A computer-based programmable tachistoscope for nonprogrammers

Abstract

A set of programs for on-line control of reaction time experiments is described. These programs allow a wide range of experiments to be coded in a simple form that eliminates the need for any knowledge of programming.Assembling the hardware required to run computercontrolled psychological experiments is rapidly becoming both cheaper and easier. However, once one has the hardware, the process of preparing an experiment often leaves nonprogrammers longing for the good old days of the tachistoscope and stopwatch.In a comprehensive review of computer-based tachistoscope systems, Green and Schwartz (1978) described three types of systems designed to simplify the process of preparing software for psychological experiments. The most popular approach has been to provide the user with a set of callable subroutines that perform basic operations such as timing, stimulus display, and response logging. A good example of such a system is the TSP package described by Schwartz (1978). This package provides a flexible set of functions that can be combined to create programs to run a wide range of psychological experiments. The TSP package does not eliminate the need for programming altogether, but it does make the task very much easier. However, most programming languages still provide the inexperienced user with plenty of opportunity for making mistakes. A second approach is to devise a special-purpose language for experimental control. However, once again the naive user has to master at least the fundamentals of programming. The third approach is to construct a medriven system in which the user has to prepare a data file that specifies the details of the experiment. However, in a file-driven system such as Mewhort's (1978) DIS system, the user has to explicitly supply all of the timing information for every display in the experiment. In principle, the user does not need to know how to program to use this system. However, to make effective use of the system, one really needs to be able to write programs that will generate the file containing all of the control information automatically. With the DIS system, one does not have to be able to program, but it helps.The author's mailing address is: Medical Research Council Applied Psychology Unit, 15 Chaucer Road, Cambridge CB2 2EF, England.The present paper describes a file-driven system designed to overcome the limitations of systems such as DIS, and to eliminate the need for the user to have any knowledge of programming. The TSCOP system consists of a set of programs for preparing and running a wide range of reaction time experiments. These programs provide a very simple means of coding instructions for stimulus presentation and response timing for any experiment involving presentation of text that might once have been run on a tachistoscope. The amount of timing and control information that the user must supply is kept to an absolute minimum. In the simplest case, experiments can be prepared in little more time than is required to type the materials.To date, two versions of the s...

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