overloading in jspsych?

[jdistefano3]

hello! I currently have this task I want to run that will first show participants sets of three letter strings, then six letter strings and then nine letter strings. To do this, it seems like I need to use the generateRandomStimulus function. But since javascript does not overload I cannot use a function with the same name three times. is there a work around for this in jspsych? any suggestions would be great, thanks!

var exp_trial_3 = {
       type: "html-keyboard-response",
       stimulus: generateRandomStimulus,
      choices: ['D', 'K'],
    }; 
    //indicate number of trials
    var number_of_trials = 20
    for (let i=0; i < number_of_trials; i++){
      timeline.push(exp_trial_3);
    }

function generateRandomStimulus(){
  //create the alphabet and put it in an Array
      var alphabet= ["A","B","C","D","E","F","G","H","I","J","K","L","M","N","O","P","Q","R","S","T","U","V","W","X","Y","Z"]
      var letters= jsPsych.randomization.sampleWithReplacement(alphabet, 3);
      var stim1 = letters.join('');
 
  if (jsPsych.randomization.sampleWithReplacement([0,1],1) == 1) {
      
      //picks random location in letter array to change
      var element_location = jsPsych.randomization.sampleWithReplacement([0,1,2],1)
      
      //Splice in a random letter from the alphabet
      //the splice function changes the original variable.  
      //if you try to make it == something it will make a new array with inserted elements
      letters.splice(element_location, 1, jsPsych.randomization.sampleWithReplacement(alphabet, 1));
      var stim2 = letters.join('');
      
      //concatenate the two words to make a DIFFERENT stimulus
      var display_stim = '<p style="font-size:40px;"><b>' + stim1+'  '+stim2 + '</b></p>';
      console.log(stim2);
    
  } else { 
      //concatenate two words to make a SAME stimulus
      var display_stim = '<p style="font-size:40px;"><b>' + stim1+'  '+stim1 + '</b></p>';
  }
  
  return display_stim;
}  

    var exp_trial_6 = {
       type: "html-keyboard-response",
       stimulus: generateRandomStimulus,
      choices: ['D', 'K'],
    }; 
    //indicate number of trials
    var number_of_trials = 20
    for (let i=0; i < number_of_trials; i++){
      timeline.push(exp_trial_6);
    }

    function generateRandomStimulus(){
  //create the alphabet and put it in an Array
      var alphabet = ["A","B","C","D","E","F","G","H","I","J","K","L","M","N","O","P","Q","R","S","T","U","V","W","X","Y","Z"]
      var letters = jsPsych.randomization.sampleWithReplacement(alphabet, 6);
      var stim1 = letters.join('');
 
  if (jsPsych.randomization.sampleWithReplacement([0,1],1) == 1) {
      
      //picks random location in letter array to change
      var element_location = jsPsych.randomization.sampleWithReplacement([0,1,2],1)
      
      //Splice in a random letter from the alphabet
      //the splice function changes the original variable.  
      //if you try to make it == something it will make a new array with inserted elements
      letters.splice(element_location, 1, jsPsych.randomization.sampleWithReplacement(alphabet, 1));
      var stim2 = letters.join('');
      
      //concatenate the two words to make a DIFFERENT stimulus
      var display_stim = '<p style="font-size:40px;"><b>' + stim1+'  '+stim2 + '</b></p>';
      console.log(stim2);
    
  } else { 
      //concatenate two words to make a SAME stimulus
      var display_stim = '<p style="font-size:40px;"><b>' + stim1+'  '+stim1 + '</b></p>';
  }
  
  return display_stim;
}


    var exp_trial_9 = {
       type: "html-keyboard-response",
       stimulus: generateRandomStimulus,
      choices: ['D', 'K'],
    }; 
    //indicate number of trials
    var number_of_trials = 20
    for (let i=0; i < number_of_trials; i++){
      timeline.push(exp_trial_9);
    }
function generateRandomStimulus(){
  //create the alphabet and put it in an Array
      var alphabet = ["A","B","C","D","E","F","G","H","I","J","K","L","M","N","O","P","Q","R","S","T","U","V","W","X","Y","Z"]
      var letters = jsPsych.randomization.sampleWithReplacement(alphabet, 9);
      var stim1 = letters.join('');
 
  if (jsPsych.randomization.sampleWithReplacement([0,1],1) == 1) {
      
      //picks random location in letter array to change
      var element_location = jsPsych.randomization.sampleWithReplacement([0,1,2],1)
      
      //Splice in a random letter from the alphabet
      //the splice function changes the original variable.  
      //if you try to make it == something it will make a new array with inserted elements
      letters.splice(element_location, 1, jsPsych.randomization.sampleWithReplacement(alphabet, 1));
      var stim2 = letters.join('');
      
      //concatenate the two words to make a DIFFERENT stimulus
      var display_stim = '<p style="font-size:40px;"><b>' + stim1+'  '+stim2 + '</b></p>';
      console.log(stim2);
    
  } else { 
      //concatenate two words to make a SAME stimulus
      var display_stim = '<p style="font-size:40px;"><b>' + stim1+'  '+stim1 + '</b></p>';
  }
  
  return display_stim;
}

[jodeleeuw]

Hi @jdistefano3

Two options that come to mind:

Option 1: Rename the functions. You could just name the first generateRandomStimulus function generateRandomStimulus3, the second generateRandomStimulus6, and the last generateRandomStimulus9. You would need to edit function generateRandomStimulus(){ to be function generateRandomStimulus3(){ and then replace stimulus: generateRandomStimulus, with stimulus: generateRandomStimulus3,, and so on for the others.

Option 2: Add a parameter. You could also add a parameter to generateRandomStimulus that indicated the length of the stimulus. You would edit the first line so function generateRandomStimulus(){ becomes function generateRandomStimulus(stimulus_length){, and then you can use the stimulus_length variable in place of the number of letters: var letters = jsPsych.randomization.sampleWithReplacement(alphabet, stimulus_length);. When you call this in your trials, you'll need to wrap the function name in another function, like this:

var exp_trial_6 = {
       type: "html-keyboard-response",
       stimulus: () => { return generateRandomStimulus(6); },
       choices: ['D', 'K'],
};

[jdistefano3]

Thank you! This was very helpful