E-Prime

[edit] E-Prime Help Resources

Lab Resources

E-Prime Documentation \\pauli\younger\software\windows\Academic\E-Prime\Documentation\:
- GettingStartedGuide.pdf - A simple introductory guide to E-Prime (Ask Hanah or the lab manager for a print out).
- ReferenceGuide.pdf - Reference Guide
- UsersGuide.pdf - Detailed users guide (Advanced); Chapter 3 has important timing information

A folder with past E-Prime programs that people in the lab have made. Add your own program to this folder so that other people can benefit from the code you wrote. Even if you don't write a description of what your program does, and even if you don't include the files necessary for your program to execute, one of the best ways to program in E-prime is to just look at what other people have done. The folder is in \users\acl\EPRIME shared programs.

Built-in Resources

An E-Prime help section in the program that gives an overview of all the objects in E-Prime and some basic details about what the different properties of an object (e.g. Slide object) are supposed to be. It can help to better understand what some objects are supposed to do, and how they work. It's called the "E-studio" help because it deals with the high level graphical objects in E-prime. Start E-Prime and go to: Help -> Help Topics, then browse around

An E-Prime help section in the program that gives details of how to write code and use more advanced features. It's useful for looking up the syntax of writing code (e.g. if statements, getting and setting attributes of lists, writing to files, key nomenclature such as {LEFTARROW} or {.}). It has an overview or help topics section, an index, and a find function. Start E-Prime and go to: Help -> E-Basic Help, then browse around

External Resources

A website called the System for Teaching Experimental Psychology uses E-Prime to teach students how to program. It has a number of links to helpful material, but most importantly it has many sample E-Prime programs posted online. There are many classic experiments in cognitive psychology there, as well as student submission of programs. It's possible that the program you're trying to design may need code similar to what is used in some of these.

A searchable archive of past questions that have been asked on this E-prime mailing list. It's very useful for trying to look up problems you have, that other people may have had in the past.

E-Prime runs a support website which allows registered E-Prime users to email in questions, as well as search through a database of solutions to common problems that are posted by E-prime. Ask the Lab Manager for the login and password.

E-DataAid (this installs with E-Prime) has a function called "Analyze" which makes extracting data from E-Prime files much easier. If you learn the basics of using this function it can save you a lot of time and work using Macros in Excel. If you design an experiment mindful of how you will be using "Analyze" to get the data out, getting data in the final form you want to analyze it can be as easy as using single mouse-click in E-Prime. To use this function in E-DataAid, open an .edat log file, then go to: Tools -> Analyze
When you open "Analyze" the useful properties will be: placing variables in "Rows", "Columns", and "Data". Once a variable is in "Data" you can choose whether you want its "Mean". You can use "Filter" so that the data you get is only from the relevant parts of the very detailed e-data file. If you figure out an analysis that you'll want to use over and over, click on "Save Analysis". The next time you open a data file you can load this analysis by cliking on "Load Analysis".
Once you get the hang of the analysis files you'll be able to make an analysis for your own program. You can often simplify an analysis by including an extra attribute in a "List" in your original experiment, and then filtering or scoring based on the attribute of that list. The analysis files may seem complex but as soon as you understand the basic idea they're very intuitive and save a lot of time. Just ask someone if you have questions about how to use them, or want to be convinced.

Problem: My images are not being opened or loaded.

Solution:

E-Prime 1.1 can only open .bmp files.

Double-click on the Experiment Object Icon in the Structure Window and a properties window should pop up
Go to the Devices tab
Check the Display settings to match the bit-depth and screen resolution.

Problem: It says, "sound device is set not to open"

Solution:

Double-click on the Experiment Object Icon in the Structure Window and a properties window should pop up
Then click on the Devices tab near the top
There should be a Sound Option - Make sure that it is checked (If it is not there, select Add and add the Sound Device).
Now, click on the Sound Option to highlight it and click Edit (option at the bottom of the screen)
An "Edit SoundDeviceObject Properties" Window should now pop up...make sure the following values are there: