User`s guide

E-Prime User’s Guide
Chapter 2: Using E-Studio
Page 44
2.6.6 Special notes: Multiple methods to divide a
design between levels
Multiple methods may be used to execute different procedures during different blocks. The last
task illustrated using a block level attribute to set a parameter of an object executed in the trial
procedure (the PrimeDuration). Two other common procedures are to pass a nested list, or to
pass an experimental procedure. These are advanced features providing a great deal of
flexibility. They will be briefly illustrated.
2.6.6.1 Use of nested lists passed from the block level
Note: A finished version of Stage4-NestedBlockList-LexicalDecision001.es is located in the C:\My
Experiments\Tutorials\Using E-Studio Stages directory.
By passing nested List objects from a block List, the trial level Procedure can select stimuli from
different sets of items per block. For example, you could run one block of trials in which all of the
words are from the Animal category, and a second block in which all of the words are from the
Fruits category. This can be accomplished by using an attribute at the block level (e.g.,
ListType), which specifies the different lists of stimuli (e.g., AnimalList and FruitList). Then, the
block level attribute is used to select the nested List at the trial level by referencing the attribute
name in the Nested column of the list at the trial level. Continuing the example above, add the
ListType attribute to the BlockList, and enter “AnimalList” and “FruitList” as the values for this
attribute.
In the DesignList (i.e., the List at the trial level), enter a reference to the ListType attribute in the
Nested column for the Word trials (i.e., ProbeType=Word). This will allow the Word trial stimuli to
be chosen from a single List (either the AnimalList or the FruitList), and the List used would vary
for each block of trials according to the ListType attribute. For the NonWord trials, all stimuli can
be chosen from a single list of non-words, thus the Nested column for the NonWord trials (i.e.,
ProbeType=NonWord) would refer to a NonWordList. Rather than specifically entering the
stimulus string in the Stimulus attribute column, enter the name of an attribute (e.g., ListStim) to
be resolved using values from the Nested Lists.