The columns attribute specifies which data columns to record to the data file.

Applies to

<data>

Syntax

Parameters

columnname

The name of a data column. Any of the following column names are allowed: Name Description date date (mmddyy) of the experiment time time (hh:mm) the experiment started build build number of the Inquisit executable running the session subject subject number entered at the beginning of an experiment trialcode trialcode for the current trial (default trialcode is the trial's name) blockcode name of the current block blocknum block number trialnum number of the trial in the current block. latency number of milliseconds from the end of the last display frame until a valid response is given response ASCII code of the pressed response key correct indicates whether the response was correct (1) or incorrect (0) error indicates whether the response was incorrect (1) or correct (0) inwindow indicates whether the response was inside (1) or outside of (0) the response window windowcenter the current response window center (ms), or 0 if the response window is not being used pretrialpause length of pause (ms) at the beginning of the trial posttrialpause length of pause (ms) at the end of the trial meanlatency running average latency in the current block medianlatency running median latency in the current block sumlatency running sum of response latencies in the current block minlatency shortest latency in the current block maxlatency longest latency in the current block sdlatency running standard deviation of response latencies in the current block varlatency running variance of response latencies in the current block numcorrect running total of correct responses in the current block percentcorrect running percentage of correct responses in the current block correctstreak running count of consecutive correct responses in the current block. errorstreak running count of consecutive incorrect responses in the current block numinwindow running total of responses falling within the response window in the current block percentinwindow running percentage of responses falling within the response window in the current block count running total of trials in the current block totalmeanlatency running average latency over the entire experiment totalmedianlatency running median latency over the entire experiment totalsumlatency running sum of response latencies over the entire experiment totalminlatency shortest latency over the entire experiment totalmaxlatency longest latency over the entire experiment totalsdlatency running standard deviation of response latencies over the entire experiment totalvarlatency running variance of response latencies over the entire experiment totalnumcorrect running total of correct responses over the entire experiment totalpercentcorrect running percentage of correct responses over the entire experiment totalcorrectstreak running count of consecutive correct responses over the entire experiment totalerrorstreak running count of consecutive incorrect responses over the entire experiment totalnuminwindow running total of responses falling within the response window over the entire experiment totalpercentinwindow running percentage of responses falling within the response window over the entire experiment totalcount running total of trials over the entire experiment simulusnumber the item number presented on the current trial stimulusitem the item presented on the current trial stimulusonset the onset time in milliseconds of the presented stimulus trialdata value specified by the <trial> element's trialdata attribute "string" a literal string value

Remarks

The columns attribute specifies the data values to be recorded to file and the column in which they are written. With exception of the user-defined strings appearing in quotes, each item appearing between the brackets is a reserved keyword representing a particular data value. The data values may be specified in any order and more than once. On each trial, Inquisit will write a single line of data consisting of each data value specified in This attribute in the specified order.

Stimulusnumber, stimulusitem, stimulusonset, trialdata, and "string" receive special treatment.

The first stimulusnumber specified in the columns attribute indicates that the item number of the first stimulus appearing on the current trial should be recorded. The second stimulusnumber indicates that the item number of the second stimulus presented on the trial should be recorded, and so on. If no 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc. stimulus is presented on a given trial, a '0' is recorded.

Similarly, the first stimulusitem specified in the columns attribute indicates that the actual item presented by the first stimulus appearing on the current trial should be recorded. If the stimulus is <text> or <port>, the actual item is recorded. If the stimulus is a <sound>, <picture>, or <video>, the item’s filename is recorded. If the stimulus is a <shape>, the name of the shape is recorded. Like stimulusnumber, each successive stimulusitem records the item from each successive stimulus presented on the trial. If no 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc. stimulus is presented on a given trial, a '0' is recorded.

Similarly, the first stimulusonset specified in the columns attribute indicates that the onset time of the first stimulus appearing on the current trial should be recorded. Like stimulusnumber, each successive stimulusonset records the onset time for each successive stimulus presented on the trial. If no 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc. stimulus is presented on a given trial, a '0' is recorded.

Similarly, the first trialdata specified in the columns attribute indicates that the first item specified in the trialdata attribute of the current trial should be recorded, the second occurrence of trialdata indicates that the second item in the trialdata attribute of the current trial should be recorded, and so on. If no 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc. item is defined in the trialdata attribute, a '0' is recorded. (Note: if trialdata is not specified in this command, or if no <data> is defined, the trialdata attribute of each trial element is ignored.)

Finally, each text string within quotes in the columns attribute is recorded to the data file verbatim.

Examples

The following records 10 columns to the data file:

<data>
/ columns=[subject, blockcode, trialcode, trialnum, latency, response, stimulusitem, stimulusnumber, stimulusitem, stimulusnumber]
</data>