Creating Instructions

Now lets define a set of instruction pages that inform the subject how to perform the task. Defining the instruction pages is easy using the page element. First, we'll define a simple welcome page.

 <page intro> 
 ^^^^^^^ Implicit Association Test
 ^^Welcome and thank you for participating.
</page>

Note that the "^" character is used to force a line break. Otherwise, lines of text are word-wrapped. Now we'll define the rest of the instruction pages:

<page up>
The tasks that you will be doing in this experiment involve CATEGORY JUDGMENT. On each trial, a stimulus will be displayed, and you must assign it to one of two categories. You should respond AS RAPIDLY AS POSSIBLE in categorizing each stimulus, but don't respond so fast that you make many errors. (Occasional errors are okay.)^^
The two categories that you are to distinguish are:^^
UNPLEASANT vs. PLEASANT words.^^
Press the "a' key if the stimulus is an UNPLEASANT word.^^
But press "5' key if the stimulus is a PLEASANT word.^^
</page>

<page if> 
The two categories that you are to distinguish are:^^
INSECTS vs. FLOWERS.^^
Press the "a' key if the stimulus is an INSECT.^^
But press "5' key if the stimulus is a FLOWER.^^
</page>

<page fi>
The two categories that you are to distinguish are:^^
FLOWERS vs. INSECTS.^^
Press the "a' key if the stimulus is a FLOWER.^^
But press "5' key if the stimulus is an INSECT.^^
</page>

<page compatible>
The four categories that you are to distinguish are:^^
UNPLEASANT vs. PLEASANT words^
or^
INSECTS vs. FLOWERS.^^
Press the "a' key if the stimulus is^
an UNPLEASANT word or an INSECT.^^
But press "5' key if the stimulus is^
a PLEASANT word or a FLOWER.^^
</page>

<page incompatible>  
The four categories that you are to distinguish are:^^
UNPLEASANT vs. PLEASANT words^
or^
FLOWERS vs. INSECTS.^^
Press the "a' key if the stimulus is^
an UNPLEASANT word or a FLOWER.^^
But press "5' key if the stimulus is^
a PLEASANT word or an INSECT.^^
</page>

<page end>  
The Implicit Association Test is now concluded. 
If you have any questions or reactions to the 
experiment, please discuss them with the experimenter.
</page>

Finally, we'll specify how participants can navigate through the instruction pages using the instruct element. A script should have only one such element.

<instruct>
/ nextkey = ("5")
/ prevkey = ("a")
</instruct>

The nextkey attribute indicates that participants must press the "5" key to advance to the next page, and the prevkey attribute specifies pressing the "a" key goes back to the previous key.

Creating Text Stimuli

Creating Trials