___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ TIMED CHASE TEST ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Script Author: Katja Borchert, Ph.D. (katjab@millisecond.com) for Millisecond Software, LLC Date: 10-23-2015 last updated: 05-04-2022 by K. Borchert (katjab@millisecond.com) for Millisecond Software, LLC Script Copyright © 05-04-2022 Millisecond Software ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ BACKGROUND INFO ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ This script implements Millisecond Software's version of the Timed Chase Test (TCT) - a simple test of visuomotor processing speed. The task is developed for touchscreens but will adapt to mouse use on non-touchscreens. Researchers can select to run the task with an absolute screen size to ensure that distances stay the same across devices. See section Editable Parameters for more info. //References:// Schroder, M.D, Snyder, P.J, Sielski, I. & Mayes, L. (2004). Impaired performance of children exposed in utero to cocaine on a novel test of visuospatial working memory. Brain and Cognition, 55, 409–412. Pietrzak, R. H., Cohen, H., & Snyder, P. J. (2007). Learning efficiency and error monitoring in normal aging: An investigation using a novel hidden maze learning test. Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology, 22, 235–245. Mathewson, K.J., Dywan, J., Snyder, P.J., Tays, W.J., & Segalowitz, S.J.(2008). Aging and electrocortical response to error feedback during a spatial learning task. Psychophysiology, 45, 936–948. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ TASK DESCRIPTION ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Participants are asked to capture a flag represented by a blue disc that jumps through the squares of a 10x10 matrix. Once participants capture the flag, the flag jumps to a new location that is never more than 2 squares away from the old location. Participants can only follow square by square in a horizontal and vertical fashion; they cannot skip any square. If they make a mistake, they are directed to return to the last correct square. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ DURATION ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ the default set-up of the script takes appr. 2 minutes to complete ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ DATA FILE INFORMATION ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ The default data stored in the data files are: (1) Raw data file: 'timedchasetest_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 session: 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 such as feedback trials. Thus, trialnum may not reflect the number of main trials run per block. Phase: 1 = Untimed Chase; 2 = Timed Chase selectnewflag: 1 = a new flag position needs to be found for next trial; 0 = flag stays put Note: squares are labelled 1-100 from left to right previousFlagCell: stores the number of the square the flag was previously on FlagCell: stores the number of the cell that contains the current flag absoluteDiff: contains the absolute difference in box number between the previous and the current flag (for debug purposes) lastCorrectCell: stores the number of the last correct cell Response: the participant's response selectedCell: stores the number of the selected cell (the cell to which participant selected to move) ACC the correctness of the response (1 = correct; 0 = incorrect) ErrorType: LE = Legal Error (one/first incorrect selection) PE = Perserverance Error (second incorrect selection in a row) RE = Rule break Error (third and more incorrect selections in a row) Latency: the response latency (in ms) movesCounter: counts the number of moves that participant makes (number of selections; selecting the disc at the beginning is not counted) in a block correctMovesCounter: counts the number of correct moves that a participant makes in a block correctionMovesCounter: counts the number of times participant correctly selects the last correct cell in a block errorCounter: sums up the number of errors made in a block ConsecutiveErrors: contains the number of Consecutive Errors made (resets after a correct response is given) LE Counter: counts the number of times a Legal Error is made (one incorrect selection) per block PE Counter: counts the number of times a Perservative Error is made (two incorrect selections in a row) per block RE Counter: counts the number of Rule breaking Errors (three or more consecutive selections) per block (2) Summary data file: 'timedchasetest_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) movesCounter: counts the number of moves that participant makes (number of selections; selecting the disc at the beginning is not counted) in a block correctMovesCounter: counts the number of correct moves that a participant makes in a block correctionMovesCounter: counts the number of times participant correctly selects the last correct cell in a block errorCounter: sums up the number of errors made in a block ConsecutiveErrors: contains the number of Consecutive Errors made (resets after a correct response is given) LE Counter: counts the number of times a Legal Error is made (one incorrect selection) per block PE Counter: counts the number of times a Perservative Error is made (two incorrect selections in a row) per block RE Counter: counts the number of Rule breaking Errors (three or more consecutive selections) per block CMS: calculates the number of correct moves made per second in timed chase block ~ a measure of low-demand visuomotor speed ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ EXPERIMENTAL SET-UP ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 2 Blocks: 1) Untimed Chase: Participants start the block by clicking on the blue disc that is presented in the top left square. The disc then appears in a new location (never more than 2 squares/moves away). Locations are randomly determined. Participants have to 'capture' the disc by following square by square (on the shortest possible route towards the flag); only moves immediately up and down as well as right and left are allowed. If participants choose a correct square, the square turns green (and a chirp is played) and participant can continue. If participants make a mistake, the square turns red (and a different sound is played) and participants need to return to the last correct square. After 3 incorrect moves, the only square that can be selected is the last correct square which is indicated by a flashing"!". The block ends by clicking a button labeled "done" at the bottom. 2) Timed Chase: The timed blocks runs for a predetermined length of time (default: 30s). No 'done' button is provided. Otherwise, the same rules apply as for the untimed block. The number of correct moves is counted. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ STIMULI ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ flag = blue disc 10x10 matrix, gray squares ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ INSTRUCTIONS ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Instructions are provided by Millisecond Software. They can be edited under section Editable Instructions. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 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: /duration_timedblock: duration of the timed block in ms (default: 30000) /showerrorreminder: true = a verbal reminder to return to the last correct square is presented once participants has selected 3 incorrect squares false = no verbal reminder is presented