It will then synthesize and give results showing the time spent on each word. Any ideas?
You can use E-prime or SuperLab, but you need to buy a license and it is generally very expensive. If your university does not have the license, it is probably better to go for free programs that are just as good and work pretty well. For example, you can download DMDX on this website for free: http://www.u.arizona.edu/~kforster/dmdx/dmdx.htm. It is a very goos option as many authors use it. There is also this other program that you can download for lexical decisions and that is free: http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~rabrams/psychlab/lexical.htm. In both cases, when the program is free, the only condition to use it for data that will be published is to cite the program, but the exact instructions are on the website, so you can get all the information you need.
I hope this was helpful :)
You can use E-prime or SuperLab, but you need to buy a license and it is generally very expensive. If your university does not have the license, it is probably better to go for free programs that are just as good and work pretty well. For example, you can download DMDX on this website for free: http://www.u.arizona.edu/~kforster/dmdx/dmdx.htm. It is a very goos option as many authors use it. There is also this other program that you can download for lexical decisions and that is free: http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~rabrams/psychlab/lexical.htm. In both cases, when the program is free, the only condition to use it for data that will be published is to cite the program, but the exact instructions are on the website, so you can get all the information you need.
I hope this was helpful :)
I've had a good experience with PsychoPy as a general psychological testing. You have to put some work into it but it runs in both Mac OS and Windows environments (unlike e-prime or psyscope). It seems to be a bit buggy in Linux environments. I've heard that Linger can also do what you're trying. Also free.
I can't tell if you're trying to do a sentence reading experiment or a single-word experiment. If you're trying to do sentence reading, Linger, which Richard mentioned above, is built specifically for that and is free. Paradigm (http://paradigmexperiments.com/) has built-in options for self-paced reading and is extremely easy to use (it's point-and-click, you don't need to know any programming, although if you do know program you can also extend it with Python scripts), but not free.
If you're doing single words, DMDX that was mentioned above is a popular choice, as is Psychopy, and any of the propreitary programs mentioned above (E-prime, MATLAB + Psychotoolbox, Paradigm, etc.) can do it.
Just another comment on the side: if you are doing self-paced reading, I would not recommend using a mouse to make responses, as the timing is not quite as accurate and sometimes the button sticks down briefly when you don't want it to. What I use is a video game controller that has a USB port for plugging it in to the controller. Some people use a button box. I think even just using the keyboard would be better than the mouse.
John, aside from being somewhat off-topic, those claims sound very unlikely. I do not want to sound dismissive or cynical, but your post sounds like an advertisement. Is there any peer-reviewed research to back up your claims? Has recall of detailed content been compared between normal readers and those who have taken the course you describe?
If there is good data to back it up, then I would consider taking the course, as I am always behind in my reading (though you should have posted the claim elsewhere). If there is not, then please don't try to insert advertisements into a serious academic discussion.
Laston, let me just add that my experience with E-Prime has been very positive: it is easy to use, and gives reliable reaction time data. Its downside is price and platform constraints, as mentioned.
Last time I was doing a perceptual experiment, PsychoPy was recommended to me. However, I found that I could not use it for my purposes. I put it down to growing pains for a new project, and possible compatibility problems with my Linux machine. I've just had a new look, and was able to successfully build and run the demo stroop experiment on both a Mac and a Linux machine. The interface is comparable in complexity and usability to what I remember from E-Prime.
Note that PsychoPy runs some tests on installation, which should flag up any issues that would affect the reliability of your data. Mine reported greater than ideal lags in audio input/output, and an limited graphic card that might not handle complex visual stimuli well. I suspect that's due to the limitations of my Linux netbook; the fact that the things were flagged is a big plus for PsychoPy in my books.
My assessment is that PsychoPy has probably matured into a reliable cross-platform package, and I will certainly look to it next time I want to build a perceptual experiment. The fact that it supports Python scripting is especially attractive to me, as that is my "native" programming language.
As Dr. Mills pointed out above, this really is not germane to the question that the OP asked. For the sake of other contributors to this thread (who might be getting e-mail notifications when these posts are added), I think it would be best to keep responses on-topic.
I've posted a new question to pursue the speed reading issue:
https://www.researchgate.net/post/Can_anyone_point_to_empirical_support_for_claims_of_extreme_speed_reading_for_the_Evelyn_Woods_Reading_Dynamics_course
Eprime is what I use. Superlab is also good. Superlab is much cheaper than Eprime (the last time that I reviewed prices). The program Medialab is also used when used in combination with DirectRT. It is the DirectRT program that handles the collection of response times. Each computer that is used to collect reaction times will have its own error rate, so it is important to collect all responses from an experiment on the same computer or make sure that you test an equal number of participants in each counterbalancing list that you might be using on each computer that you are using. Otherwise, you may detect differences that are due to computer timing error rather than condition/counterbalancing list differences.
Paradigm has built-in support for self-paced reading. You'll just need to add "\" characters to your sentences to specify the segments. For example,
The actress\shot\the officer\who\was standing\on the balcony
Paradigm will give you the response time and onset of each segment.
You can learn more here:
http://www.paradigmexperiments.com
There is a self-paced reading sample available ("Self-Paced Reading Task") that would be a good place to start.
Full disclosure - I'm one of the Paradigm developers. If you have any
questions you can email me directly: bruno at prsemail.com
Stephen Politzer-Ahles Is it possible to insert the visuals of our experiment? or its visual are predefined?
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