Trial instructions
The Instruction entity can take a multitude of forms (2D, 3D, video, sound) and aims to inform the participant before and after the trial. The information given can be of any order and can, via programming, have a logical behavior.
Principle of operation
The operating principle is as follows. When the trial is started, it displays the pre-trial instructions in the order indicated. When all the pre-test instructions have been completed, the test begins (the recordings start at this point). When the conditions for a successful test are met, the test begins displaying the post-test instructions. When the post-trial instructions are completed, the trial is over, and the experiment moves on to the next trial.
No instructions? No problem !
A trial may not contain any instructions. Instructions are optional. It is also possible to have one or more pre-try instructions, without any post-try instructions, or vice versa.
Order of instructions
The principle of instruction order is as follows: whatever the type of instruction, it will have an order parameter that allows you to control its order in relation to the other instructions and also to the test. The control of the instructions ranks them in ascending order and always starts with the lowest order value. The last instruction displayed will have the largest value in the instruction list. Any strictly negative value will indicate a pre-test instruction, any strictly positive value will indicate a post-test instruction.
An order of 0?
The order value of 0 is a representation of the trial execution. In the instruction list, no instruction should have the order value of 0.
Instruction order
A negative order indicates an instruction displayed before the trial. A positive order indicates an instruction displayed after the test.
Lifetime
The instruction has its own lifetime which can be configured via its duration property. Indeed, the data contained in the instruction will be displayed for a time corresponding to the duration.
Blocking instructions
Some types of instructions do not meet the time condition. In fact, blocking instructions are specific instructions that require human interaction to complete. In this case, the temporal parameter is not taken into account.
Main types of instructions and instruction composition
Instructions can take different forms. There is an instruction type for each form (text instruction, sound instruction, simple color display). It is possible to display the instructions in 3D during experiments in VR for example.
It is also possible to compose its instruction in case the predefined types are not sufficient. In this case the instruction 2D Bridge or 3D Bridge allow a composition using 2D or 3D objects having, like any object, its own customizable behaviors.