Script Author: Katja Borchert, Ph.D. (katjab@millisecond.com), Millisecond
Created: January 13, 2018
Last Modified: January 09, 2026 by K. Borchert (katjab@millisecond.com), Millisecond
Script Copyright © Millisecond Software, LLC
This script implements an short arrow version of the Flanker Test, an inhibition test to assess the ability to suppress inappropriate dominant responses evoked by task irrelevant information.
The task is based on the publication by Ridderinkhof et al (1997), but uses as simplified design. The Inquisit implementation only manipulates the direction of the center arrow.
This implementation runs with keyboard input.
Ridderinkhof, K.R.; van der Molen, M.W.; & Band, G.P.H (1997). Sources of Interference from Irrelevant Information: A Developmental Study. JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL CHILD PSYCHOLOGY 65, 315–341.
3 minutes
Participants see 5 arrows in the middle of the screen inside a box. They have to decide whether the central arrow points right or left. The surrounding arrows (=flankers) either point in the same direction (congruent trials) or in the opposite direction (incongruent trials).
2 flanker congruence (congruent vs. incongruent), tested within
1-3 Practice Blocks: each block runs 8 trials with errorfeedback (number of trials can be edited under section Editable Parameters)
- participants have to get 75% correct to move on to the test block (proportion correct editable under section Editable Parameters)
- script is aborted after 3 unsuccessful practice runs (maximum number of practice runs editable under section Editable Parameters)
1 Test Block: runs 12 congruent (6 left, 6 right) and 12 incongruent trials (6 left, 6 right) (24 trials total)
(number of trials can be edited under section Editable Parameters)
Trial Sequence:
-> presents fixation star for parameters.fixationDuration (default: 1000ms)
-> presents the target and flanker and waits for response (default: response Timeout = 1750ms)
the selected response button is highlighted for 100ms
-> blank screen for 500ms
stimuli: 5 arrows pointing right or left (flanker, flanker, target, flanker, flanker)
Arrows can be edited under section Editable Stimuli
Instructions provided by Millisecond Softare.
They can be edited in script 'arrowflankertest_keyboard_instructions_inc.iqjs'
File Name: arrowflankertest_keyboard_summary*.iqdat
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| 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 |
| blockCount | Number of test blocks run |
| countPracticeBlocks | Counts the number of practice runs |
| propCorrectPractice | The proportion correct at the end of the last practice run |
| practicePass | 1 = participant passed practice 0 = participant did not pass practice |
| propCorrect | Overall proportion correct (test trials only) |
| meanRT | Overall mean latency (in ms) of correct responses (test trials only) |
| propCorrectCongruent | Proportion correct for all congruent trials |
| meanrtCongruent | Mean latency (ms) of correct responses to congruent targets |
| propCorrectIncongruent | Proportion correct for all incongruent trials |
| meanrtIncongruent | Mean latency (ms) of correct responses to incongruent targets |
File Name: arrowflankertest_keyboard_raw*.iqdat
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| 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. |
| practice | 0 = test block; 1 = practice block |
| blockCount | Counts the test blocks run |
| countPracticeBlocks | Counts the number of practice runs |
| trialCount | Counts all trials per block |
| congruence | Determines the state of the flankers 0 = congruent (target and flanker point in the same direction), 1 = incongruent (target points in opposite direction) |
| selectTarget | Itemnumber of the current target (center) stimulus 0 = target points to right 1 = target points to left |
| selectFlanker | Itemnumber of the current flanker stimuli |
| response | The participant's response (scancode of response button) 16 = Q = left 25 = P = right |
| responseText | The label of the response key |
| correct | The correctness of the response (0 = error or no response; 1 = correct) |
| latency | The response latency (in ms); measured from onset of target to response (or trial timeout) |
| propCorrectPractice | The current proportion correct at this point in practice |
| practicePass | 1 = participant passed practice 0 = participant did not pass practice |
The procedure can be adjusted by setting the following parameters.
| Name | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|
Design Parameters |
||
| minPracticeAcc | The minimum proportion correct during a practice run that moves participant to the test | 0.75 |
| numberPracticeTrials | The number of practice trials per practice run needs to be divisible by 4 | 8 |
| maxPracticeRuns | The maximum number of practice runs | 3 |
| numberTestTrials | The number of test trials run needs to be divisible by 4 | 24 |
Timing Parameters |
||
| fixationDuration | The duration (in ms) of the fixation cross at the beginning of each trial | 1000 |
| responseTimeout | The response Timeout (ms); measured from onset of arrows to allow for infinite response time, remove /response = timeout(parameters.responseTimeout) from all relevant trials | 1750 |
| correctFeedbackDuration | The duration (in ms) of correct feedback during practice | 1000 |
| getReadyDuration | The duration (in ms) of the get-ready trial | 3000 |
| iti | The intertrial interval (in ms) | 500 |
Response Keys |
||
| leftResponseKey | The left response button | "Q" |
| rightResponseKey | The right response button | "P" |