Script Author: Katja Borchert, Ph.D. (katjab@millisecond.com), Millisecond
Created: January 26, 2022
Last Modified: January 07, 2025 by K. Borchert (katjab@millisecond.com), Millisecond
Script Copyright © Millisecond Software, LLC
This script implements a simple reaction time ('detection task') to measure psychomotor function. The task uses playing cards as targets and is developed for touchscreens but will adapt to mouse use on non-touchscreens.
Note the script runs with proportional sizing by default. Researchers can select to run the task with an absolute screen size to ensure that distances stay the same across devices. See section Defaults for more info.
Maruff P, Thomas E, Cysique L, Brew B, Collie A, Snyder P, Pietrzak RH. Validity of the CogState brief battery: relationship to standardized tests and sensitivity to cognitive impairment in mild traumatic brain injury, schizophrenia, and AIDS dementia complex. Arch Clin Neuropsychol. 2009 Mar;24(2):165-78. doi: 10.1093/arclin/acp010. Epub 2009 Mar 25. PMID: 19395350.
3 minutes
Participants get presented with a deck of joker cards and the cards will be turned over one by one with randomly selected delays. Once a joker card is turned over, participants are instructed to press a YES response button as quickly as possible. Once the response is made, an animation is started that 'returns' the card back to the stack. The next trial is initiated once participants press a 'Home Button'. The 'Home Button' is implemented to ensure that response fingers are roughly equally distanced from the YES response button for each trial.
Test: by default this script runs 1 testblock (Editable Parameter) with 35 trials each (Editable Parameter)
using the same joker card for every trial. The script provides a brief resttrial (self-paced) after each block.
The script randomly samples a joker delay from 500-5000ms (Editable Parameter)
Trial Information:
-> each trial starts with a HomeButton press (reminder presented after 2s)
-> pressing the home button starts the delay period
(if the home button is released during this time for more than 250ms, participants
are asked to return to the home button and a new iti is randomly selected)
-> after the delay period is over, the joker card is turned over,
and the script waits for response (there is no time limit for making a response)
-> card animation for 1000ms
(if the home button is pressed at the end of the card animation, the next trial starts immediately
with the delay period)
see section Editable Stimuli
provided by Millisecond - can be edited under section Editable Instructions
File Name: detectiontask_raw*.iqdat
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| inquisit.version | Inquisit version number |
| computer.platform | Device platform: win | mac |ios | android |
| 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 |
| distanceHomeButtonResponseButtonMM | The calculated distance (in mm) between center of homeButton and center of one of the response buttons |
Parameter Settings |
|
| blocksPerTest | Number of test blocks run |
| trialsPerBlock | Number of trials per block to run |
Reaction Time Performance Metrics (Response Time Measured Relative To Target Onset) |
|
| meanRT | Mean response time (in ms) |
| sdRT | Standard deviation of response times (in ms) |
| medianRT | Median response time (in ms) |
| minRT | Minimum response time (in ms) |
| maxRT | Maximum response time (in ms) |
Delay Performance Metrics |
|
| meanDelay | Mean delay time (in ms) |
| sdDelay | Standard deviation of delay times (in ms) |
| medianDelay | Median delay time (in ms) |
| minDelay | Minimum delay time (in ms) |
| maxDelay | Maximum delay time (in ms) |
File Name: detectiontask_raw*.iqdat
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| build | Inquisit version number |
| computer.platform | Device platform: win | mac |ios | android |
| date | Date the session was run |
| time | Time the session was run |
| subject, group, | With the current subject/groupnumber |
| session | Session number |
| distanceHomeButtonResponseButtonMM | The calculated distance (in mm) between center of homeButton and center of one of the response buttons |
| blockCode | Name of the current block |
| blockNum | Number of the current block |
| trialCode | Name of the current trial |
| trialNum | Number of the current trial |
| blockCounter | The total number of experimental blocks run |
| trialCounter | Counts the target and nontarget trials per block ( start trials are excluded from count) |
Dvs |
|
| response | The Response of the participant |
| correct | The correctness of the response (1 = correct; 0 = otherwise) |
| latency | How fast a participant responded within the given timeframe, if at all (in ms) no responses = the entire trialduration |
The procedure can be adjusted by setting the following parameters.
| Name | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|
Design Parameters |
||
| blocksPerTest | Number of blocks per test | 1 |
| trialsPerBlock | Number of n-back trials per block (excluding starttrials) | 35 |
| minDelayMs | The minimum delay (in ms) with which the joker can be be uncovered | 500 |
| maxDelayMs | The maximum delay (in ms) with which the joker can be be uncovered | 5000 |
| homeButtonBufferDurationMs | The max. time (in ms) that participants can stray from the home button before joker appears (otherwise trial gets repeated) | 250 |
Color Parameter |
||
| canvasColor | Display color of the actively used portion of the screen (the 'canvas') if set to a color other than the screenColor, you can distinguish the active canvas from the inactive portion of the screen | black |
| screenColor | Color of the screen not used by the canvas ('inactive screen') | black |
| defaultTextColor | Default color of text items | white |
Sizing Parameters |
||
| cardSizePct | The height of the cards in canvas height percentage | 40% |