I'm planning to present simple word association and word recognition tasks and to record RTs via microphone or key press. I'd love to hear from people that have tried more than one package.
I have found E-Prime to be much more feature rich than SuperLab. One such feature that springs to mind is stimulus selection and randomization (with and without replacement), as well as superimposition of stimuli, which is readily implemented in E-Prime, but which I couldn't find in SuperLab (I used version 4 at the time). Both programs have an easy-to-use graphic interface, and most simple experiments can be implemented without coding skills. However, E-Prime does allow one to write custom scripts for new display objects and behaviors (such as generating random stimuli and conditional trials, etc.). SuperLab's more simple point-and-click interface does not give a researcher this flexibility.
We are using DMDX and Linger, both free. DMDX is Windows-based, but very flexible and well supported by an active mailing list. Linger is platform-independent, but slightly more limited than DMDX. For more lists of tools see: http://experimentalfieldlinguistics.wordpress.com/links/software/ . For tutorials (e.g. for DMDX), see: http://experimentalfieldlinguistics.wordpress.com/teaching/fieldexperiments_software/
I'd like to put in a good word for Paradigm. It's a new GUI based stimulus presentation system that has an integrated Python scripting interface so you get the ease of use of a drag and drop experiment builder but still get the flexibility/power of using Python when you need it. Paradigm allows you to collect voice key reaction times using any microphone. You can simply plug a microphone into the your soundcard, set a voice key threshold and Paradigm will register it as key press. The software also supports button boxes from Cedrus, fORP and E-Prime (PST). Paradigm is reasonably priced for faculty (it's less expensive than both E-Prime and Superlab) and offers student licenses.
You can learn more here:
http://www.paradigmexperiments.com
Full disclosure - I'm one of the Paradigm developers. If you have any
questions you can email me directly: bruno at prsemail.com
I heard E-Prime is the best feature-wise, but it's commercial and expensive. A free alternative is Psychopy (http://www.psychopy.org/). I did not try it myself, but it seems to possess similar features and philosophy: a GUI form builder for non-coders, and a Coder view with full access to Python to write your own extensions (so you can call any Python library and code, the possibilities are endless since Python has a LOT of libraries).
This can be particularly important for you if you are using a very peculiar hardware you need to include in your presentation, such as an eyetracker and such, where there is almost no support (either because it's not widely spread or too old). With Psychopy you just need to find a Python library that can communicate with your device, and implement it as an extension of Psychopy (although there are already some devices implemented like EEG Netstation). Another usage of the Python flexibility is to do realtime calculations based on user's feedback (such as EEG or eyetracking), since you can interface with any Python library necessary to do advanced stats or linear algebra calculation ala MATLAB (such as numpy or scipy). Also another use case is field studies, because here there is no licensing fee, you can even send the program to your participants.
Advantages are that it's free, cross-platform, super extensible via Python, and it's actively developed and supported by the authors and community.
You can read some reviews here:
* https://computingforpsychologists.wordpress.com/2012/11/10/programming-experiments-using-psychopy-first-impressions/
* http://lindeloev.net/psychopy-vs-presentation-vs-e-prime/
And here is a video tutorial:
* https://computingforpsychologists.wordpress.com/2012/10/03/video-tutorial-on-designing-and-running-psychology-experiments-using-psychopy/
Inquisit is a great option for those types of studies. It supports reaction time measurement for both manual and verbal responses (with or without a voice key microphone).
It also supports high-precision remote testing over the web, and runs on Windows, Mac, and iOS devices.
We offer a comprehensive library of hundreds of pre-programmed tests. You can download them and use them as is, customize them, or program your own tests from scratch.
http://www.millisecond.com/download/library/
More info here:
http://www.millisecond.com
-Sean Draine (Founder/CEO Millisecond Software)
presentation offers nice accurate timing, 'though it is not free, maybe your department already 'owns' it...
Presentation (from Neurobehavioral Systems) does not run on Mac, however.
I recommend Sentence Verification Test (SVT)
http://www.penscreen.com/Sentence%20Verification%20Test.htm
I would use Psychopy which has GUI based experimental designs. You can also use DMDX which need to writing the code for that. Eprime is much more easier but it is not open sources like other two.
what would be a good alternative for Psycopy or a PVT that runs on IOS ( needed as I have to keep the test devices identical)?
I strongly recommend DMDX as it's voice RT keys are super easy. For e-prime, you need to have a Serial Response Box (or similar kinds) to input the audio. DmDx allows direct audio input event to the built in sound card, like any other mic input to the CPU! Obviously, DmDx requires some coding, but that's not too tough!
Hi Valerie - Inquisit runs on iOS devices, https://www.millisecond.com.
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