Using HyperCard to administer a figural test on the Apple Macintosh

To date, applications of automated assessment techniques in personality testing have largely been limited to objective personality instruments with text stimuli; few assessment applications have involved graphic stimuli. Although projective personality instruments generally include ambiguous graphic or pictorial stimuli, computer applications with these procedures have been limited to automated scoring and interpretation, administration of sentence completion devices employing text stimuli, and the use of mechanical methods rather than computer graphics to display visual stimuli. In the present report, we describe a Macintosh HyperCard application for administering an objective personality test with visual stimuli, the Barron-Welsh Revised Art Scale of the Welsh Figure Preference Test. This test consists of a series of figural stimuli and a binary “like”/“dislike” response format, and it thus represents an administration procedure between standard objective self-report inventories involving text stimuli and a “true”/“false” response or variant, and tests such as the Rorschach or TAT that are both figural and free-response. The HyperCard language provides a variety of promising techniques useful for microcomputer test administration.     

Tachistoscopic software for Macintosh computers

The requirements for accurate presentation of short-duration stimuli on, raster display monitors are summarized, and existing packages for instantiating such displays are evaluated. A new soft-ware package that provides tachistoscopic functions for Macintosh computers is described. This software, called MacTach, performs video-buffer switching, allowing tachistoscopic presentation of large or multibit depth images that is not available with alternative methods. Compatibility routines and verification procedures allow compatibility with all Macintosh computers. Applications for animation, motion, and dichoptic presentations are discussed.     

Extendable high-speed stimulus generation and recording on the Macintosh computer

A new visual electrophysiology and eye-movement laboratory was developed with three goals in mind: (1) rapid execution speed for quick acquisition of data from infant subjects, (2) ease of operation by experimenters, and (3) modularity and flexibility. A powerful system composed of two linked Macintosh computers was constructed in which one computer was used solely to generate visual stimuli and the second solely to record subjects’ responses, allowing recording to execute at maximum speed without being slowed by stimulus graphics generation. A single program on the recording computer allowed the experimenter to choose the stimulus and recording parameters. The two computers intercommunicated via a local EtherNet network to coordinate recording and signal averaging. This paper presents design principles and specific programming techniques relevant to any Macintosh system that must rapidly acquire physiological recordings while simultaneously displaying sensory stimuli.     

Facial perception studies using the macintosh

Research on how people perceive human faces has benefited from recent advances in microcomputer technology. The present paper describes techniques that can be used to prepare and present facial stimuli on a Macintosh computer and the advantages of using a computer for preparing and presenting such stimuli.     

A program for comprehension monitoring of text using HyperCard for the Macintosh

We describe a program using HyperCard for the Macintosh that allows the collection of several different types of text processing data in a realistic, natural, and unobtrusive experimental setting. The program allows a sentence-by-sentence presentation of text and allows unconstrained movement forward and backward through the text. Subjects can, at any point during reading, look back at individual sentences presented previously, or review all previously presented sentences at once. All sentence readings and rereadings are timed, and the sequence of readings, rereadings, and reviews is recorded. Following passage reading, questions are asked to examine comprehension and memory of the passage. The program is well suited for the examination of comprehension evaluation and regulation in readers, as well as for the examination of other comprehension and memory processes.     

Computing interrater reliability on the Apple Macintosh computer

A program is described for computing interrater reliability by averaging, for each rater, the correlations between one rater’s ratings and every other rater’s ratings. For situations in which raters rate more than one ratee, raters’ reliabilities can be computed for either each item or each ratee. The program reads data from a text file and puts the reliability coefficients in a text file. The standard Macintosh interface is implemented. The Quick-BASIC program is distributed both as a listing and in compiled form; it can be run with advantage with math coprocessors.     

Real-time color-frame animation for visual psychophysics on the Macintosh computer

Psychophysical experiments involving moving stimuli require the rapid presentation of animated sequences of images. Although the Macintosh computer is widely used as a color graphics computer in research laboratories, its animation capabilities are generally ignored because of the speed limitations of drawing to the screen. New off-screen color graphics structures help to avoid the speed limitations so that real-time color or gray-scale visual motion stimuli may be generated. Precomputed animation frames are stored in off-screen memory and then rapidly transferred to the screen sequentially. The off-screen graphics structures may also be saved to disk in “Picture” form as “resources” for later retrieval and playback, allowing the experimenter to build in advance a collection of moving stimuli to use in future experiments. Code examples in the C programming language are provided, and the relative strengths and weaknesses of Macin-tosh color-frame animation for psychophysical experimentation are discussed.     

