Behavior Adaptation Task

Technical Manual

Script Author: Katja Borchert, Ph.D. (katjab@millisecond.com), Millisecond

Credits:
Millisecond thanks Dr. Hester et al for generously providing assistance with script development/clarifications!

Created: January 22, 2013

Last Modified: January 01, 2025 by K. Borchert (katjab@millisecond.com), Millisecond

Script Copyright © Millisecond Software, LLC

Background

This script implements the Behavior Adaptation Task (BAT), a paradigm to study behavior adaption using a a motor inhibition Go-NoGo task, as described in Hester et al (2007).

References

Hester, R, Simões-Franklin, C., & Garavan, H. (2007). Post-error behavior in active cocaine users: poor awareness of errors in the presence of intact performance adjustments. Neuropsychopharmacology, 32, 1974–1984

Gregg, A. & Sedikides, C. (2010). Narcissistic Fragility: Rethinking Its Links to Explicit and Implicit Self-esteem, Self and Identity, 9:2, 142-161 (p.148)

Duration

15 minutes

Description

Participants are presented a steady paced (1hz) stream of X and Ys (one letter at the time) in the middle of the screen. They are instructed to make a button response for each of the letters as long as the letters are alternating (switch from X to Y or from Y to X). Trials with alternating letters are the GO trials. If a letter was repeated (the alternation order interrupted), participants were instructed to withhold the response. These trials are the NOGO trials.

Responses to Go trials in a condition in which all NOGO trials are followed by GO trials (SL = single lure condition) are compared to responses to GO trials in a condition in which NOGO trials can also be followed by another NOGO trial (DL = double lure condition). Behavior Adaptation is thought to occur if there is a slowing down of responses to GO trials following single (correctly suppressed) lure NOGO trials in the DL condition (when another NOGO trial is possible to follow) compared to the SL condition (when another NOGO trial is impossible).

Procedure

• 2 Conditions: SL (single lure NOGO trials) vs. DL (mix of double lure and single lure NOGO trials) - tested within participant in a blocked design
• 1 experimental block per condition (tested in a blocked design; order of conditions is counterbalanced by assigned groupnumber)
number of blocks run can be edited under section EDITABLE PARAMETER ( Hester et al ran 3 blocks per condition)
• 314 trials per block
SL: 1 Start GO trial, 153 GO trials (that follow GO trials), 80 single NOGO trials (follow GO trials), 80 GO trials that follow NOGO trials = 314 trials
=> order randomized
DL: 1 Start Go trial, 171 GO trials (that follow GO trials), 44 single NOGO trials (follow GO trials and are followed by a GO trial),
44 GO trials (follow single NOGO trials), 18 double NOGO trials (followed by another NOGO trial),
18 NOGO trials (follow a NOGO trial and are followed by a GO trial) and 18 GO trials (follow the double NOGO trials) = 314 trials
=> order randomized
• 2 optional practice blocks: practice_SL - 25 trials; practice_DL - 29 trials (practice blocks added by Millisecond; not original)


Trial Sequence:
{target (x or y) for 800ms -> fixation cross for 200ms} -> {target.....
Responses to a target are taken until the time the next target is presented.

Instructions

not original, can be edited under EDITABLE CODE -> Editable Instructions

Scoring

Zhitratesl:
Adjustments to z-scores as recommended by Gregg & Sedikides (2010)
Adjustments are made if the hitRate = 0 (increased to 0.005) or 1 (decreased to 0.995)*

Zfaratesl:
Adjustments to z-scores as recommended by Gregg & Sedikides (2010)
Adjustments are made if the faRate = 0 (increased to 0.005) or 1 (decreased to 0.995)*

Zhitratedl:
Adjustments to z-scores as recommended by Gregg & Sedikides (2010)

Zfaratedl:
Adjustments to z-scores as recommended by Gregg & Sedikides (2010)

