___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Emotional Memory Task ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Script Author: Katja Borchert, Ph.D. (katjab@millisecond.com) for Millisecond Software, LLC Date: 05-06-2022 last updated: 05-20-2022 by K. Borchert (katjab@millisecond.com) for Millisecond Software, LLC Script Copyright © 05-20-2022 Millisecond Software ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ BACKGROUND INFO ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ This script implements Millisecond Software's version of the Emotional Memory Task described by Daming et al (2021). The task tests participants' recognition memory of emotionally charged images that they previously rated. This version of the Emotional Memory Task uses mouse/touch input but the task could be easily converted to a keyboard version. Reference: Daming Mo, Xin Li, Shuwen Hu, Pengfei Guo, Shuai Liu, Feng Geng, Xiaomei Cao, Binbin Chen, Hui Zhong (2021) Somatization Symptoms Regulate Emotional Memory Bias in Adolescents With Major Depressive Disorder. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 12, 1-10. https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyt.2021.656198 ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ TASK DESCRIPTION ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ The Emotional Memory Task consists of 2 phases. PhaseA is the unintentional learning phase during which participants get familiarized with a selection of positive, negative and neutral images and are asked to rate them in regard to their valence on a scale of 1-9. Participants are not explicitly told to memorize the images. PhaseB is the recognition phase during which participants are presented with the 'old' images from phaseA as well as 'new' images they did not see during the rating phase. The images are presented in random order and participants are asked to indicate whether they have seen the images before (yes/no answer). Daming et al (2021) used a delay of 72 hours in between phaseA and phaseB. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ DURATION ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Phase A takes approximately 5 minutes Phase B takes approximately 7 minutes ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ DATA FILE INFORMATION ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ The default data stored in the data files are: (1) Raw data file: 'emotionalmemorytask_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: with the current subject id group: with the current group id session: with the current session id (parameter) phaseSetting 1 = learning phase only 2 = test phase only 3 = learning phase -> break -> test phase 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. phase: current phase of the study: "A" (learning/rating) vs. "B" (recognition) trialCount: the trialCounte for the current phase category: valence of image: "negative" vs. "neutral" vs. "positive" image: the current image filename itemnumber: the itemnumber of the currently presented image presentationPhase: the phase during which the image was first presented: "A" (=old image) vs. "B" (=new image) corrRsp: the correct response //custom DVs: selectedRsp: the currently given response by participant phaseA: the rating 1-9 phaseB: 'yes' vs. 'no' RT: the response latency of the current response (in ms) phaseA: the time it took to submit the rating; measured from onset of rating scale phaseB: the time it took to select yes or no button //built-in DVs: note, they currently do not contain useful information for phaseA as phaseA results are only stored at the very end of the rating trial response: the response of participant (scancode of response button) correct: correctness of response (1 = correct, 0 = error) latency: response latency (in ms); measured from: (2) Summary data file: 'emotionalmemorytask_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) (parameter) phaseSetting 1 = learning phase only 2 = test phase only 3 = learning phase -> break -> test phase //PhaseA: Ratings (if applicable); scale: 1-9 meanRating_negative: the mean rating for negative images meanRating_neutral: the mean rating for neutral images meanRating_positive: the mean rating for positive images //PhaseB: Recognition (if applicable) propCorrect_overall: proportion correctly categorized images as 'new' and 'old' across valence conditions meanCorrRT_overall: mean response time for correctly categorized images as 'new' and 'old' across valence conditions propCorrect_negative: proportion correctly categorized images as 'new' and 'old' for 'negative' images meanCorrRT_negative: mean response time for correctly categorized images as 'new' and 'old' for 'negative' images propCorrect_neutral: proportion correctly categorized images as 'new' and 'old' for 'neutral' images meanCorrRT_neutral: mean response time for correctly categorized images as 'new' and 'old' for 'neutral' images propCorrect_positive: proportion correctly categorized images as 'new' and 'old' for 'positive' images meanCorrRT_positive: mean response time for correctly categorized images as 'new' and 'old' for 'positive' images ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ EXPERIMENTAL SET-UP ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ This script provides the option to run only 'PhaseA', only 'PhaseB' or both phases one after the other separated by a break/delay. Check section Editable Parameters for more information. By separating PhaseA and PhaseB, longer delays - such as 72hours (see Daming et al, 2021) can be run using the same script. Phase A: presents 45 trials (15 negative, 15 neutral, 15 positive) Each trial presents the image file for 3000ms (editable parameter) and then presents a visual rating scale (1-9) for as long as participants need to submit their valence rating of the image. A brief blank screen is presented before each image. Note: Phase A presents the unintentional learning phase of the images. Participants are not asked to memorize the images but simply to rate them. Delay/Break: the delay/break period is only run IF parameters.phaseSetting = 3 (see section Editable Parameters) By default, the script presents a delay trial for 10 minutes. After the delay period is over, participants can continue with the task by pressing a 'Continue' button. Phase B: presents 90 trials (45 old images from phaseA and 45 new ones; 1/3 of the images are negative; 1/3 are neutral; 1/3 are positive) Each trial presents the image file for 3000ms (editable parameter) and then presents a YES and NO button to indicate whether the image was seen during the rating phase. A brief blank screen is presented before each image. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ STIMULI ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ The images are provided by Millisecond Software and are taken from the IAPS database. They are meant for demonstration purposes only. The images can be easily replaced under section Editable Stimuli. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ INSTRUCTIONS ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ provided by Millisecond Software - can be edited under section 'Editable Instructions'. The provided instructions contain some misdirections in order to minimize attentional learning of the images during the rating-learning phase. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 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: