Hi All,
consider the attached script. It's objective is very simple: Display the four letters "A", "B", "C", and "D" at once in consecutive order. I know you could do that much easier but this is for testing purposes only. The counters were originally set up as follows:
<counter COUNTER_text1>
/ items = (1, 2, 3, 4)
/ select = 1
</counter>
<counter COUNTER_text2>
/ items = (1, 2, 3, 4)
/ select = 2
</counter>
<counter COUNTER_text3>
/ items = (1, 2, 3, 4)
/ select = 3
</counter>
<counter COUNTER_text4>
/ items = (1, 2, 3, 4)
/ select = 4
</counter>
What I'd expect to happen is that the first counter selects element 1 (which would be "A" in the letters list), the second counter selects element 2 (letter "B") and so forth. The actual result is quite different, i.e. all letters are "A" in all trials, hence, the counters obviously ignore the "/ select" integer.
Then I tried to use "/ select = sequence(2,2,2,2)" for the second counter so that it reads
<counter COUNTER_text2>
/ items = (1, 2, 3, 4)
/ select = sequence(2,2,2,2)
</counter>
To my understanding of counters, this should have the counter select its second element four times in a row. Again, something very different happens. The counter selects its first item on the first trial (corresponding to letter "A"), then the second item (letter "B") on the second trial and so forth, so that the first letter iterates sequentially from "A" to "D" across trials. It is as if I hadn't specified the "(2,2,2,2)".
Finally, I used "/ select = constant(3)" for the third counter which in my conception should yield the same behavior as "/ select = 3". Well, it does, but just as ill-mannered. Inquisit disregards the integer setting but always selects the first element (letter "A" again).
I can't believe that this is a faulty implementation. So I must be doing something wrong. Any hints?
Best wishes,
Malte