Summary Data

File Name: behavioradaptiontask_summary*.iqdat

Data Fields

NameDescription
inquisit.version Inquisit version number
computer.platform Device platform: win | mac |ios | android
computer.touch 0 = device has no touchscreen capabilities; 1 = device has touchscreen capabilities
computer.hasKeyboard 0 = no external keyboard detected; 1 = external keyboard detected
startDate Date the session was run
startTime Time the session was run
subjectId Participant ID
groupId Group number
sessionId Session number
elapsedTime Session duration in ms
completed 0 = Test was not completed
1 = Test was completed
Sl Block
hitRateSL Proportion responses in SL Go trials (include anticipatory responses)
missRateSL Proportion omitted responses in SL Go trials
propAnticipatorySL Proportion anticipatory responses to SL Go trials (trials that have latencies < parameters.anticipatoryresponse)
faRateSL Proportion failed suppressions (= responses in SL Nogo Trial)
corrRejectRateSL Proportion correct noresponses in SL Nogo Trials
zHitRateSL The z-score of the SL hit rate
zFARateSL The z-score of the SL false alarm rate
dPrimeSL Computes d' (parametric measure of discriminability btw. signals and noise)
=> Range (in this script)
-5.1516586840152740479 <= dprime <= 5.1516586840152740479 (=perfect performance)
=> The higher the value, the better signals (go stims) were overall distinguished from noise (nogo stims)
(d' = 0: chance performance; negative d-primes: participant treated nontargets as targets and targets as nontargets)
cSL C-criterion in signal detection:The absolute value of c provides an indication of the strength of
the response bias/response style
negative: participant more likely to report that signal is present (liberal response style)
may favor faster responding in speed-accuracy trade-off response paradigms
positive: favoring caution (conservative response style)
Dl Block
hitRateDL Proportion responses in DL Go trials (include anticipatory responses)
missRateDL Proportion omitted responses in DL Go trials
propAnticipatoryDL Proportion anticipatory responses to DL Go trials (trials that have latencies < parameters.anticipatoryresponse)
faRateDL Proportion failed suppressions (= responses in DL Nogo Trial)
corrRejectRateDL Proportion correct noresponses in DL Nogo Trials
zHitRateDL The z-score of the DL hit rate
zFARateDL The z-score of the DL false alarm rate
dPrimeDL Computes d' (parametric measure of discriminability btw. signals and noise)
=> Range (in this script)
-5.1516586840152740479 <= dprime <= 5.1516586840152740479 (=perfect performance)
=> The higher the value, the better signals (go stims) were overall distinguished from noise (nogo stims)
(d' = 0: chance performance; negative d-primes: participant treated nontargets as targets and targets as nontargets)
cDL C-criterion in signal detection:The absolute value of c provides an indication of the strength of
the response bias/response style
negative: participant more likely to report that signal is present (liberal response style)
may favor faster responding in speed-accuracy trade-off response paradigms
positive: favoring caution (conservative response style)
Response Times
meanrtGoSlDL Mean latency (in ms) of correct GO trials after single correct (aka suppressed) NOGO trials (single lure) in the DL condition
meanrtGoSlSL Mean latency (in ms) of correct GO trials after single correct (aka suppressed) NOGO trials (single lure) in the SL condition
rtDiffScore The difference score between the two
=> positive RT_Diffscore: slowing down in Go trials after single lures in DL condition
(when another lure is possible) compared to Go trials after single lures in SL condition (when no other lure is possible)

Raw Data

File Name: behavioradaptiontask_raw*.iqdat

Data Fields

NameDescription
build Inquisit version number
computer.platform Device platform: win | mac |ios | android
computer.touch 0 = device has no touchscreen capabilities; 1 = device has touchscreen capabilities
computer.hasKeyboard 0 = no external keyboard detected; 1 = external keyboard detected
date Date the session was run
time Time the session was run
subject Participant ID
group Group number
session Session number
blockcode The name the current block (built-in Inquisit variable)
blocknum The number of the current block (built-in Inquisit variable)
trialcode The name of the currently recorded trial (built-in Inquisit variable)
trialnum The number of the currently recorded trial (built-in Inquisit variable)
trialnum is a built-in Inquisit variable; it counts all trials run
even those that do not store data to the data file.
blockType "SL": block that only runs single NoGo trials (not followed by other NoGo trials)
"DL": block that runs a variety of single and double NoGo trials
trialType "go" vs. "nogo"
stimulus The presented target
response The participant's response (scancode)
57 = spacebar
0 = no response
correct The correctness of the response (1 = correct; 0 = otherwise)
rt The latency of the response in ms (if no response values.rt = ""); measured from onset of target
responseType "NoGo Success" - successful suppression of response to NoGo trial
"NoGo Failure" - failed suppression of response to NoGo trials
"Go Anticipatory" - possible anticipatory response to Go trials (latency < parameters.anticipatoryresponse)
"Go Success" - correct response to Go trials with latency >= parameters.anticipatoryresponse
"Go Omission" - omission of response to Go trials
( trialtype distinction added by Millisecond)
countGoSL Counts Go trials across SL Block (regardless of whether they follow a NoGo trial or not)
countNoGoSL Counts NoGo trials across SL Block
countGoDL Counts Go trials across DL Block (regardless of whether they follow a NoGo trial or not)
countNoGoDL Counts NoGo trials across DL Block
countAnticipatorySL Counts anticipatory responses for Go trials across SL Block
countAnticipatoryDL Counts anticipatory responses for Go trials across DL Block
countFailedSuppressionsSL Counts failed suppressions across SL Block
countFailedSuppressionsDL Counts failed suppressions across DL Block
countOmissionsSL Counts omissions in across SL Block
countOmissionsDL Counts omissions across DL Block
sumrtGoSlsl Sum up correct latencies of GO trials that come after a single correct NOGO trial in the SL condition
countGoSlsl Count correct GO trials that come after a single correct NOGO trial in the SL condition
sumrtGoSldl Count correct GO trials that come after a single correct NOGO trial in the DL condition
countGoSldl Sum up correct latencies of GO trials that come after a single correct NOGO trial in the DL condition

Parameters

The procedure can be adjusted by setting the following parameters.

NameDescriptionDefault
Design
numberSLBlocks The number of consecutive SL blocks to run1
numberDLBlocks The number of consecutive DL blocks to run
Notes
1. Hester et al ran 3 blocks per condition
2. Each block takes appr. 6 minutes to run
1
skipPractice True = practice blocks are skipped
false = practice block are run
false
Sizing Parameters
fontSizeTarget Fontsize of the targets in screen height percentages10%
fontSizeFixation Fontsize of the fixation mark in screen height percentages3%
Timing Parameters
stimulusDuration Presentation duration of the targets in ms800
fixationDuration Presentation duration of the fixation stimulus in ms200
anticipatoryResponse Latencies in ms in Go trials faster than this value are coded as anticipatory responses100