Presenting a subset of trials

I’m trying to create an experiment where participants see a random selection of words from 6 different lists.

List 1-5 have 10 words total, so I want participants to see 5 words from each list. List 6 has 50 words total and I would like participants to see 25 words from this list. Additionally participants should see the words randomly, not grouped by which list they are from.

I’ve tried different ways of getting this to work (with a reduced number of events) but with no luck.

Task 2 (just the Task 2 section) uses “When to run” in the block editor, presenting trials in the block until it has shown 1 trial each from list 1-5 and 5 trials from list 6. The problem is that it doesn’t stop superlab from presenting more than one trial from each list, it just stops once is has presented at least 1 from list 1-5 and 5 from list 6.

I tried to limit at trial level, but this does not seem to be working either. Task 3 is a simplified version using just one word list with “When to present” set to stop presenting after 5 times. However, this causes superlab to not run anything at all. I’ve tried adding this to Task 2, but again it just means that no trials are presented. I don’t know if this has anything to do with how superlab manages stimulus lists and, if that is the case, if there is any way around that.

Task3.zip (1.58 KB)

Task2.zip (3 KB)

A sample experiment is attached. It is using two stimulus lists so you can see how it is set up.

  • You will need to create three codes. The first code is looking for the type of list that was presented
  • In your experiment it is named "Type of List", with two values "Words" and "Non-Words"
  • You will also create a code "Present List 1 (Words)" with a "Yes" and "No" value and a code "Present List 2 (Non-Words) with also a "Yes" and "No" value
  • Two macros are also needed "Check if 5 items in List 1 (words) have been presented" and "Check if 10 items in List 2 (non-words) have been presented"
  • Under the [B]Expression[/B] tab it states "Number of Trials Presented in This Block is greater than or equal to 5 trials (Trials marked with the code "Type of List" equal to "Words")
  • The [B]If True[/B] tab states "Present List 1 (Words)" to "No" in all trials in this block
  • The same type of macro was created for "Check if 10 items in List 2 (non-words) have been presented"
  • In the [B]Trial Editor [/B]for "Words Trial", under the When to Present tab, an expression was created to read "Present List 1 (Words)" Is Not Set To "No"
  • Also under the [B]Code Value[/B] tab, within the [B]Trail Editor[/B]:" Words" for under [B]Type of List[/B] was selected and "Yes" was selected under [B]Present List 1 (Words)[/B]
  • The same thing is done under the [B]Trial Editor[/B] for "Non-Words" except for under the [B]Code Value[/B] tab "Non-Words" is selected under[B] Type of List[/B] and "Yes" was selected under [B]Present List 2 (Words)[/B]

Sample.sl4 (7.08 KB)

Hello,
This turned out to be a solution that I was looking for as well. However, when I run my experiment, after each of the subset of stimuli have been run and the macro is set to move on to the next trials, the program takes several seconds in the middle of the experiment before moving onto the next trial (I have quite a few trials). Is there any way to fix this problem?

Thank you!

I think it would be best if you can post your entire experiment so I can run it. Please post an as an Experiment Package, which can be found under the File menu within SuperLab.