___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ MENTAL FOLDING TEST FOR CHILDREN (MFTC) ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Script Author: Katja Borchert, Ph.D. (katjab@millisecond.com) for Millisecond Software, LLC Date: 03-26-2019 last updated: 02-24-2022 by K. Borchert (katjab@millisecond.com) for Millisecond Software, LLC Script Copyright © 02-24-2022 Millisecond Software ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ BACKGROUND INFO ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ This script implements a computerized version of the Mental Folding Test for Children (MFTC) published by: Harris, J., Hirsh-Pasek, K. & Newcombe, N. S. (2013). A new twist on studying the development of dynamic spatial transformations: Mental paper folding in young children. Mind, Brain and Education, 7, 49-55. (see also: http://spatiallearning.org/index.php/testsainstruments) Suggested Age Group: 4-7 ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ TASK DESCRIPTION ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Participants are asked to mentally fold paper following specific markings and then select from amongst 4 options the one that represents the outcome of the mental folding. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ DURATION ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ the default set-up of the script takes appr. 8 minutes to complete ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ DATA FILE INFORMATION ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ The default data stored in the data files are: (1) Raw data file: 'mentalpaperfolding_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. parameters.colorCondition: 1 = green/purple 2 = orange/blue stimulusitem.1: the current test image (to mentally fold) stimulusitem.2- the four presented solution images from left to right stimulusitem.5: option1category-: C(orrect), E(xtension), D(istortion), or T(riangle) option4category response: the participant's response (option1-option4) responsecategory: C=correct; E = Extension; D = Distortion; T = Triangle correctoption: stores the correct option (1-4: from left to right) correct: the correctness of the response (1 = correct; 0 = incorrect) latency: the response latency (in ms) count_C: counts all correct responses count_E: counts all extension responses count_D: counts all distortion responses count_T: counts all triangle responses (2) Summary data file: 'mentalpaperfolding_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) count_C: counts all correct responses count_E: counts all extension responses count_D: counts all distortion responses count_T: counts all triangle responses propC: proportion correct responses propE: proportion of extrension error responses (based on all problems) propD: proportion of distension error responses (based on all problems) propT: proportion of triangle error responses (based on all problems) ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ EXPERIMENTAL SET-UP ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ (1) Practice: 2 practice items Practice Item 1 is also discussed during instructions with the help of the test administrator. The practice problems are repeated until child selects the correct response. (2) Test: 14 test problems (no feedback should be given) Each prompt is presented with 4 response options. Each response option is categorized as either C(orrect), E(xtension), D(istortion), or T(riangle) ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ STIMULI ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Stimuli are the original green-purple stimuli provided at http://spatiallearning.org/index.php/testsainstruments A second set in orange-blue was generated by Millisecond Software. The set selection is controlled via an editable parameter (parameters.colorCondition) ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ INSTRUCTIONS ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Harris et al (2013) use actual paper models of the prompts and have the kids fold the models to train for practice item #1. The instructions used by Harris et al (2013) can be obtained from the authors or at http://spatiallearning.org/index.php/testsainstruments. The instructions provided in this script by Millisecond Software are written for the computer and presented in form of htm-slides using scalable vector images (*.svg) It is assumed that a test administrator works with the child while presenting them. The slides can be edited/exchanged under EDITABLE CODE -> Editable Instructions. The instruction block is optional. It can be skipped (see Editable Values); if they are skipped the script jumps right into the first practice problem. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 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: /skipinstructionblock: true = instruction block is skipped false = instruction block is run (default) /iti: intertrial interval is ms between selecting a response and the presentation of the next prompt /colorCondition: 1 = runs the green/purple set 2 = runs the orange/blue set