up Inquisit Language Reference

columns attribute

The columns attribute specifies which data columns to record to the data file.

Member of

<data>

Syntax

/ columns = (columnname, columnname, columnname, property, property, property)

Parameters

property Any property of any element may be listed as a data column. This includes custom properties defined in the values and expressions elements.
columnname A predefined data column. Any of the following predefined columns are allowed:
Name Description
date date (mmddyy) of the experiment
time time (hh:mm) the experiment started
build build number of the Inquisit executable running the session
group group id entered at the beginning of an experiment
subject subject id entered at the beginning of an experiment
session session id entered at the beginning of an experiment
trialcode trialcode for the current trial (default trialcode is the trial's name)
blockcode name of the current block
blocknum block number
trialnum number of the trial in the current block.
latency number of milliseconds from the end of the last display frame until a valid response is given
response Scan code of the pressed response key
responsetext Character of the pressed response key
correct indicates whether the response was correct (1) or incorrect (0)
error indicates whether the response was incorrect (1) or correct (0)
inwindow indicates whether the response was inside (1) or outside of (0) the response window
windowcenter the current response window center (ms), or 0 if the response window is not being used
pretrialpause length of pause (ms) at the beginning of the trial
posttrialpause length of pause (ms) at the end of the trial
meanlatency running average latency in the current block
medianlatency running median latency in the current block
sumlatency running sum of response latencies in the current block
minlatency shortest latency in the current block
maxlatency longest latency in the current block
sdlatency running standard deviation of response latencies in the current block
varlatency running variance of response latencies in the current block
numcorrect running total of correct responses in the current block
percentcorrect running percentage of correct responses in the current block
correctstreak running count of consecutive correct responses in the current block.
errorstreak running count of consecutive incorrect responses in the current block
numinwindow running total of responses falling within the response window in the current block
percentinwindow running percentage of responses falling within the response window in the current block
count running total of trials in the current block
totalmeanlatency running average latency over the entire experiment
totalmedianlatency running median latency over the entire experiment
totalsumlatency running sum of response latencies over the entire experiment
totalminlatency shortest latency over the entire experiment
totalmaxlatency longest latency over the entire experiment
totalsdlatency running standard deviation of response latencies over the entire experiment
totalvarlatency running variance of response latencies over the entire experiment
totalnumcorrect running total of correct responses over the entire experiment
totalpercentcorrect running percentage of correct responses over the entire experiment
totalcorrectstreak running count of consecutive correct responses over the entire experiment
totalerrorstreak running count of consecutive incorrect responses over the entire experiment
totalnuminwindow running total of responses falling within the response window over the entire experiment
totalpercentinwindow running percentage of responses falling within the response window over the entire experiment
totalcount running total of trials over the entire experiment
simulusnumber the item number presented on the current trial
stimulusitem the item presented on the current trial
stimulusonset the onset time in milliseconds of the presented stimulus

Remarks

The columns attribute specifies the data values to be recorded to file and the column in which they are written. There are three types of columns that can be listed: 1) a reserved keyword representing a particular data value, and 2) any property of any element defined in the script. The data values may be specified in any order. On each trial, Inquisit will write a single line of data consisting of each data value specified by the column. Columns will appear in the data file in the specified order.

Stimulusnumber, stimulusitem, and stimulusonset receive special treatment.

The first stimulusnumber specified in the columns attribute indicates that the item number of the first stimulus appearing on the current trial should be recorded. The second stimulusnumber indicates that the item number of the second stimulus presented on the trial should be recorded, and so on. If no 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc. stimulus is presented on a given trial, a '0' is recorded.

Similarly, the first stimulusitem specified in the columns attribute indicates that the actual item presented by the first stimulus appearing on the current trial should be recorded. If the stimulus is <text> or <port>, the actual item is recorded. If the stimulus is a <sound>, <picture>, or <video>, the item’s filename is recorded. If the stimulus is a <shape>, the name of the shape is recorded. Like stimulusnumber, each successive stimulusitem records the item from each successive stimulus presented on the trial. If no 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc. stimulus is presented on a given trial, a '0' is recorded.

Similarly, the first stimulusonset specified in the columns attribute indicates that the onset time of the first stimulus appearing on the current trial should be recorded. Like stimulusnumber, each successive stimulusonset records the onset time for each successive stimulus presented on the trial. If no 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc. stimulus is presented on a given trial, a '0' is recorded.

Examples

The following records 10 columns to the data file:

<data>
/ columns=(group, subject, computer.ipaddress.1, blockcode, trialcode, trialnum, latency, response, stimulusitem, stimulusitem, values.totalearnings, values.dprime, script.elapsedtime)
</data>

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