ExperimentMFC 1. When to use Praat

With Praat's ExperimentMFC, you can do simple experiments on identification and discrimination. “Simple” means that for identification, the subject hears a sound and has to click in one of a set of labelled rectangles (optionally, you can have the subject give a goodness-of-fit judgment). For discrimination, you can have simple same-different choices, or more intricate things like AXB, 4I-oddity, and so on.

The advantage of using Praat's ExperimentMFC for this is that it is free, it works on Windows, Unix, and Macintosh, and the whole experiment (experiment file plus sound files) is portable across computers (you can run it from a USB stick, for instance). Because of the limited possibilities, it is also quite easy to set up the experiment. Just read the description below.

If you require more from your experiment design, you can use Praat's Demo window; with that less simple method you could for instance let the stimulus depend on the subject's previous responses. Alternatively, you could use a dedicated program like Presentation or E-prime instead of Praat; with these programs, you can also sometimes measure reaction times more accurately.

### Links to this page

- ExperimentMFC