Psych 610 Handout #27, p. 1
Prof. Moore
Mixed Design: A Study of Language Processing
We will study how long it takes for subjects to verify sentences of the following form.
The star is beside the heart.
The star is above the heart.
The star is below the heart.
Sentences will be of six types according to the following design:
Sentence
True
False
Beside
Preposition
Above
Below
x
For example, a subject might be shown ♥ plus the sentence, “The star is below the heart.” This
sentence comes from the cell marked “X” because it is false and uses the preposition below. In the
task, the subject is shown the figure for 500 ms before the sentence is presented. Then the subject
presses either the “true” response key or the “false” response key as quickly as possible.
Each subject gets each of the six types of sentence 15 times (replications). (A separate random order is
chosen for each subject.) The data for each subject are the means of the 15 replications for each
sentence type (i.e., six means per subject).
There are two subject variables of interest: laterality (left-handers may process language differently
from right-handers) and native vs. non-native speakers (there may be a recoding step for non-natives).
Therefore, subjects will be selected according to the following design:
Native Speakers
Non-Native Speakers
Right-handed
10 Ss
10 Ss
Left-handed
10 Ss
10 Ss
