___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ COMPETITIVE REACTION TIME TASK - INTENSITY SETTING ONLY ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Script Author: Katja Borchert, Ph.D. (katjab@millisecond.com) for Millisecond Software, LLC Date: 05-14-2013 last updated: 02-21-2022 by K. Borchert (katjab@millisecond.com) for Millisecond Software, LLC Script Copyright © 02-21-2022 Millisecond Software ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ BACKGROUND INFO ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ This script implements a version of the Competitive Reaction Time Task which is based on the Taylor Competitive Reaction Time task (Taylor, 1967). The current script incorporates features from the following studies: Bushman, B. J. (1995). Moderating role of trait aggressiveness in the effects of violent media on aggression. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 69, 950-960. Anderson, C.A. & Dill, K.E. (2000). Video Games and Aggressive Thoughts, Feelings, and Behavior in the Laboratory and in Life. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 78, 772-790. Denson, T.F., von Hippel, W., Richard I. Kemp, R.I. & Teo, L.S. (2010). Glucose consumption decreases impulsive aggression in response to provocation in aggressive individuals. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 46, 1023–1028. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ TASK DESCRIPTION ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Participants are told that they play a game with a second player (in reality the co-player is the computer). The goal is to be faster to press the mouse button if a target square turns from yellow to red. The 'loser' has to endure a blast of white noise. Before the participant gets to play, she is asked to select the intensity of the blast to be delivered to co-player (0-10). The duration of the blast is held constant in this script. Script: CompetitiveReactionTimeTask.iqx offers the possibility to set both intensity and duration Script: CompetitiveReactionTimeTask_Duration offers the possibility to set duration of blast with a constant intensity ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ DURATION ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ the default set-up of the script takes appr. 10 minutes to complete ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ DATA FILE INFORMATION ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ The default data stored in the data files are: (1) Raw data file: 'competitivereactiontimetask_intensity_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. blastduration_ms: sets the constant blastduration (default: 1000ms); Max = 2000 (determined by length of provided sound.blast) volume: records the volume with which the blast has to be delivered win: 1 = participant wins; 2 = participant loses blastintensity: stores the current intensity selected by participant feedbackintensity: stores the current feedback intensity (intensity chosen by 'co-player') rt_intensity: stores the current latency (in ms) for selecting intensity rt_ready: stores latency (in ms) to select ready button rt_target: stores latency to (in ms) of target response when target turns red (2) Summary data file: 'CompetitiveReactionTimeTask_Intensity_summary*.iqdat' (a separate file for each participant) This script computes blastintensity and duration separately (as well as overall) for - stage 0 (first trial; Denson et al (2010) used first trial aggression as main DV) - stage 1 (trial 2-9) - stage 2 (trial 10-17) - stage 3 (trial 18-25) 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) blastduration_ms: sets the constant blastduration (default: 1000ms); Max = 2000 (determined by length of provided sound.blast) firstintensity: stores the intensity selected for the first round/trial max_winlatency: maximum latency (in ms) that allows player to win the current game; any reaction times above => lose (even if it was a predetermined 'win' trial) default: 700ms mean_blastintensity: mean blastintensity (includes all 25 trials) mean_blastintensity1: mean blastintensity of stage 1 (trial 2 - trial 9) mean_blastintensity2: mean blastintensity of stage 2 (trial 10 - trial 17) mean_blastintensity3: mean blastintensity of stage 3 (trial 18 - trial 25) meanrt_intensity: mean latency (in ms) of setting intensity (includes all 25 trials) meanrt_ready: mean latency (in ms) of selecting Ready button (all trials) meanrt_target: mean latency (in ms) of target response when target turns red (all trials) ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ EXPERIMENTAL SET-UP ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ * 25 rounds/trials, stage 0 = trial 1; stage 1 = trial 2 - trial 9; stage 2 = trial 10 - 17; stage 3 = trial 18 - trial 25 * by default different editable values and lists govern the intensity the computer chooses for those different stages; -> change values under EDITABLE CODE -> Editable Values -> change lists under EDITABLE CODE -> Editable Lists (A) TRIAL SET-UP 25 trials = 25 trial sequences; each trial sequence consists of 8 steps 1. trial.start presents the UI of the game; lasts for a random amount of time (EDITABLE CODE -> Editable Lists) 2. trial.intensity let's participants set the intensity of the blast 3. trial.ready let's participants select the ready-button 4. trial.target_wait target sits there being green for a random amount of time (EDITABLE CODE -> Editable Lists), presumably because participants have to be both ready before the yellow square should be presented. 'Ready' button turns purple. 5. trial.target_yellow target box turns yellow for a random amount of time (EDITABE CODE -> Editable Lists) = warning signal 6. trial.target_red target box turns red; waits for participant's mouse click/touch; waits a random amount of time to reveal the outcome (EDITABLE CODE -> Editable Lists) to pretend the computer has to wait for 2 responses 7. trial.outcome reveals who won, delivers the blast (if participant lost), lasts as long as set parameters.blastduration_ms; reveals the setting the co-players have chosen under certain circumstances 8. trial.end continues to show the setting the co-player chose until the settings have been displayed for a set amount of time (EDITABLE CODE -> Editable Values) (B) INTENSITY SETTINGS 1) Intensity is set by selecting a level 0-10 of an Intensity Meter. Once the intensity is selected, the meter turns gray including the selected level. Exception: if intensity = 0 is selected, the 0 level turns yellow instead of gray to highlight the non-aggressive choice 2) Once selected, no changes can be made 3) The audio file that delivers the blast in this script was created in Audacity: White noise with Amplitude 1, 2s long !!!The audio file can easily be replaced under EDITABLE CODE -> Editable Stimuli 4) the volume of the audio file is adjusted in Inquisit ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ INSTRUCTIONS ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Instructions are provided by Millisecond Software. They are not original to any of the studies. See crrt_instructions.iqx ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 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: /blastduration_ms: sets the constant blastduration (default: 1000ms); Max = 2000 (determined by length of provided sound.blast) /firstoutcome_predetermined: 1 = first trial outcome (win/loss) is set by experimenter 0 = should be randomly determined IF firstoutcome_predetermined = 1 (default): /firstwin: 1 = participant wins first trial (default); 2 = participant loses first trial /showcoplayersettings: 1 = only show co-player settings for losing trials (default) 2 = always show co-player settings /max_winlatency: maximum latency that allows player to win the current game; any reaction times above => lose (even if it was a predetermined 'win' trial) default: 700ms /revealduration: how long each participant sees parameter settings of 'co-player' (default: 4000ms) /timerduration: amount of time a timer is presented on the screen to alert participants that game starts soon