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Experiential Psychology: Visualize and Engage with Theories to Unlock Human Mind Models

Delve into foundational psychological theories and explore their applications in therapy, education, and more. Through visualization and interactive experiences, personally engage with the outcomes of psychological research, unlocking the mysteries of the human mind and behavior.

1. Overview of Psychological Research Fields

Psychology is a science that studies human cognition, behavior, emotion, and motivation. It intersects with fields like sociology, education, and neuroscience. To better understand and investigate human mental processes, psychologists often categorize their research into various sub-fields. Below are several major branches, along with some example experiments.
Cognitive PsychologyBehavioral PsychologyAffective PsychologyMotivational PsychologySocial PsychologyPersonality PsychologyBiopsychology/ NeuroscienceDevelopmental Psychology

Cognitive Psychology

Cognitive psychology explores how we acquire, process, store, and use information. It covers attention, perception, memory, learning, thinking, language, and decision-making, among other topics.

  • Attentional Blink Paradigm: Investigates the 'window' of time in which a second target is missed when two targets appear in rapid succession.
  • Corsi Block Test / Digit Span Test: Measures working memory capacity (spatial or verbal).
  • N-back Task: Assesses how performance changes with increasing working memory load (1-back, 2-back, 3-back, etc.).
  • Lexical Decision Task: Examines word recognition speed and how factors like frequency or semantic context influence processing.
  • Self-Paced Reading: Studies reading comprehension and memory by measuring how people read text word-by-word or phrase-by-phrase.

Recommended

Hick's Law Experiment

Investigate how the number of choices affects decision-making time, a classic study in cognitive psychology.

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Stroop Effect Experiment

Examine cognitive control by testing the interference between color naming and word reading.

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Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST)

Assess cognitive flexibility and abstract thinking through rule-shifting tasks.

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N-Back Working Memory Task

Evaluate working memory capacity by recalling sequences presented N steps earlier.

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Iowa Gambling Task (IGT)

Simulate decision-making under risk to study emotional and cognitive influences.

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Negative Priming Effect Experiment

Explore how ignored stimuli affect subsequent responses, revealing attention suppression mechanisms.

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Implicit Association Test (IAT)

Measure subconscious attitudes and biases through reaction time analysis.

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Backward Corsi Block Test

Assess visuospatial working memory by recalling sequences in reverse order.

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Corsi Block Test

Evaluate short-term visuospatial memory by recalling sequences of blocks.

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Digit Span Test (DST)

Measure short-term verbal memory by recalling digit sequences forward and backward.

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Lexical Decision Task

Assess word recognition speed and accuracy to study language processing.

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Fitts' Law Experiment

Investigate how target size and distance affect movement time, fundamental in human-computer interaction.

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Flanker Task

Test selective attention and cognitive control by assessing response interference.

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Tower of Hanoi

Evaluate problem-solving and planning abilities through a classic puzzle.

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Deary-Liewald Reaction Time Task

Measure information processing speed using simple and choice reaction time tasks.

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Visual Search Task

Assess attention allocation and visual processing by locating targets among distractors.

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Dot Probe Task

Investigate attention bias towards emotional stimuli.

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Navon Task

Study global-local processing preferences to understand cognitive styles.

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Brown-Peterson Task

Examine short-term memory decay under interference conditions.

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Brown-Peterson Task

Examine short-term memory decay under interference conditions.

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Numerical Stroop Task

Assess cognitive control by testing interference between numerical and physical size.

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Inhibition of Return (IOR) Task

Measure how attention suppresses returning to previously attended locations.

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Posner Cueing Paradigm

Investigate how spatial cues direct visual attention and affect reaction times.

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Sustained Attention to Response Task (SART)

Evaluate sustained attention and response inhibition by requiring responses to frequent stimuli and withholding to rare targets.

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Experiment Category Navigation

Attention and ConsciousnessMemory and LearningReaction Time and Conflict ControlDecision Making and Problem SolvingSocial Cognition and Implicit AttitudesVisual Search and Spatial CognitionMotor Control and Human-Computer InteractionOther Integrated Experiments

Visual Search and Spatial Cognition

These experiments study how humans search for targets in complex scenes, and how they process spatial information and perform mental rotation.

Visual Search

Visual Search Task

Study the ability to search for targets in complex scenes

Spatial Cognition

Mental Rotation Task

Test the ability to mentally rotate 2D/3D shapes

Global/Local Processing

Navon Task

Study global/local information processing preferences

Motor Control and Human-Computer Interaction

These experiments study the principles of human motor control and their applications in human-computer interaction design.

Motor Control

Fitts' Law Experiment

Study the relationship between movement time, target size, and distance

Spatial Compatibility

Simon Task

Study the spatial compatibility between stimulus location and response

Human-Computer Interaction

Human-Computer Interaction Experiment

Study the relationship between user interface design and user experience

Coming Soon

Other Integrated Experiments

These experiments cover multiple cognitive fields, or do not entirely belong to the above categories.

