Psychological testing, using multimedia technology

The PC has become established as a readily available and useful computing tool in many applications. A multimedia PC is able to integrate components of text, picture, video and sound in one computer whereby it becomes possible to generate archives and presentations in the aforementioned media. The co-ordination of all these components is ultimately controlled by a relevant software package through which the whole application is developed. These applications can then be used to sequentially control the presentation of visual and acoustic stimuli. Depending on the intentions or requirements of the user the flow of data can be controlled during the running time of a program or generally set beforehand.

The data for stimulation as pictures, sound and video are stored as objects in the Data Base System.

Fig. 1: Video sequence stored in a Data Base

The time course of the test can be described in a user friendly manner in a test table. Trial-No., the name of the stimulus object, the required reaction, the duration of the stimulus and the stimulus interval can be written in the table. During the course of the experiment, the experimenter can open a window with a list of test names, click on the test name with the mouse and start the test.  

Fig. 2: Time course of a test, described in user friendly manner in a Data Base Table.