We are trying to figure out if we can do a “method of adjustment” experiment in SuperLab or if we are going to be limited to coding it in Matlab.
In this experiment we want to present a stimulus called a Gabor. This should be presented at a random orientation + or - 45 degrees from our desired orientation (for instance, if we are interested in obtaining what a participant believes is 90 degrees, the initial presentation of the Gabor could randomly be at 80 degrees). The participant needs to use either the 1 (counterclockwise) or 2 (clockwise) key to rotate the Gabor until he or she thinks it is straight up and down, at which point he or she would press 0. We would record the angle it was presented at when the participant indicated it was at the correct orientation and then move on to the next trial.
Can we have SuperLab rotate a Gabor using the rules? The only thing I can think of is to create a trial for each possible starting rotation, then a rule for each stating that if a 1 is pressed, move to Gabor -1 degree rotation, or if a 2 is pressed, move to Gabor +1 degree rotation. This would mean we need to create rules for each of 180 degrees possible Gabor orientations, so roughly 360 rules in total. I am concerned that SuperLab may crash on me with such a large file. I was having issues with that in a previous experiment.
Is it possible to have it rotate the Gabor within a single event until the participant indicates it is “correct”? Can we then have the participant’s response record the last presented angle?
Ultimately, we want to have three base orientations tested, so three blocks. One block for 90 degrees, one block for 45 degrees, and one for 180 degrees. Each block would be limited to + or - 45 degrees from the desired angle.
If we are limited to the solution I mentioned above, is there any way to ensure the experiment will not crash due to the large size?
Thank you for your time and assistance with this matter.