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*Director Task*
-A Theory-of-Mind Experimental Procedure-
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Script Author: Katja Borchert, Ph.D. (katjab@millisecond.com) for Millisecond Software, LLC
Date: 02-14-2020
last updated: 03-05-2020 by K. Borchert (katjab@millisecond.com) for Millisecond Software, LLC
Script Copyright © 03-05-2020 Millisecond Software
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BACKGROUND INFO
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This script implements the Director Task; a computerized task to study theory-of-mind development in
in children and adolescents.
The implemented procedure is based on Dumontheil et al (2010).
Reference
Dumontheil, I., Apperly, I., & Blakemore, S.-J. (2010). Online usage of theory of mind continues to
develop in late adolescence, Developmental science, 13, 331–338.
10.1111/j.1467-7687.2009.00888.x
original e-prime program at:
https://sites.google.com/site/idcnlab/director-task?authuser=0
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TASK DESCRIPTION
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Participants are asked to move objects within a cupboard from one cubby to another.
Some of the objects are located in cubbies that have a 'see through' back; others are located
in cubbies that are opaque (gray background).
The task is run under two conditions:
1. Director Present (DP):
The instructions to move the objects are given by an instructor/director who is standing behind the
cupboard. This director can only 'see' the objects in the 'see through' cubbies.
The given instructions thus only apply to those objects that the director can see.
Participants have to take the point of view of the director into account to choose the correct object
to move.
2. Director Absent (DA) - Control Condition:
Rather than using 'point of view' as the guiding theme to follow instructions,
participants are explicitly told to ignore objects in the cubbies with gray background
when following to the instructions.
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DURATION
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the default set-up of the script takes appr. 15 minutes to complete
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DATA FILE INFORMATION
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The default data stored in the data files are:
(1) Raw data file: 'directortask_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
script.sessionid: 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.
setOrder_DP: the set order (1-3) the DP-'Director Present' trials run
setOrder_DA: the set order (1-3) the DA-'Director Absent' trials run
test: 1: DP (order 1) -> DA (order 2)
2: DP (order 2) -> DA (order 3)
3: DP (order 3) -> DA (order 1)
4: DP (order 2) -> DA (order 1)
5: DP (order 3) -> DA (order 2)
6: DP (order 1) -> DA (order 3)
Note: the tests are selected by groupnumber
condition: 1 = "Director Present"; 2 = "Director Absent"
set: the set the current trial belongs to (1-16) for the current condition Note: each set is assigned a specific visual stimulus
actualSet: set 1-32 (Note: a total of 32 sets are used)
trialtype: the trialtype of the current trial (filler, control, experimental)
setitemnumber: the itemnumber of the current set (1-3) Note: there are three items per set
taskInstructions: the presented task instructions in visual format
image: the original image belonging to the current trial
Note: the original images contain different image representation of the objects
used in this script
soundfile: the presented soundfile (taskinstructions in audio format)
correctAnswer1: the correct location box of the object that should be moved (A-P)
correctAnswer2: the correct location box that the object should be moved TO (A-P)
wrongAnswer: the location of the foil object in experimental trials
blocktype: 1 = block of 3 trials containing a control trial + 2 fillers;
2 = block of 3 trials containing an experimental trial + 2 fillers
position: position of the Control or Experimental instruction among the 3 trials associated with each visual stimulus (1-3) Example: position = 1 => the current controlexp trial is run as the first trial with the current visual stimulus
Dependent Variables:
answer1: the original location box of the object that was moved (A-P)
answer2: the location box that participant moved the object TO (A-P)
correct1: correctness of answer1 (1 = correct; 0 = otherwise)
foilSelected: 1 = wrong (foil) answer in an experimental trial was selected; 0 = in any other case
correct2: correctness of answer2 (1 = correct; 0 = otherwise)
answer1RT: stores the latency of answer1 (the selection of the moved object; measured from onset of soundfile)
answer2RT: stores the latency of answer2 (the drop latency of the moved object; measured from onset of soundfile)
countWrongAnswers_DP: counts the number of answer1 in experimental DP trials that are the dedicated 'wrong' answers
countWrongAnswers_DA: counts the number of answer1 in experimental DA trials that are the dedicated 'wrong' answers
droppedObject: stores the object that was dropped into a different cubby
built-in DV Variables:
response: the participant's response
correct: accuracy of response: 1 = correct selection of dropped object (answer1); 0 = otherwise
latency: the response latency (in ms); measured from: onset of soundfile
parameters.debug_showoriginalcupboardimages: should be set to false (0) for testing
(2) Summary data file: 'directortask_summary*.iqdat' (a separate file for each participant)*
computer.platform: the platform the script was run on (win/mac/ios/android)
script.startdate: date script was run
script.starttime: time script was started
script.subjectid: assigned subject id number
script.groupid: assigned group id number
script.sessionid: assigned session id number
script.elapsedtime: time it took to run script (in ms); measured from onset to offset of script
script.completed: 0 = script was not completed (prematurely aborted);
1 = script was completed (all conditions run)
****Experimental DP Condition****
PropCorrect1_exp_DP: proportion correct object selection in experimental DP trials
numberErrors1_exp_DP: number of incorrect object selections in experimental DP trials
trialcount_exp_DP: number of experimental trials run in the DP condition
numberCorrect1_exp_DP: number of correct object selections (answer1) in experimental DP trials
PropCorrect1_exp_DP: proportion correct object selection in experimental DP trials
numberErrors1_exp_DP: number of general incorrect object selections in experimental DP trials
