Typically, you will NOT need to modify the IAT instructions.
If you do need to modify them, for example, because you are testing non-native English speakers, or a population that would benefit from additional or specially worded instructions, you can easily modify the text to suit your needs. The IAT sample includes general instructions that have been written to apply to any IAT, regardless of the attributes or targets.
If you scroll down below the target category definitions, you'll find the following element, which specifies the text for 7 pages of instructions that appear throughout the IAT. Instructions are defined using the <item> element, just as the attribute and target stimuli were. One difference, however, is that the instruction items formatted with line breaks, which helps make them more readable when presented on the screen.
<item instructions> / 1 = "Put your left finger on the 'E' response key for items that belong to the category '<%expressions.leftTarget%>'. Put your right finger on the 'I' response key for items that belong to the category '<%expressions.rightTarget%>'. ~nItems will appear one-by-one in the middle of the screen. ~nIf you make an error, a red X will appear - to continue, press the other response key. ~nGo as fast as you can while making as few errors as possible." / 2 = "Put your left finger on the 'E' response key for items that belong to the category '<%item.attributeAlabel.item(1)%>'. Put your right finger on the 'I' response key for items that belong to the category '<%item.attributeBlabel.item(1)%>'. ~nIf you make an error, a red X will appear - to continue, press the other response key. ~nGo as fast as you can while making as few errors as possible." / 3 = "Press the left 'E' key for '<%item.attributeAlabel.item(1)%>' and '<%expressions.leftTarget%>'. Press the right 'I' key for '<%item.attributeBlabel.item(1)%>' and '<%expressions.rightTarget%>'. ~nEach item belongs to only one category. ~nIf you make an error, a red X will appear - to continue, press the other response key. ~nGo as fast as you can while making as few errors as possible." / 4 = "This is the same task as the previous one. ~n~nPress the left 'E' key for '<%item.attributeAlabel.item(1)%>' and '<%expressions.leftTarget%>'. Press the right 'I' key for '<%item.attributeBlabel.item(1)%>' and '<%expressions.rightTarget%>'. ~nEach item belongs to only one category. ~nGo as fast as you can while making as few errors as possible." / 5 = "Attention! The labels have changed sides. ~nPress the left 'E' key for '<%expressions.rightTarget%>'. Press the right 'I' key for '<%expressions.leftTarget%>'. ~nGo as fast as you can while making as few errors as possible." / 6 = "Press the left 'E' key for '<%item.attributeAlabel.item(1)%>' and '<%expressions.rightTarget%>'. Press the right 'I' key for '<%item.attributeBlabel.item(1)%>' and '<%expressions.leftTarget%>'. ~nIf you make an error, a red X will appear - to continue, press the other response key. ~nGo as fast as you can while making as few errors as possible." / 7 = "This is the same task as the previous one. ~nPress the left 'E' key for '<%item.attributeAlabel.item(1)%>' and '<%expressions.rightTarget%>'. Press the right 'I' key for '<%item.attributeBlabel.item(1)%>' and '<%expressions.leftTarget%>' ~nEach item belongs to only one category. ~nGo as fast as you can while making as few errors as possible." </item>
You can modify the instruction pages just as you did the attributes and category items, by simply editing the text within quotation marks.
If you make significant change to the instructions, you might also need to change the size and location at which the text is presented on the screen. The element that controls how instruction text is presented is the following:
<text instructions> / items = instructions / position = (10%, 25%) / halign = left / valign = top / hjustify = left / vjustify = center / size = (80%, 50%) / select = values.instructionIndex </text>
The <text> element is used to define how a set of text items are presented. The first command in the element, / items = instructions, specifies that the actual text items are defined in an <item> element called "instuctions", which is the <item instruction> element we just covered above. The / hjustify = left command specifies that text should be left justified. You can also set this to "center" or "right" (e.e., for right to left languages like Hebrew). The / size = (90%, 60%) specifies the size of the bounding rectangle in which the text should be presented (and words are wrapped). In this case, the width is 90% of the screen, and the height is 60%. By using percentages, the size will scale across monitors with different display resolutions. The /position = (50%, 85%) command specifies the position on the screen, which is the located horizontally at the midpoint of the screen and 85% of the way veritically towards the bottom. The /valign = bottom command specifies that the bottom of the bounding rectangle containing the text should align with the point on the screen specified by the position command. The rest we'll ignore for now.
Note that if you need to resize the text itself, you can do so using the /fontstyle command. To change the fontstyle, insert the cursor inside the <text instructions> element and select the "Font Wizard" command from the Tools menu. This will launch a graphical font picker that will allow you to choose the font parameters and insert the corresponding /fontstyle command into the script.
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Modifying Target Categories
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Changing Response Keys
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