Move a picture through a grid

SuperLab SuperLab 5 Support
1

Dear members,

I’m a new SuperLab user and would need help to prepare an experiment.

I have a picture of a “grid” and the figure of a circle (see file “A3” attached) and I need that the experimental subject move the circle trough the grid positions by pressing keys set to make to circle move “right”, “up”, “down” and “left”. File “B3” attached would represent a movement from “A3” to “B3” when the experimental subject pressed the “left” key.

What I’ve done so far was to make an event named “grid” with the grid figure and an event for the circle figure. In the “circle” event - “picture settings” - I set the “position of the picture is variable” and “select the variable” from a trial level list named “circle position” I prepared with each of the possible positions the circle can be (named them A1, A2, A3… B1, B2…). I also set the “presentation options” - “erase screen before presenting stimuli” unchecked to keep the grid image whist the circle is presented.

I tried some different possibilities to do what I need but haven’t succeed yet.

Would somebody have an idea on how to achieve it?

Best,

Felipe

2

This is feasible in SuperLab but requires some programming and logic skills since SuperLab does not have a built-in grid feature. IMO, this experiment will require programming no matter what presentation tool you use, except that with SuperLab, you would do that using the easier parameters and rules approach instead of programming using BASIC or C language. It is still not trivial.

For starters, I suggest you start with a smaller grid to get your feet wet. You don’t have to re-do the graphics, but you can start by using just a 3x3 grid portion.

Something else that you would need is “tracer” events. These are events that eventually the participant will not need, but would be helpful to you while building the experiment so that you can see the values of the parameters as you change them, by displaying something like $(my_param) in Text events.

I think that you will also find helpful the discussion the Square Sequence Recall and Method of Adjustment threads.

3

Thanks, Hisham.
How do I use programing in SuperLab? I suspect it is though the branching logic resources, is that correct? Any other suggestion?
I’ll give it a try for a while and get back here in the future if needed.
Thanks again,
Felipe

4

See chapters 4 and 5 of the SuperLab manual. They should be enough to get you started, but let me know if you have any questions after going through them.