countWrongAnswers_DP: number of times participants chose the dedicated foil object in experimental DP trials
meanCorrRT1_exp_DP: mean time (in ms) it took participant to select the object in experimental DP trials
(measured from: onset of soundfile; Note: all soundfiles are 2200ms long)
numberCorrect2_exp_DP: number of times objects were dropped in the correct final position (answer 2) in experimental DP trials
PropCorrect2_exp_DP: proportion correct object drop-offs in experimental DP trials
meanCorrRT2_exp_DP: mean time (in ms) it took participant to drop off the objects in experimental DP trials
(measured from: onset of soundfile; Note: all soundfiles are 2200ms long)
****Control DP Condition****
PropCorrect1_ctrl_DP: proportion correct object selection in control DP trials
numberErrors1_ctrl_DP: number of incorrect object selections in control DP trials
trialcount_ctrl_DP: number of control trials run in the DP condition
numberCorrect1_ctrl_DP: number of correct object selections (answer1) in control DP trials
PropCorrect1_ctrl_DP: proportion correct object selection in control DP trials
meanCorrRT1_ctrl_DP: mean time (in ms) it took participant to select the object in control DP trials
(measured from: onset of soundfile; Note: all soundfiles are 2200ms long)
numberCorrect2_ctrl_DP: number of times objects were dropped in the correct final position (answer 2) in control DP trials
PropCorrect2_ctrl_DP: proportion correct object drop-offs in control DP trials
meanCorrRT2_ctrl_DP: mean time (in ms) it took participant to drop off the objects in control DP trials
(measured from: onset of soundfile; Note: all soundfiles are 2200ms long)
same for experimental/control DA trials
* separate data files: to change to one data file for all participants (on Inquisit Lab only), go to section
"DATA" and follow further instructions
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EXPERIMENTAL SET-UP
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Participants run the task under 2 conditions: Director Present (DP) and Director Absent (DA, control
condition). The DP condition is always run before the DA condition.
1. DP condition
- 16 different cupboard set-ups; each used for 3 consecutive trials (= 48 trials total)
- 8 of the 48 trials are experimental trials (experimental trials present foil objects in cubbies with gray backgrounds that need to be ignored to follow the instructions)
- 8 of the 48 trials are control trials (comparable cupboard to experimental trials except the foil object was replaced with an irrelevant object)
- 32 trials are filler trials (filler trials only applied to objects in clear cubbies)
=> the order of the trials is fixed*
2. DA condition
- 16 different cupboard set-ups; each used for 3 consecutive trials (= 48 trials total)
- 8 of the 48 trials are experimental trials (experimental trials present foil objects in cubbies with gray backgrounds that need to be ignored to follow the instructions)
- 8 of the 48 trials are control trials (comparable cupboard to experimental trials except the foil object was replaced with an irrelevant object)
- 32 trials are filler trials (filler trials only applied to objects in clear cubbies)
=> the order of the trials is fixed*
Note: the cupboard set-ups were identical in the DP and DA condition but contain different objects.
Trial Sequence:
- cupboard setup presented for 2000ms (default; editable parameter)
- soundfile played after 2000ms (each soundfile plays for 2200ms)
- response times measured from onset of soundfile
Cupboard setup:
The stimuli show a 4 x 4 set of shelves containing eight different objects (with 5 'gray' cubbies)
*Fixed Trialsequences
3 different trial orders were created by Dumontheil et al (2010) (order1, order2, order3);
resulting in 6 different test orders when used in DP/DA conditions
Test1: DP (order1) -> DA (order2); Test4: DP (order2) -> DA (order1)
Test2: DP (order2) -> DA (order3); Test5: DP (order3) -> DA (order2)
Test3: DP (order3) -> DA (order1); Test6: DP (order1) -> DA (order3)
=> the 6 different tests are selected by groupnumber in this script
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STIMULI
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This script makes use of material (images/soundfiles) made available by Dumontheil et al (2010) at
https://sites.google.com/site/idcnlab/director-task?authuser=0
This script uses drag/drop functionality to move objects within the cupboards which is different from
the original procedure which uses mouseclicks of the target objects followed by 'pretend' moves
The individual objects used in this script were downloaded from: www.coolclips.com
to re-create the original cupboard images provided by Dumontheil et al (2010).
Note: the provided soundfiles are delivered in British English and contain British English vocabulary
(e.g lorry)
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INSTRUCTIONS
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This script uses the instructions provided by Dumontheil et al (2010).
In some cases the instructions were slightly altered to reflect the changes in object drag and drop
functionality implemented in this script.
See section Editable Instructions for more details.
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EDITABLE CODE
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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:
/skipIntro: true = instruction blocks are skipped, instructions are only presented verbally to the child
false = instruction blocks are run on the computer (default in this script)
Note: original (verbal) instructions can be found under section 'Editable Instructions'
/soundfileDelay: the delay (in ms) of the soundfile after presenting the current cupboard image (default: 2000ms)
/responseTimeout: response timeout (in ms); measured from onset of soundfile (default: 4500ms)
/soundfileDuration: the duration of each soundfiles (default: 2200ms)
Note: the soundfiles played by this script are all 2200ms long. If different soundfiles are
played, this time needs to be adjusted.
/posttrialpause: the duration (in ms) at the end of each trial during which the dropped object appears
in its new position (default: 500ms)
/blankITI: the intertrial interval (in ms) that presents a blank screen in between trials (default: 100ms)
/debug_showoriginalcupboardimages: true (1): this setting starts a debugging mode in which the
original cupboard images are presented together with the runtime generated
ones in order to compare the two cupboards.
This setting also increases the time allowed for a response.
false (0): only the runtime generated cupboards are presented.
This is the default setting for a testing session.