The Macintosh as a user-friendly laboratory for perception and cognition

We present a radically user-friendly Macintosh laboratory, MindLab, for instruction in perception and cognition. MindLab’s forte is its ability to display pictorial stimuli, including digitized photographs, transferred via the clipboard from Macintosh graphics applications. An experiment is programmed by specifying sequences of event primitives, represented by icons, to which stimuli, temporal parameters, and feedback options are assigned.     

The Functional Measurement Experiment Builder suite: Two Java-based programs to generate and run functional measurement experiments

We propose a free, easy-to-use computer program that does not requires prior knowledge of computer programming to generate and run experiments using textual or pictorial stimuli. Although the FM Experiment Builder suite was initially programmed for building and conducting FM experiments, it can also be applied for non-FM experiments that necessitate randomized, single, or multifactorial designs. The program is highly configurable, allowing multilingual use and a wide range of different response formats. The outputs of the experiments are Microsoft Excel compatible .xls files that allow easy copy-paste of the results into Weiss's FM CalSTAT program (2006) or any other statistical package. Its Java-based structure is compatible with both Windows and Macintosh operating systems, and its compactness (< 1 MB) makes it easily distributable over the Internet.     

Tachistoscopic software for the Macintosh

The emulation of a tachistoscope with a Macintosh microcomputer and Pascal language is presented here. The software described is a complete program for the presentation of textual stimuli on the Macintosh screen and includes the recording of reaction times. The stimulus coordinates on the screen are user defined and variable from trial to trial for specific visual angles. The position of a fixation point on the screen and the distance between the subject and the plane of the screen, as well as the particular screen resolution, are taken into account in computing the visual angle.     

Perception of biological motion: a stimulus set of human point-light actions.

We present a set of stimuli representing human actions under point-light conditions, as seen from different viewpoints. The set contains 22 fairly short, well-delineated, and visually "loopable" actions. For each action, we provide movie files from five different viewpoints as well as a text file with the three spatial coordinates of the point lights, allowing researchers to construct customized versions. The full set of stimuli may be downloaded from www.psychonomic.org/archive/.     

Lateralization of spatial categories: A comparison of verbal and visuospatial categorical relations

Many reports show that spatial relations between and within objects show differences in hemispheric lateralization. Coordinate, metric relations concerning distances are processed with a right-hemisphere advantage, whereas a left-hemisphere advantage is thought to be related to categorical, abstract relations (Kosslyn, 1987). Kemmerer and Tranel (2000) argued that the left-hemisphere advantage for categorical processing might apply only for verbal spatial categories, however, whereas a right-hemisphere advantage is related to visuospatial categories. To test this idea, we examined categorical processing for stimuli in both verbal and visuospatial formats, with a visual half-field, match-to-sample design. In Experiment 1, we manipulated the format of the second stimulus to compare response patterns for both verbal and visuospatial stimuli. In Experiment 2, we varied the expectancy of the format of the second stimulus, allowing for an assessment of strategy use. The results showed that a left-hemisphere advantage was related to verbal stimulus format only, but not in all conditions. A right-hemisphere advantage was found only with a visuospatial expectancy, visuospatial format, and brief interval. The theory we present to explain these results proposes that the lateralization related to basic categorical processing can be strongly influenced by verbal characteristics and, to some extent, by additional coordinate processing. The lateralization measured in such cases does not represent lateralization related purely to categorical processing, but to these additional effects as well. This stresses the importance of careful task and stimulus design when examining categorical processing in order to reduce the influence of those additional processes.     

