Software for Generating Psychological Experiments
Abstract
This review compares four software packages for generating and running psychological computer experiments. It aims to inform researchers' decisions about which software to choose for their lab. Four widely used general purpose commercial packages available for the Windows platform are considered: DirectRT, E-Prime, Inquisit, and SuperLab. An overview of each package is given, and the implementation of two test experiments is described. Packages are evaluated with regard to the amount of complexity reduction they provide for the task of programming an experiment and the variety of experimental designs they can accommodate.
References
(2000). SurveyWiz and FactorWiz: JavaScript Web pages that make HTML forms for research on the Internet. Behavior Research Methods, Instruments, & Computers, 32, 339– 346
(1997). The psychophysics toolbox. Spatial Vision, 10, 433– 436
(2003). A simple and sensitive method to measure timing accuracy. Behavior Research Methods, Instruments, & Computers, 35, 109– 115
Direct RT (Version 2004.1.0.55) [Computer program]. New York (www.empirisoft.com): Empirisoft.
E-Prime (Version 1.1) [Computer program]. (2004). Pittsburgh, PA (www.pstnet.com): Psychology Software Tools.
(2003). DMDX: A Windows display program with millisecond accuracy. Behavior Research Methods, Instruments, & Computers, 35, 116– 124
Inquisit (Version 2.0.41230.0) [Computer program]. (2004). Seattle, WA (www.millisecond.com): Millisecond Software.
(2001). Millisecond timing on PCs and Macs. Behavior Research Methods, Instruments & Computers, 33, 174– 178
(2001). STEP—A system for teaching experimental psychology using E-Prime. Behavior Research Methods Instruments, & Computers, 33, 287– 296
(1999). Timing accuracy of PC programs running under DOS and Windows. Behavior Research Methods, Instruments, & Computers, 31, 322– 328
(2002). Toward an experimental timing standards lab: Benchmarking precision in the real world. Behavior Research Methods, Instruments & Computers, 34, 218– 226
(2002). Teaching psychology as a laboratory science in the age of the Internet. Behavior Research Methods, Instruments, & Computers, 34, 145– 150
(2002). Standards for Internet-based experimenting. Experimental Psychology, 49, 243– 256
(2002). WEXTOR: A Web-based tool for generating and visualizing experimental designs and procedures. Behavior Research Methods, Instruments, & Computers, 34, 234– 240
(2004). Software for psychophysics: An overview. Retrieved August 31, 2005, from www.lrz-muenchen.de/~Hans_Strasburger/psy_soft.html.
SuperLab Pro (Version 2) [Computer program]. (2004). San Pedro, CA (www.cedrus.com): Cedrus Corporation.
(2003). Express: A Web-based technology to support human and computational experimentation. Behavior Research Methods, Instruments, & Computers, 35, 605– 613