___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ *STERNBERG MEMORY TASK* ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ last updated: 10-16-2023 by K. Borchert (katjab@millisecond.com) for Millisecond Software, LLC Script Copyright © 10-16-2023 Millisecond Software ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ BACKGROUND INFO ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ This script implements the classic Sternberg Memory Task paradigm to test working memory with strings of digits. Reference: Sternberg, S. (1966). High speed scanning in human memory. Science, 153, 652-654. Note: script tests set sizes of 2-7 (see list.setsize) ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ TASK DESCRIPTION ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Participants are given a series of digits (2-7 digits long) before being prompted with a digit that was either part of the series (IN) or not (OUT). Participants have to decide whether the probe was IN or OUT by pressing 2 different keys on the keyboard. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ DURATION ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ the default set-up of the script takes appr. 5 minutes to complete ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ DATA FILE INFORMATION ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ The default data stored in the data files are: (1) Raw data file: 'sternbergmemorytask_raw*.iqdat' (a separate file for each participant) build: The specific Inquisit version used (the 'build') that was run computer.platform: the platform the script was run on (win/mac/ios/android) date, time: date and time script was run subject, group: with the current subject/groupnumber session: with the current session id blockcode, blocknum: the name and number of the current block (built-in Inquisit variable) trialcode, trialnum: the name and number of the currently recorded trial (built-in Inquisit variable) Note: trialnum is a built-in Inquisit variable; it counts all trials run; even those that do not store data to the data file such as feedback trials. Thus, trialnum may not reflect the number of main trials run per block. response: the participant's response (scancode of response button) 33 = f 36 = j responseCategory: the interpreted key response: "in" vs. "out" correct: the correctness of the response (1 = correct; 0 = incorrect) latency: the response latency (in ms); measured from onset of target digit setsize: the currently tested set size first- seventh: contain digit1 to digit7 (depends on current set size) target: stores the currently presented target stimulusitem: the currently presented trial stimulus individual counts per set sizes: count2/countcorrect2, count3/countcorrect3, count4/countcorrect4, count5/countcorrect5, count6/countcorrect6, count7/countcorrect7 (2) Summary data file: 'sternbergmemorytask_summary*.iqdat' (a separate file for each participant) inquisit.version: Inquisit version run computer.platform: the platform the script was run on (win/mac/ios/android) startDate: date script was run startTime: time script was started subjectid: assigned subject id number groupid: assigned group id number sessionid: assigned session id number elapsedTime: time it took to run script (in ms); measured from onset to offset of script completed: 0 = script was not completed (prematurely aborted); 1 = script was completed (all conditions run) propcorrect2- propcorrect7: proportion correct responses by setsize ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ EXPERIMENTAL SET-UP ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 1 Testblock with 18 trials: 3 repetitions of setsizes 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 * set sizes randomly selected * 9 trials are randomly selected to be in-trials (the probe digit was part of the list) and 9 trials are selected to be out trials (the probe digit was not part of the list) ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ INSTRUCTIONS ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ see section Editable Instructions ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ EDITABLE CODE ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ check below for (relatively) easily editable parameters, stimuli, instructions etc. Keep in mind that you can use this script as a template and therefore always "mess" with the entire code to further customize your experiment. The parameters you can change are: learninginterval: interstimulusinterval (in ms), how fast a new letter is presented probepause: pause (in ms) before probe is presented