Language Processing

Lexical Decision Task

Evaluate the speed of language processing and word recognition

Multitasking

Multitasking Experiment

Study cognitive resource allocation under concurrent tasks

Mental Workload

Mental Workload Paradigm

Assess task load by combining subjective questionnaires and objective metrics

How to Use the Experiment Library如何使用实验库

1

Learn and Understand

Each experiment includes a brief description of its purpose, theoretical background, and reference links.

2

Online Demo

Run the tasks directly in your browser to experience how typical cognitive or social experiments are set up.

3

View Results

After completion, many tasks provide basic result analyses to help you understand the relationship between your performance and the theory.

3. How to Use This Experiment Library

  1. Learn & Understand: Each experiment is accompanied by a brief description of its purpose and theoretical background, along with reference links.
  2. Online Demonstrations: Run the task directly in your browser to get hands-on experience of how a typical cognitive or social experiment is set up.
  3. View Results: Upon completion, many tasks provide basic feedback (e.g., reaction time, accuracy). This is for educational insight, not formal diagnosis or research conclusion.
  4. Touch-Friendly Versions: Many tasks support touch input for mobile or tablet use, although precise reaction time studies are ideally done on desktop with a keyboard.

4. Ethical Considerations

  • Research Ethics & Consent: If data is collected for actual research, ensure participants have given informed consent, and that their privacy is respected.
  • Interpretation of Results: The online tasks serve an educational/demo purpose. Real lab-based research typically involves more controlled conditions and calibration.
  • Copyright & Sources: Cite the original authors or instruments. If you modify or reuse tasks, check for licensing or usage restrictions.

5. Summary & Future Directions

As neuroscience and technology progress, traditional experiments are increasingly enhanced with brain imaging, physiological measures, and AI-powered analytics, offering deeper insights into the biological and computational basis of cognition and behavior. Emerging technologies such as virtual reality (VR), wearable devices, the Internet of Things (IoT), and smartphone-based data collection are expanding the scope, scalability, and ecological validity of psychological research. AI systems further enable real-time data analysis and adaptive experimentation, while IoT devices provide continuous, context-rich behavioral monitoring.

Cross-disciplinary approaches are also gaining traction, integrating social, developmental, clinical, cognitive, and computational perspectives. This convergence facilitates the development of new experimental paradigms, improves data-driven insights, and enhances predictive models of human behavior.

The library of tasks will continue to grow, reflecting these technological advances and methodological innovations. We hope this resource inspires curiosity and supports a deeper understanding of the extraordinary complexity of the human mind, encouraging researchers to leverage these tools for broader and more impactful discoveries.

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References

  • Hick, W. E. (1952). On the rate of gain of information. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 4(1), 11–26.DOI
  • Hyman, R. (1953). Stimulus information as a determinant of reaction time. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 45(3), 188–196.DOI
  • Posner, M. I. (1980). Orienting of attention. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 32(1), 3–25.DOI
  • Mackworth, J. F. (1948). The breakdown of vigilance during prolonged visual search. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 1(1), 6–21.DOI
  • Stroop, J. R. (1935). Studies of interference in serial verbal reactions. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 18(6), 643–662.DOI
  • Eriksen, B. A., & Eriksen, C. W. (1974). Effects of noise letters upon the identification of a target letter in a nonsearch task. Perception & Psychophysics, 16(1), 143–149.DOI
  • Bechara, A., Damasio, A. R., Damasio, H., & Anderson, S. W. (1994). Insensitivity to future consequences following damage to human prefrontal cortex. Cognition, 50(1–3), 7–15.DOI
  • Shepard, R. N., & Metzler, J. (1971). Mental rotation of three-dimensional objects. Science, 171(3972), 701–703.DOI
  • Corsi, P. M. (1972). Human memory and the medial temporal region of the brain (Doctoral dissertation). McGill University, Montreal, Canada.
  • Baddeley, A. D., & Hitch, G. J. (1974). Working memory. In G. A. Bower (Ed.), The Psychology of Learning and Motivation (Vol. 8, pp. 47–89). Academic Press.DOI
  • Nissen, M. J., & Bullemer, P. (1987). Attentional requirements of learning: Evidence from performance measures. Cognitive Psychology, 19(1), 1–32.DOI
  • Ratcliff, R. (1978). A theory of memory retrieval. Psychological Review, 85(2), 59–108.DOI
  • Green, D. M., & Swets, J. A. (1966). Signal detection theory and psychophysics. Wiley.
  • Shiffrin, R. M., & Schneider, W. (1977). Controlled and automatic human information processing: II. Perceptual learning, automatic attending and a general theory. Psychological Review, 84(2), 127–190.DOI
  • Navon, D. (1977). Forest before trees: The precedence of global features in visual perception. Cognitive Psychology, 9(3), 353–383.DOI
  • Fitts, P. M. (1954). The information capacity of the human motor system in controlling the amplitude of movement. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 47(6), 381–391.DOI
  • Simon, J. R. (1969). Reactions toward the source of stimulation. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 81(1), 174–176.DOI
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