Use practice block RTs to calculate latency SD for subsequent trials (case 6217)

[Zeke]

Hi All,

I am assembling a DirectRT version of the Automated Operational Span Task (A-OSPAN). A sticking point is how, in Direct RT, to collect RTs and dynamically calculate a SD from the distribution of RTs collected during the initial practice block.

Why would I want to do this? Briefly, the SD is used to adjust the maximum time allowed for answering subsequent questions in the "real trials"; people who answer quickly during the practice block get less time to answer during the test trials, those who answer more slowly are allowed proportionally more time. Failure to answer within a 2.5 SD time window is counted as an error.

From what I see, response.xls files can be used to collect open ended answers for later use, but this is not exactly the same as piping RTs to a spreadsheet for calculations. As of now, I am stuck.

I would really love to complete this implementation for the DirectRT/Empirisoft community. I've seen about a half-dozen other users ask for A-OSPAN during the last year.