A stimulus list is a collection of files or words that can be used with the following event types: Movie, Picture File, Sound File, and Text. There are no limits on the number of stimulus lists that you can create nor on the number of items can each list have.
To create a list of words:
Click on the Experiment menu and select Stimulus Lists. A dialog appears showing all the stimulus lists already created, if any.
Click on the New (+) icon button to create a new list. The Stimulus List Editor appears.
Enter a name for the list.
Click on the List Type
popup menu and set the type to Text:
The list type can be changed only when the list is being created.
Enter the list of words or sentences, one per line. You can also use the Clipboard to copy from another program and paste into SuperLab.
Click on the Import button to read the list of words from an external text file. Note that SuperLab does not maintain a link to the text file; updating the contents of the file will not update the list items.
Click on the OK button when you are done.
Click on the Experiment menu and select Stimulus Lists. A dialog appears showing all the stimulus lists already created, if any.
Click on the New (+) icon button to create a new list. The Stimulus List Editor appears.
Enter a name for the list.
Click on the List Type popup menu and set the type to File if it’s not already. The list type can be changed only when the list is being created.
Click on the File(s) are for
use with events of type popup menu and select the event type that
you want to use this list with:
Click on the Add Files
button to add one or more files. You
can add several files at the same time. You
can also add the same file several times; SuperLab will display a duplicate
icon () next to it.
Click on the Add Folder button to add the contents of a folder. SuperLab will add all the files that the event type supports, e.g. if you are creating a list of picture files, SuperLab will add all the GIF, JPEG, BMP, TIFF, and PNG files that it can find in that folder. SuperLab will also search all subfolders contained within the folder. It reads the files found in alphabetical order.
When you add a folder to the list instead of individual files, it is worth noting that SuperLab maintains a dynamic link to the folder. It searches the folder for files only when running an experiment (as opposed to when you click on the Add Folder button). This makes it possible to modify an experiment simply by changing the contents of the folder.
Click on the OK button when you are done.
Some experiments require that two or more stimulus lists be used in a trial. The total number of trials presented is equal to the highest number items in the stimulus lists used. In this example, “Trial 1” uses two events:
Trial
1 ->
Event 1
->
Event 2
If "Event 1" uses a stimulus list that has 50 items (and "Event 2" does not use a stimulus list), 50 trials will be presented.
If "Event 1" uses a list that has 50 items and "Event 2" uses a list that has only 25 items, 50 trials will be presented. SuperLab will use items from the shorter list, and when no more are available, will start from the beginning of the list again.
In SuperLab, randomizing trials that use items from a stimulus list is done the same way you randomize trials that you create and specify one by one: at the block level. To randomize:
Double-click on the relevant block; the Block Editor appears.
Click on the Randomize tab.
Click on the Randomize the trials in this block checkbox to turn it on.
Click on OK to close the Block Editor.