Flicker Paradigm for Change Blindness - Mouse

Technical Manual

Script Author: Katja Borchert, Ph.D. (katjab@millisecond.com), Millisecond

Credits:
Millisecond thanks Dr. Rensink for sharing his example stimuli for this script!

Created: January 11, 2014

Last Modified: January 14, 2023 by K. Borchert (katjab@millisecond.com), Millisecond

Script Copyright © Millisecond Software, LLC

Background

This script implements a Flicker Paradigm to investigate the role of attention in Change Blindness inspired by: Resink et al (1997).

NOTES: • This script runs with 6 example stimuli (ONLY intended for demonstration purposes). The original study ran with 48. • the variable "interest level of change" (central vs. marginal) is not included in this script as the example stimuli contain "marginal interest" changes only. • this script runs 2 cue conditions (cue vs. no cue) either in a mixed design (default) or in a blocked design. The script does not include an unreliable cue condition as tested by Rensink et al. • this script collects mouse input and stores images of the placed response

References

Rensink, R.A., O'Regan, J.K. & Clark, J.J. (1997). TO SEE OR NOT TO SEE: The Need for Attention to Perceive Changes in Scenes. Psychological Science, 8, 368-373.

Duration

6 minutes

Description

Participants are presented "flickering" presentations of original and altered pictures for a maximum cycle of 1 min (default). The task is to find the one difference between the two pictures. If participants find the difference they are instructed to click on the location of the change and are asked to describe the change in detail in a textbox.

Procedure

Design
3 (change types: location, color, presence/absence) x 2 (cue conditions: no cue, cue); tested within
Change types are tested by default in a mixed design. To run them in a blocked design: change parameters.runcuecondition (editable parameter).
If the conditions are run in a blocked design, the order of the cue conditions is determined randomly in this script.

Cues in this script alert participants to the type of change: color, location or the addition/removal of an object

Blocks
1. Practice: by default, the script runs as many practice trials as specified under parameters.max_numberoftrials_practice (default: 1)
and selects the stimuli randomly from item.practice_stimA.
Rensink et al ran 6 (=3 changetypes x 2 interest levels; interest levels are not tested in this script by default)
2. Flicker_MixedCue: by default, the script runs 6 trials
3. Flicker_Cue/Flicker_NoCue: by default, the script runs 3 trials per block (stimuli are randomly assigned to either one of them)

Trial Sequences
1. cue-field screen: 3000ms -> blank screen: 1000ms -> flicker cycle:
original (240ms) -> flicker (80ms) -> original (240ms)-> flicker (80ms) -> altered (240ms) -> flicker (80ms) -> altered (240ms) -> repeat of cycle if noResponse
(maximum cycle duration: ~1 min)

Change Description: If A Change Was Reported (By Clicking The Mouse):
a) a screenshot is saved with the response coordinates
b) a forced-choice question with 3 answer choices asks participants to select the type of change observed
c) a textbox asks participants to describe the observed change in detail

Stimuli

The provided stimuli are example stimuli generously shared by Dr. Rensink under
https://www2.psych.ubc.ca/\nensink/flicker/download/index.html

They are only intended for demonstration purposes.
Substitute your own stimuli under EDITABLE CODE -> Editable Stimuli and follow instructions

Use script 'flickerparadigm_determinechangelocations.iqjs' to determine the new areas of change
for each of your images.

Instructions

The instructions used in this script are not original. They are provided by Millisecond in html-format.
To change the instructions, simply change the html files in a simple Text Editor (e.g. in 'Notepad' in Win or 'textEdit' in Mac)

Scoring

Response Accuracy Evaluation
This script uses a response circle placed around the predetermined center of the correct response
with a defined 'responseCircleRadius' (see Editable Parameters).
This works reasonably well for COLOR and PRESENCE changes but might miss LOCATION changes.
This script captures screencaptures of the placed responses, so if in doubt, the images
can be checked for confirmation.

Summary Data

File Name: FlickerParadigm_summary*.iqdat

Data Fields

NameDescription
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
runCueCondition By default, the cuecondition (cue vs. no cue) is run in a "mixed" design; to run the
cuecondition in a blocked design, set value.runcuecondition = "blocked"
countPracticeRuns Counts how often the practice round was repeated
countResponses Counts how often participants clicked the mouse/touched the screen to report the change
propCorrectChangeTypeSelections Proportion correct selection of Change Type (across all trials)
rtCorrSelections The mean latency (in ms) of cycles when participant selected the correct change
rtAll The mean latency (in ms) of cycles when participant responded (regardless of accuracy)
countL Number of LOCATION trials run
countNRL Number of no responses in LOCATION trials
propCorrectChangeTypeSelectionsL Proportion correct selection of Change Type in LOCATION trials (based on responses made)
rtCorrSelectionsL The mean latency (in ms) of cycles when participant selected the correct change in LOCATION trials
countP Number of PRESENCE trials run
countNRP Number of no responses in PRESENCE trials
propCorrectChangeTypeSelectionsP Proportion correct selection of Change Type in PRESENCE trials (based on responses made)
rtCorrSelectionsP The mean latency (in ms) of cycles when participant selected the correct change in PRESENCE trials
countC Number of COLOR trials run
countNRC Number of no responses in COLOR trials
propCorrectChangeTypeSelectionsC Proportion correct selection of Change Type in COLOR trials (based on responses made)
rtCorrSelectionsC The mean latency (in ms) of cycles when participant selected the correct change in COCATION trials
Accuracy Evaluation Of Response Placement
propCorrectResponsePlacement Proportion correct placement of mouse response across all trials
propCorrectResponsePlacementL Proportion correct placement of mouse response across LOCATION trials
propCorrectResponsePlacementP Proportion correct placement of mouse response across PRESENCE trials
propCorrectResponsePlacementC Proportion correct placement of mouse response across COLOR trials

