g., 640x480, 800x600, 1024x768).[/LEFT][*][LEFT]Put the graphic you want to capture on the screen. Press PrintScreen. [/LEFT][*][LEFT]Open a graphics application and select Paste. The screen image will be pasted into your graphics application as a graphic. Crop it as desired. [/LEFT][*][LEFT]Save the image as a .bmp file. Remember that DirectRT can process the image faster if you save it in 8-bit or 256 colours.[/LEFT][/LIST]
And yes, the data files are comma delimited ascii files--easily viewed in Excel or any other spreadsheet analysis program.