Pupillometry system for use in social psychology

It is now relatively easy to implement pupillometry in social psychological research. We describe a system in which a Macintosh computer presents visual and auditory stimuli to subjects while monitoring an infrared pupillometer. The computer records information on subject, task, and pupil diameter into a data file for input into standard statistical analysis programs. Pupil diameter is measured continuously while subjects respond to stimuli that last for several seconds or minutes. A demonstration experiment verifies the usefulness of the system. The ability of the Macintosh computer to easily handle visual and auditory stimuli and to record responses lasting a considerable length of time makes the system well suited for studying pupil responses to complex social stimuli. This system is also well suited for the researcher initiating a research program using pupillometry. Ease of operation makes using a large number of subjects feasible.     

Metacomprehension judgements reflect the belief that diagrams improve learning from text

In two experiments we systematically explored whether people consider the format of text materials when judging their text learning, and whether doing so might inappropriately bias their judgements. Participants studied either text with diagrams (multimedia) or text alone and made both per-paragraph judgements and global judgements of their text learning. In Experiment 1 they judged their learning to be better for text with diagrams than for text alone. In that study, however, test performance was greater for multimedia, so the judgements may reflect either a belief in the power of multimedia or on-line processing. Experiment 2 replicated this finding and also included a third group that read texts with pictures that did not improve text performance. Judgements made by this group were just as high as those made by participants who received the effective multimedia format. These results confirm the hypothesis that people's metacomprehension judgements can be influenced by their beliefs about text format. Over-reliance on this multimedia heuristic, however, might reduce judgement accuracy in situations where it is invalid.     

Perception of biological motion: A stimulus set of human point-light actions

We present a set of stimuli representing human actions under point-light conditions, as seen from different viewpoints. The set contains 22 fairly short, well-delineated, and visually “loopable” actions. For each action, we provide movie files from five different viewpoints as well as a text file with the three spatial coordinates of the point lights, allowing researchers to construct customized versions. The full set of stimuli may be downloaded fromwww.psychonomic.org/archive/.     

A low-cost method for digitizing videotaped continuous movements on the Macintosh

We describe an inexpensive means of digitizing videotaped positions of moving points, such as the positions of the joints of a person who is performing an action. Single-frame video images and a Macintosh computer monitor are optically superimposed, using a half-silvered mirror, and the positions of reference points in the video image are manually clicked in by the operator, so that the screen coordinates of the reference points on each frame can be stored in a text file for later analysis. The digitizing program records comments and identifying information along with the position data.     

Computer programming for generating visual stimuli

Critical to vision research is the generation of visual displays with precise control over stimulus metrics. Generating stimuli often requires adapting commercial software or developing specialized software for specific research applications. In order to facilitate this process, we give here an overview that allows nonexpert users to generate and customize stimuli for vision research. We first give a review of relevant hardware and software considerations, to allow the selection of display hardware, operating system, programming language, and graphics packages most appropriate for specific research applications. We then describe the framework of a generic computer program that can be adapted for use with a broad range of experimental applications. Stimuli are generated in the context of trial events, allowing the display of text messages, the monitoring of subject responses and reaction times, and the inclusion of contingency algorithms. This approach allows direct control and management of computer-generated visual stimuli while utilizing the full capabilities of modern hardware and software systems. The flowchart and source code for the stimulus-generating program may be downloaded from www.psychonomic.org/archive.     

VSearch Color: Full-color visual search experiments on the Macintosh II

We describe an update to our visual search software for the Macintosh line of computers. The new software, VSearch Color, gives users access to the full-color capabilites of the Macintosh II line. One of the key features of the new software is its ability to treat graphics information separately from color information. This makes it easy to study color independently of form, to design experiments based on isoluminant stimuli, and to incorporate texture segregation, visual identification, number discrimination, adaptation, masking, and spatial cuing into the basic visual search paradigm.     

An external millisecond timer for the Apple Macintosh with applications to cross-modal lexical priming

The circuit and program described in this report allow researchers to use Macintosh personal computers to conduct research that requires timing with millisecond accuracy. This is accomplished with external response keys and an external clock that sends characters through the Macintosh’s serial port. For researchers interested in cross-modal lexical priming tasks, a tachistoscopic slide shutter is incorporated to allow for accurately timed presentation of visual stimuli. Because the visual display and response keys are external to the computer, display and reaction times are not subject to the timing constraints inherent to the keyboard or the Macintosh Event Manager. All circuit diagrams and code are in the public domain.