Cognition Laboratory Experiments

John H. Krantz, Hanover College, krantzj@hanover.edu

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Hanover College
Psychology Department

Instructions for the
Word Superiority Experiment

In this experiment, you can see if there is any advantage to reading a letter in a word or alone.

When you click on the link below, you will be presented with the experiment setup screen.  On this screen will be the variables you can set to define your condition.  Here is a list of the variables and their settings

Variable Settings
Number of Trials The number of trials in each block.  Represents the number of words to be recalled at any one time.  From 2 to 9.
Number of Blocks The number of times to do the memory task. (1 to 30 seconds)
  Generally, a word will be presented only one time.  However, if the number of blocks times the number of trials exceeds the number of words, then words can be repeated on different blocks.
Duration of Trial The time duration which a word/math problem set are presented (1 to 30 seconds)
Time for Recognition Time for the recognition task (5 to 120 seconds)
Font Size The size of the letters that are presented (from 12 to 64 point)
Duration of Fixation Target before Block The time there is a fixation marker over the location of the mathematical problem at the beginning of each block (0 to 20 sec)

After you have finished making your settings, press the Done button at the bottom of the screen.  The Working Memory experiment screen will then be presented.  A start bar will be at the top of the screen at every trial and instructions will be in the center of the screen. 

Press the space bar to begin the experiment.  

At the end of the experiment your results will be presented.  This is a draft experiment so expect modifications, but they will be coming slowly.

Click here to start the experiment.

References: