These tasks require E-Prime software to use. Find out more about E-Prime at https://www.pstnet.com/eprime.cfm. Our lab is in no way affiliated with E-Prime or the company behind it, Psychological Software Tools Inc. (PST).
Graduate Students in the lab volunteer their time to provide free passwords and support for the tasks. As such, we can give some basic support but please read the FAQ first, and consider contacting your IT department or PST for issues you may have. All we ask in return is to please cite a couple articles listed in the References tab.
For support please contact englelabtaskmanager@gmail.com
After unzipping the folder with the password provided, be sure to add the files to the folder (and computer) you will use to run the experiment from. This is also the folder where the data will be saved to.
Open the E-Run file on the computer you will use for the experiment. Make sure that it is working on that computer. Occasionally there are compatibility issues with different Windows OS versions and E-Prime versions. It is better that you discover any issues before running your first participant. If you are having trouble getting the task to run without errors, please contact us at englelabtaskmanager@gmail.com. In the email, be sure to include information on what version of Windows and E-Prime you have installed.
Once you get the task to execute without errors, go through one complete run of the task (from beginning to end). When you get to the end, a red screen will be displayed letting the participant know the task is finished. The experimenter will need to hit the “Q” key on the keyboard to PROPERLY exit the task. This is very important, otherwise the E-Data file will NOT be compiled and you may lose data.
After going through one complete run of the task and properly exiting the task you will notice several files have now been created. Before you begin your study it is important you understand these files and how to obtain the variables of interest. You really need only one (maybe two) of these files to look at participant data. Here is a descriptions of the relevant data files:
| File Type | Description |
|---|---|
| .edat 2 | Once the task has been completed, E-Prime will create an .edat2 file that has the name of the task and subject # in the filename. This is the typical E-Prime data file that can be opened with the E-Data Aid software program. This file contains data on all the variables in the task for each block and trial. You can use this file to obtain the span scores for a single subject. You can also do more detailed analysis on the subjects performance on the task. Such as their trial-by-trial performance on the processing portion of the task. You should merge multiple .edat2 files from all subjects into one Merged file with the E-Merge program and then export the merged file as .txt file to open in other data analysis software programs. |
Use our Web App to easily obtain scores on the complex-span tasks.
For R users, see our englelab package to obtain scores on the complex-span tasks.
For the complex-span tasks, overall we suggest using the partial score rather than the absolute score. For more info on the difference between these two scores see:
Advanced Versions
| Task | Blocks* | Set Sizes | Max Span Score (per block) | Processing Trials (per block) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Operation Span | 1-3 | 3-9 | 42 | 42 Math Problems |
| Symmetry Span | 1-3 | 2-7 | 27 | 27 Symmetry Judgements |
| Rotation Span | 1-3 | 2-7 | 27 | 27 Letter Rotations |
Standard and Foster et al. Versions
| Task | Blocks* | Set Sizes | Max Span Score (per block) | Processing Trials (per block) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Operation Span | 3 | 3-7 | 25 | 25 Math Problems |
| Symmetry Span | 3 | 2-5 | 14 | 14 Symmetry Judgements |
| Rotation Span | 3 | 2-5 | 14 | 14 Letter Rotations |
| Reading Span | 3 | 3-7 | 25 | 25 Sentence Juedgments |
Oswald et al. Versions
| Task | Blocks | Set Sizes | Max Span Score (per block) | Processing Trials (per block) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Operation Span | 2 | 4-6 | 25 | 25 Math Problems |
| Symmetry Span | 2 | 3-5 | 14 | 14 Symmetry Judgements |
| Reading Span | 2 | 4-6 | 25 | 25 Sentence Juedgments |
For a detailed description of the attention control tasks see the Methods section in the manuscript: https://psyarxiv.com/q985d/
If you are using the Advanced versions of the complex-span tasks cite the following article in your references:
If you are using the Foster et al. (2015) shortened versions cite the following article in your references:
If you are using the Oswald et al. (2015) shortened versions cite the following article in your references:
If you are using any of the standard or other complex-span tasks cite the following article in your references:
If you have any questions about the reliability or validity of any of the automated tasks, we request that you cite this article in your references:
If you have any questions about how the tasks are scored see:
To help decide which task might be appropriate for your sample, see:
If you are using any of the attention control tasks, please cite:
If you are using the antisaccade task consider also citing:
If you are using the visual arrays task consider also citing:
If you need to modify or translate the tasks in some way you will need the E-Studio Files
To obtain the E-Studio files, we ask that you send a signed agreement (via email to englelabtaskmanager@gmail.com) acknowledging the following:
Once we receive the document via email, we will send you the requested file(s)