Behavioral researchers are increasingly conducting their studies online, to gain access to large and diverse samples that would be difficult to get in a laboratory environment. However, there are technical access barriers to building experiments online, and web browsers can present problems for consistent timing-an important issue with reaction-time-sensitive measures. For example, to ensure accuracy and test-retest reliability in presentation and response recording, experimenters need a working knowledge of programming languages such as JavaScript. We review some of the previous and current tools for online behavioral research, as well as how well they address the issues of usability and timing. We then present the Gorilla Experiment Builder (gorilla.sc), a fully tooled experiment authoring and deployment platform, designed to resolve many timing issues and make reliable online experimentation open and accessible to a wider range of technical abilities. To demonstrate the platform's aptitude for accessible, reliable, and scalable research, we administered a task with a range of participant groups (primary school children and adults), settings (without supervision, at home, and under supervision, in both schools and public engagement events), equipment (participant's own computer, computer supplied by the researcher), and connection types (personal internet connection, mobile phone 3G/4G). We used a simplified flanker task taken from the attentional network task (Rueda, Posner, & Rothbart, 2004). We replicated the Bconflict network^effect in all these populations, demonstrating the platform's capability to run reaction-time-sensitive experiments. Unresolved limitations of running experiments online are then discussed, along with potential solutions and some future features of the platform.

Behavioural researchers are increasingly conducting their studies online to gain access to large and diverse samples that would be difficult to get in a laboratory environment. However, there are technical access barriers to building experiments online, and web-browsers can present problems for consistent timingan important issue with reaction time-sensitive measures. For example, to ensure accuracy and test-retest reliability in presentation and response recording, experimenters need a working knowledge of programming languages such as JavaScript. We review some of the previous and current tools for online behavioural research, and how well they address the issues of usability and timing. We then present The Gorilla Experiment Builder (gorilla.sc) a fully tooled experiment authoring and deployment platform, designed to resolve many timing issues, and make reliable online experimentation open and accessible to a wider range of technical abilities. In order to demonstrate the platform's aptitude for accessible, reliable and scalable research, we administered the task with a range of participant groups (primary school children and adults), settings (without supervision, at home, and under supervision, in schools and public engagement events), equipment (own computers, computer supplied by researcher), and connection types (personal internet connection, mobile phone 3G/4G). We used a simplified flanker task, taken from the Attentional Networks Task (Rueda, Posner, & Rothbart, 2004). We replicated the 'conflict network' effect in all these populations, demonstrating the platform's capability to run reaction timesensitive experiments. Unresolved limitations of running experiments online are then discussed, along with potential solutions, and some future features of the platform.

Behavioural researchers are increasingly conducting their studies online to gain access to large and diverse samples that would be difficult to get in a laboratory environment. However, there are technical access barriers to building experiments online, and web-browsers can present problems for consistent timing – an important issue with reaction time-sensitive measures. For example, to ensure accuracy and test-retest reliability in presentation and response recording, experimenters need a working knowledge of programming languages such as JavaScript. We review some of the previous and current tools for online behavioural research, and how well they address the issues of usability and timing. We then present The Gorilla Experiment Builder (gorilla.sc) a fully tooled experiment authoring and deployment platform, designed to resolve many timing issues, and make reliable online experimentation open and accessible to a wider range of technical abilities. In order to demonstrate the platform’s aptitude for accessible, reliable and scalable research, we administered the task with a range of participant groups (primary school children and adults), settings (without supervision, at home, and under supervision, in schools and public engagement events), equipment (own computers, computer supplied by researcher), and connection types (personal internet connection, mobile phone 3G/4G). We used a simplified flanker task, taken from the Attentional Networks Task (Rueda, Posner, & Rothbart, 2004). We replicated the ‘conflict network’ effect in all these populations, demonstrating the platform’s capability to run reaction time-sensitive experiments. Unresolved limitations of running experiments online are then discussed, along with potential solutions, and some future features of the platform.

Classrooms are noisy, yet little is known about pupils’ subjective reactions to noise. We surveyed 112 children between 8.70 and 11.38 years of age and extracted five dimensions in their reactions to noise by factorial analyses: (1) perceived classroom loudness, (2) hearing difficulties, (3) attention capture, (4) interference, (5) annoyance from noise. Structural Equation Models were run to better understand interindividual differences in noise interference and annoyance. Children reporting hearing and switching difficulties experienced more interference and annoyance from noise. Children who had a greater propensity for mind-wandering also experienced more interference from noise, but were annoyed by noise only to the extent that it produced interference—the relationship between mind-wandering and noise annoyance was indirect, and not direct, as was the case for reported hearing and switching difficulties. We suggest that the distinction between annoyance and interference has theoretical, empirical, and practical relevance for educational research.