README is in the process of being written... Please excuse any incomplete sections!
This section takes a csv file of 90 experimental sentences such as "The man saw which patient the doctor had treated in the morning") and reorganizes them for use in the rest of the script.
First it sets up the new columns for the sentences. This includes various columns with condition information, as well as columns for block index (to keep similar sentence frames in different experimental blocks - this value is added in Excel before the csv is inputted), list number, and individual words. Then it concatenates the sentence frames ("The man saw which patient the doctor had") and sentence continuations ("in the morning") around the target word, in this case "treated". Before finally writing to a new csv file, it capitalizes "the" at the beginning of every sentence.
This function is very similar to the above function, only instead of altering experimental sentences, it alters fillers. The filler sentences have gone through less manipulation before importing, and need more organizing in the script.
First this section separates fillers into two lists - one of sentences with congruous target words, the other with incongruous target words. (E.g. congruous = "For lunch he had grilled cheese at his favorite cafe," incongruous = "For lunch he had grilled shoe at his favorite cafe.") Then the lists are split at line 181 (as there are two sets of fillers) and condition codes are assigned to each of the four lists. The columns are defined (similar to above, columns with condition and indexing information). However the frames are already concatenated, so no concatenation is needed.
This function creates a matrix of list combinations to be used. There are four possible lists (1,2,3,4) for filler sentences and two (1,2) for experimental sentences.
This function actually randomizes items in a vector. This function is called in 'randomize', and is used to randomize the order of blocks.
This function pseudo-randomzies the items. Pseudorandomizing creates a mostly random list, but ensures items of the same type do not appear many times in a row. Pseudorandomizing first randomzies the items within blocks, and then passes through the list looking for 2 or more items of the same _ and 3 or more items of the same _. If too many of one kind of item are in a row, the item is moved to the bottom of the list. This process is continued until the end of the block is reached, and repeated for all five blocks.
This function generates subject files using megalist (created by calling getmegalist) and calls writefiles to write the actual .txt files.
Called by for loop at the end of script.
Generates "megalist" 24 times (once for each subject).
Writes block information to "block" column. For experimental sentences, the block index is used to keep similar sentence frames in separate blocks.
Calls jumble and pseudorandomize. Pseudorandomizes items with a block and randomizes the blocks themselves.
Takes subject number and megalist, writes list of files for MATLAB and PsychToolbox to call.
Takes megalist, block.
Calls addfill, addtarg, megalist.
Generates lists of items with triggers included, and writes them into blocks according to the block index. Also inserts plausibility question after each item. Because it calls addTarg and addFill, the sentences printed in the block#.txt files (where # = block number) include triggers and are ready to be inputted to MATLAB.
Adds triggers to the target sentences. The critical word in a target sentence will always have 6 as its final digit. The tens place can be 1-4 and marks condition. Words in the regions near the critical word will be in numerical order leading up to and following the 6, i.e. which 41 patient 42 the 43 doctor 44 had 45 cured 46 of 47 the 48 disease 49 40. The whole number 40 marks the end of a sentence, while 190 and 191 mark questions (1 = should be answered with yes, 0 = should be answered with no). Non-critical words will be marked with 1.
Adds triggers to the filler sentences. The critical word in a target sentence will always have 6 as its final digit. The tens place can be 5-8 and marks condition. Words in the regions near the critical word will be in numerical order leading up to and following the 6, i.e. He 1 spread 71 his 72 toast 73 with 74 warm 75 socks 76 and 77 jam 78 70. The whole number 40 marks the end of a sentence, while 190 and 191 mark questions (1 = should be answered with yes, 0 = should be answered with no). Non-critical words will be marked with 1.
Creates matricies to add triggers in between the words in target and filler sentences.