Raw Data

File Name: FlickerParadigm_raw*.iqdat

Data Fields

NameDescription
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.
flickerSame The duration of the blank screen/flicker in between the 2 presentations of the original pictures (or altered pictures) (original: 80ms)
if set to 0 the presentation of the pictures appears continuous
changeType "location" (1), "presence/absence" (2), "color" changes (3) in the pictures
cueCondition 1 = a cue is given; 2 = no cue is given
cue The currently presented cue
countTrials Counts the number of trials
countCycles Counts the number of cycles started until a response occurs
currentpic The itemnumber of the currently presented (original/altered) pic
stimulus The image presented (StimA)
responsePoint Determines the image in the response cycle (the cycle that participant made a positive response)
that was presented when participant made response
"StimA1", "flicker_AA", "StimA2", "flicker_AB", "StimB1",
"flicker_BB", "StimB2", "flicker_BA" or "N/A" (if no response was given)
alternations Determines the number of alternations between original and altered pictures until response occurs
each switch between originals and altered pictures as well as each switch between
altered pictures and original pictures is counted as an alternation.
=> for each completed cycle, participant go through 2 alternations
if the response occurs AFTER the change from original to altered pic in the last
cycle, one more alternation is added to the count.
cycleRt Stores the combined trial latencies across the entire cycle until response occurs (in ms)
selectedChangeType The selected observed change type ('location', 'presence/absence', 'color', or empty)
accChangeType 1 = the correct Change Type was selected
0 = in any other case
currentChange Contains the correct description of the change
changeDescription Stores the openended textbox response in regard to the observed change
accChangeDescription "needs to be evaluated"
script does NOT evaluate the correctness of the entered response automatically.
Each openended response needs to be evaluated manually.
changeReportRT Stores the time it took participant to work on the openended response until pressing the button (in ms)
Placement Of Lbutton Down Response (In Pixels)
responseFieldCenterXPX The pixel x-coordinate of the correct response field
responseFieldCenterYPX The pixel y-coordinate of the correct response field
responseXPX The pixel x-coordinate of the mouse lButtonDown response
responseYPX The pixel y-coordinate of the mouse lButtonDown response
maxDistancePX The max. allowed distance btw. center of correct response field and lButtonDown response (in px)
distancePX The calculated distance btw. center of correct response field and lButtonDown response (in px)
accResponseCoordinates 1 = the lButtonDown response was made within response circle
0 = the lButtonDown response was made outside of response circle
this script collects screencaptures of the location of the lButtonDown response coordinates

Parameters

The procedure can be adjusted by setting the following parameters.

NameDescriptionDefault
Design Parameters
maxNumberofTrials The number of test stimuli
Notes
a) In the mixed design all stimuli are presented within one block. In the blocked design, half
the stimuli are presented in the cue, the other half in the nocue block (random sampling).
b) The original study (Rensink et al used 48 stimuli)-> change images under EDITABLE CODE -> Editable Stimuli
6
maxNumberofTrialsPractice The number of practice stimuli tested1
runCueCondition By default, the cuecondition (cue vs. no cue) is run in a "mixed" design; to run the
cuecondition in a blocked design, set value.runcuecondition = "blocked"
"mixed"
allowPracticeRepeats 1 (true): the practice round can be repeated if so indicated
0 (false): the practice round cannot be repeated
true
Sizing Parameters
cueBoxHeight Height of the cuebox in percentage of canvas height10%
cueBoxWidth Width of the cuebox in percentage of canvas width60%
cueTextHeight The height of the cue text in percentage of canvas height5%
picHeight The height of the pictures in percentage of canvas height70%
responseCircleRadius The proportional size of accepted response circle around the response coordinates12.5%
showResponseCircle True = the response circle is presented to participants together their response placement
false = participants only get feedback regarding their response placement
true
Duration Parameters
cueDuration The duration of the cue in ms3000
startScreenDuration The duration of the start screen in ms1000
stimADuration The duration of the original picture in ms
the original picture is presented twice. If parameters.flickerSame = 0
the presentation of the 2 original pictures appears continuous
240
stimBDuration The duration of the altered picture in ms
the altered picture is presented twice. If parameters.flickerSame = 0
the presentation of the 2 altered pictures appears continuous
240
flickerSame The duration of the blank screen/flicker in between the 2 presentations of the original pictures in ms (or altered pictures)
if set to 0 the presentation of the pictures appears continuous
80
flickerDifferent The duration of the blank screen/the flicker in between original and altered pictures in ms80
maxCycleDuration The maximum duration of the cycling through original and altered pictures if no response occurs in ms60000