Instructions Trials

Experiments

Instructions trials present text (and optionally images) to participants without recording response data. Participants read the content and click or press a key to continue.

Columns

title

The heading displayed at the top of the instructions screen. Accepts plain text or HTML.

content

The body text of the instructions screen. Accepts plain text or HTML, so you can include formatted paragraphs, bullet lists, bold/italic text, and embedded images.

type         | title                        | content
instructions | Welcome to the experiment    | In each trial you will see a word appear on screen. Please press <b>F</b> if the word is positive and <b>J</b> if it is negative...

Tip

You can use the stim column instead of title/content on instructions trials if you want to display a single image or a fully custom HTML layout.

Advancing past instructions

By default, participants click a Continue button to move past an instructions screen. You can also configure a specific key response to advance, using the buttons or key columns.

Using HTML in instructions

Both title and content support HTML, which lets you add rich formatting:

• <b>bold</b> or <strong>bold</strong> for bold text
• <i>italics</i> or <em>italics</em> for italic text
• <ul><li>item</li></ul> for bullet lists
• <img src="myimage.png" /> to display an uploaded image inline

Typical usage

Instructions trials are often placed:

• At the beginning of the experiment (general welcome and task description)
• Before each new block (block-specific instructions)
• After practice trials (transition to the main task)
• At the end (debrief or thank-you message)

For end-of-experiment debrief content, you can also configure the debrief screen in the project Setup → Consent & Debrief section rather than as a trial file row.