Modifying E-Prime scripts
The following examples show you how to modify certain aspects of an E-Prime script. You will need to open
the E-Studio 2.0 Experiment File to edit the experiment. This is the icon for the E-Studio file:
Changing the start-up questions
By default E-Prime asks for a subject number and a session number at the start of an experiment. To change
existing start-up questions or add/remove a start-up question go to…
1. Edit – Experiment – Startup Info tab
2. To remove a start-up question, click on the question mark next to it, so that a circle with a line through it
appears.
3. To add one of the pre-set start-up questions (includes, age, sex, handedness etc.), click on the question
mark, so it is no longer crossed out and also tick the box next to it.
4. To create a new start-up question, click on Add, give it a name, enter the question in the Prompt box,
then select an option from the Data Type drop-down.
- Select Numeric as the Data Type if the answer should be a number. You also need to enter what
the minimum and maximum allowable number should be.
Or
Or
-
Select String if the answer should be a word.
Select Choice if you want to set up a multiple choice question. To add the multiple choice
options, click in the icon circled below.
Editing Instructions
Instructions will usually be located on the SessionProc as a Text Display object.
1. Double click on your instructions object from the Structure Window to open it in the workspace.
2. Simply edit the text to modify the instructions.
3. Click on the Properties icon (shown below) in the top left of the window to see options to change the
font, size and alignment of the text.
4. Changes are automatically saved, so simply close the window in the workspace when you have finished.
(However, it is still good practice to periodically save the entire experiment file, by going to File – Save).
Changing the stimuli on trials
1. Open the List object and locate the column containing the stimuli. In the following example, the stimuli
presented on each trial are the words listed in the Stimuli column.
2. To change the stimuli, you simply change the contents of this column in the List object.
- Text-based stimuli, as in the example above, are simply written directly into the List object.
Or
- For stimuli that are images, sounds or movies, you need to enter the file names and extensions
of your stimuli into the List object instead, following the instructions below.
i. The files that will be used need to be saved in the same folder as the E-Studio
experiment file is saved.
ii. Then enter the file names and extensions of your stimuli files into a column in a List
object in E-Prime, so the programme knows which file to call upon on each trial.
eg.
iii. It is important to ensure you enter file names and extensions correctly, including
whether letters are in capitals or not.
iv. To check a file extension, locate the file, right click on it and click on Properties. The
Type of File line will tell you what the file extension is.
3. If you change your stimuli, you may also need to change the attributes currently associated with them.
In this example, if I changed the stimuli, I might also need to change what is listed under WordType and
CorrectAnswer too. Alternatively, I may need to add a new attribute, rather than simply change the
values within existing attributes.
Adding a new attribute of your stimuli
In the example used in these instructions, one of the attributes is WordType, which lists if the stimuli are
words or non-words. If I wanted to investigate whether people respond differently to the words denoting
small objects compared to words denoting large objects, I would need to add an attribute to the List object
so that E-Prime records whether the stimuli are small or large object words.
1. To add an attribute to a List, open the List and click on the right arrow icon.
2. Give the new attribute a name, and then enter values under the new column.
Adding more trials
1. To add in more trials to an existing List, open the List object, and then click the down arrow to add one
trial at a time, or select the double down arrows to add more than one trial at a time.
Sometimes it might be necessary to add in a new separate block of trials, rather than just extending an
existing block of trials. For example, you might want to insert a break for your participants after a certain
number of trials, or you might want to change the task slightly half way through.
1. To create a new block of trials you need to create a new List object. To do this, firstly open your
SessionProc, and then click and drag a List object from the Toolbox on the far left onto your SessionProc.
2. To set up a new List object, first enter a new name under the Procedure column. You will receive a
message saying ‘the procedure does not exist, do you want to create it?’. Click Yes to this and Yes to set
it as a default for new levels. You can then add as many attributes (columns) and trials (rows) as you
need.
3. You will also need to set up the new sub-procedure you created in the above step. This Procedure will
contain everything that appears in one trial (eg. a fixation cross on a TextDisplay, followed by the Stimuli
on a TextDisplay or ImageDisplay, followed by a 500ms Wait object).
a. Locate the new Procedure in your Structure window (shown below the List object you created in
step 1).
b. Double click on the procedure to open it.
c. You can then drag objects (eg. Image Displays, Text Displays, Slides, Wait objects etc.) from the
Toolbox onto this Procedure in the order you need them to appear for each trial.
Changing the order in which trials are presented
Usually it is good practice to randomise the order in which trials are presented to participants. In the
example we’ve been following for example, we wouldn’t want to present all the words first and then all the
non-words. Instead, we want them to be interspersed and presented in a different order for each
participant.
1. To change the order of presentation of trials, open the List object containing the trials and click on the
properties icon.
2. On the Selection tab, use the Order drop-down to select how to order the trials.
- Select Random for the order of trials to be randomised.
Or
- Select Sequential for the trials to appear to participants in the same order you have entered
them in the List.
Changing the duration of a stimulus display
All objects in E-Prime have a properties window associated with them where it’s possible to change how the
object functions. For Image Displays, Slides and Text Displays it is possible to change the length of time these
are displayed for.
1. Locate the object you wish to modify, and open it in the workspace.
2. Click on the Properties icon in the top left of the window.
3. On the Duration/Input tab, use the Duration drop-down menu to set how long the object is displayed for
in milliseconds.
- If the duration you would like an object to be displayed for is not one of the options available on
the drop down menu, simply type the number in to the Duration box instead.
Or
-
Or
-
If you want the duration of a display to vary between trials, for example 500ms on some trials
but 1000ms on others, then you can create an attribute in the List object called DisplayDuration
and enter values of 500 for some trials and 1000 for others. Then rather than selecting one of
the drop-down options in the Duration box above, simply type [DisplayDuration] instead. This
will tell E-Prime to look in the DisplayDuration column in your List object to identify the duration
of display for each trial.
To make an object remain on the screen until a participant makes a response, then select
(infinite) as the duration. You then also need to set the following:
i. Click Add under the Input Device box, then select whether you want participants to
respond using a keyboard or mouse.
ii. If you want to restrict the keys that participants can use to respond, enter those that
they can use in the Allowable Response option box.
 For letter or number keys simply enter the letters or numbers (eg. wn would
enable participants to respond using the ‘w’ key and the ‘n’ key)
Or
 For the spacebar you need to enter {SPACE}
iii. To tell E-Prime what the correct response should be, firstly set up an attribute for
CorrectAnswer in your List object. Then in the Correct box in the window below enter
[CorrectAnswer]. This will tell E-Prime to look in the CorrectAnswer column in your List
object to identify what the correct response should be for each trial. When you type
something in the Correct box, E-Prime will ask if you want to set Data Logging to
standard. Click Yes. If there is no correct response, you can leave this box blank.
Charlotte Elwell | 2013
(E-Prime v.2)