Customer Reviews (case 22515)

[David McFarlane]

After all the glowing reports above, a note of dissent is in order. Let's see if Empirisoft dares to keep this in here.

Shortcomings of DirectRT include:

• Cannot do loops. E.g., cannot repeat a stimulus or trial an indefinite number of times until the subject gives a correct response (see forum threads support.empirisoft.com/showthread.php?t=975, support.empirisoft.com/showthread.php?t=698).
• Cannot do arithmetic. E.g., cannot halve a stimulus parameter on response success, and double it on failure, in order to derive a threshold value. (And do not even imagine using anything like Maximum Likelihood Estimation for adjusting stimulus parameters during the experiment.)
• Cannot process strings.
• Cannot draw. E.g., cannot draw a circle of arbitrary diameter calculated during the experiment.
• Cannot stop sound playback once started (User's Guide 3.12, p. 30).
• Displays a blank, black screen during every intertrial interval (see forum thread support.empirisoft.com/showthread.php?t=37).

Shortcomings aside, DirectRT clearly remains a superior platform for a select class of experimental psychology researchers engaged in a select subset of psychological work. But for many others, DirectRT will not do at all. Fortunately, plenty of other products will. Despite the banner on Empirisoft's web site, DirectRT is *not* THE way to do computer research. If your experimental designs by their nature entail any sort of computational complexity, you will need to look beyond DirectRT.

David McFarlane, Systems Designer
Dept. Psychology, Michigan State University

(Disclaimer: The opinions expressed are not necessarily those of my employer or anyone else associated with me.)