Modified Iowa Gambling Task - IGTM

Technical Manual

Last Modified: January 26, 2023 by K. Borchert (katjab@millisecond.com), Millisecond

Script Copyright © Millisecond Software, LLC

Background

This sample script implements a version of the modified Iowa Gambling Task as described in:

Cauffman, E., Shulman, E.P, Steinberg, L., Claus, E., Marie T. Banich, M.T., Sandra Graham, S., & Jennifer Woolard, J. (2010). Age Differences in Affective Decision Making as Indexed by Performance on the Iowa Gambling Task. Developmental Psychology, Vol. 46, No. 1, 193–207.

This script builds on the original Millisecond script "IowaGamblingTask.iqjs" based on

References

Bechara A., Damasio A. R., Damasio H., Anderson S. W. (1994). Insensitivity to future consequences following damage to human prefrontal cortex. Cognition, 50, 7-15 .

Duration

5 minutes

Description

Participant are presented 4 decks of cards. One of the deck of cards has a yellow arrow above it. Participants have to decide to 'play' this deck of cards to possibly win some money or pass up the opportunity (to make sure to not lose any money already won). If they decide to play they can win money, lose money, or neither lose nor win money. If they pass, they neither lose nor win money. The goal is to win as much money as possible. The 4 different decks are attached with different win probabilities: 2 of the decks have higher wins and even higher losses (being disadvantageous overall) and 2 decks have lower wins but even lower losses (being advantageous overall).

Procedure

• The game is set up to play 6 blocks of 20 trials (5 trials per deck) => 30 trials per deck total
• A deck is randomly selected for each trial.
• The four decks are assigned a (permanent) screen location by groupnumber (4 different groups).
• By default, in this script the win/loss probabilities assigned are aligned with the model of "once played,
cards are NOT returned to the deck" (therefore turning probabilities into actual frequencies)

Stimuli

provided by Millisecond
(images can simply be replaced by images with the same name)

Instructions

provided by Millisecond - can be edited under section Editable Instructions

Summary Data

File Name: modifiedigt_summary*.iqdat

Data Fields

NameDescription
inquisit.version Inquisit version number
computer.platform Device platform: win | mac |ios | android
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
deckOrderGroup The experimental deck group (1-4) the subject was randomly assigned to
(refers to order of the advantageous (deck3, deck4) and disadvantegeous (deck 1, deck2)
decks on the screen)
group1: deck1(D), deck2(D), deck3(A), deck4(A)
group2: deck4(A), deck1(D), deck2(D), deck3(A)
group3: deck3(A), deck4(A), deck1(D), deck2(D)
group4: deck2(D), deck3(A), deck4(A), deck1(D)
currentTotal The running total for participant
percentAdvantageSelect Percentage of play-response to Advantageous decks across blocks
percentDisadvantageSelect Percentage of play-response to Disadvantageous decks across blocks
netTotal Difference score of '% Advantage-DeckSelectionions' and '% Disadvantage-DeckSelectionions' (overall performance measure, across blocks)
percentAdvantageSelect1 Percentage of play-response to Advantageous decks in block1 (20 trials)
percentDisadvantageSelect1 Percentage of play-response to Disadvantageous decks in block1 (20 trials)
net1 Difference score of 'percent_advantageSelect_1' and 'percent_disadvantageSelect_1' in block1
percentAdvantageSelect2 Percentage of play-response to Advantageous decks in block2 (20 trials)
percentDisadvantageSelect2 Percentage of play-response to Disadvantageous decks in block2 (20 trials)
net2 Difference score of 'percent_advantageSelect_2' and 'percent_disadvantageSelect_2' in block2
percentAdvantageSelect3 Percentage of play-response to Advantageous decks in block3 (20 trials)
percentDisadvantageSelect3 Percentage of play-response to Disadvantageous decks in block3 (20 trials)
net3 Difference score of 'percent_advantageSelect_3' and 'percent_disadvantageSelect_3' in block3
percentAdvantageSelect4 Percentage of play-response to Advantageous decks in block4 (20 trials)
percentDisadvantageSelect4 Percentage of play-response to Disadvantageous decks in block4 (20 trials)
net4 Difference score of 'percent_advantageSelect_4' and 'percent_disadvantageSelect_4' in block4
percentAdvantageSelect5 Percentage of play-response to Advantageous decks in block5 (20 trials)
percentDisadvantageSelect5 Percentage of play-response to Disadvantageous decks in block5 (20 trials)
net5 Difference score of 'percent_advantageSelect_5' and 'percent_disadvantageSelect_5' in block5
percentAdvantageSelect6 Percentage of play-response to Advantageous decks in block6 (20 trials)
percentDisadvantageSelect6 Percentage of play-response to Disadvantageous decks in block6 (20 trials)
net6 Difference score of 'percent_advantageSelect_6' and 'percent_disadvantageSelect_6' in block6

Raw Data

File Name: modifiedigt_raw*.iqdat

Data Fields

NameDescription
build Inquisit version number
computer.platform Device platform: win | mac |ios | android
date Date the session was run
time Time the session was run
subject, group, With the current subject/groupnumber
session Session number
blockCode Name of the current block
blockNum Number of the current block
trialCode Name of the current trial
trialNum Number of the current trial
deckOrderGroup The experimental deck group (1-4) the subject was randomly assigned to
(refers to order of the advantageous (deck3, deck4) and disadvantegeous (deck 1, deck2)
decks on the screen)
group1: deck1(D), deck2(D), deck3(A), deck4(A)
group2: deck4(A), deck1(D), deck2(D), deck3(A)
group3: deck3(A), deck4(A), deck1(D), deck2(D)
group4: deck2(D), deck3(A), deck4(A), deck1(D)
cardoffered Number of cards offered so far
defaultResponse Parameter: if no response occurs, defaultresponse =
1 => 'Pass' response
2 => 'Play' response
targetDeck The current targetdeck with an arrow
deckCategory "advantageous" vs. "disadvantageous"
response The participant's response
scancode of response button: 30 = A (take); 38 = L (pass); 0 = noResponse
responseCategory 1 = pass
2 = play (if no response is given responseCategory evaluates to the defaultresponse)
latency The response latency in ms; measured from onset of trial
forcedwins1-
forcedwins4 Current number of guaranteed wins that will occur when participant decides to 'play' per deck
gain/loss/netchange Trial gain/trial loss/net win
feedback Feedback that participant received

Parameters

The procedure can be adjusted by setting the following parameters.

NameDescriptionDefault
playKey The play key ("A"); left response key
passKey The pass key ("L"); right response key
decisionTime: Time participant has to decide 4000ms
defaultResponse If no response occurs, defaultresponse = 1 => 'Pass' response
defaultresponse = 2 => 'Play' response
numberForcedwins1:- Sets the number of definite wins for each deck that occur during the initial trials for that deck
numberForcedwins4 Example
number_forcedwins1 = 2 => the first play trial for deck 1 that participant can lose is on the third play trial of deck 1
number_forcedwins1 = 8 => the first play trial for deck 1 that participant can lose is on the ninth play trial of deck 1
=> guarantees the number of guaranteed win play trials from each deck at the beginning
( numbers are taken from Cauffman et al (2010), Table 2)
startAmount The startamount $2000