Bringing a decision-making task online

The question

How can a desktop decision-making experiment be adapted for online use?

My contribution

For my master’s thesis, I learned Python and JavaScript to adapt the Iowa Gambling Task for online use. This meant translating experimental task logic into a browser-based format.

The approach

The task uses four card decks. My examples show how I organized conditions by deck, randomized trials, and updated card images when a deck was empty. The online version uses PsychoJS trial handlers and JavaScript to manage those conditions.

What came out of it

The work produced an online task adaptation and a set of code examples documenting the transition. It connects behavioral research design with practical programming.

A small example

This excerpt from my original walkthrough selects the conditions for deck A. The same pattern is applied to the other decks.

allCards = data.importConditions("CONDITIONS.csv")
A_cards = list(filter(lambda card: card["DECK_NAME"] == "A", allCards))
shuffle(A_cards)

In the online implementation, the same selection becomes JavaScript:

A_cards.trialList = A_cards.trialList.filter(
  card => card["DECK_NAME"] === "A"
);

These are excerpts explaining the implementation, not a runnable experiment.