Serial recall

Play a digit sequence hands-free, then collect a typed recall of the whole sequence, scored against the correct order.

When to use it

Use this for span and serial-recall designs: a short sequence is presented one item at a time, and the participant reproduces it in order afterwards. The presentation must run at a fixed pace with no way to respond early, and the recall must be typed once, at the end, against the whole sequence. That maps onto a two-row unit: a learn row that plays the sequence by itself, and a test row with a text box whose correct answer is the full sequence.

Trial file

type	content	stimFormat	stim1	stim2	stim3	stim4	stim5	stim6	presTime	ISI	randomBlock	responseType	key	button1
instructions	You will see six digits, one at a time. Afterwards, type all six in the order they appeared and press Enter.													NEXT
learn		word	3	7	1	9	5	8	800*6	200*5	1
test		word	Type the six digits in order:								1	box	371958
learn		word	6	2	9	4	1	7	800*6	200*5	2
test		word	Type the six digits in order:								2	box	629417
learn		word	8	5	2	7	3	6	800*6	200*5	3
test		word	Type the six digits in order:								3	box	852736

How it works

The learn row is the presentation: six word stimuli at 800*6 (800 ms each) with 200*5 blanks between them. On a learn trial the response window never opens, so the sequence cannot be skipped or answered early, and the row writes no results row of its own.

The test row collects recall with responseType = box: the prompt is the word stimulus, the participant types into the box and confirms, and the typed text is scored against key. With the whole sequence as one string in key (371958), only a perfectly ordered reproduction scores correct; the verbatim typed response is saved either way, so partial credit (items correct, order errors, transpositions) can be computed from the results afterwards.

randomBlock pairs each sequence with its own recall row, so the three units shuffle as wholes across participants while presentation always precedes its recall. (randomBlock rather than a trialOrder spec, because spec runs split where type changes.)

Variations

• Span staircases live elsewhere: to adapt sequence length to performance, author units at several lengths and drive them with the staircase column; see the Adaptive staircase recipe.
• Letters or words instead of digits: same structure with different stim values and key strings; add a delimiter convention (cat dog pen in one box) for word lists.
• Enforce a recall deadline: responseWindow = max:15000 on the recall row auto-advances after 15 s and appends ;timeout to whatever was typed.
• Backward span: keep the presentation identical and put the reversed sequence in key.