___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Paced Auditory Serial Addition Test (PASAT) *Computerized version with Norms* ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Script Author: Jeffrey Q. Ouyang for Millisecond Software, LLC last updated: 02-25-2022 by K. Borchert (katjab@millisecond.com) for Millisecond Software, LLC Script Copyright © 02-25-2022 Millisecond Software __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ BACKGROUND INFO ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ This script implements a computerized version of the Paced Auditory Serial Addition Test (PASAT), a measure of information processing rate. The implemented procedure is based on: Gronwall, D. (1977). Paced auditory serial-addition task: a measure of recovery from concussion. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 44, 367–373. Norms based on: Sabine A. Wingenfeld, Daniel J. Holdwick Jr., Joanne L. Davis & Brenda B. Hunter (1999). Normative Data on Computerized Paced Auditory Serial Addition Task Performance. The Clinical Neuropsychologist, 13:3, 268-273, DOI: 10.1076/clin.13.3.268.1736 Cautionary Note on Norms in this script: The Inquisit script calculates percentiles based on the norms published by Wingenfeld et al (1999) who ran a fairly similar set up to the default Inquisit script. However, whereas the Inquisit script collects the response in the form of a selected number from a provided circle of numbers, Wingenfeld et al (1999) collect verbal responses that are later scored for accuracy. It is possible, for example, that by reporting the sums verbally, suppression failures (aka suppressing the previous sum when adding the new digit to the previous digit) are more likely than with the set up used in this script. This might be the case as the verbal sum might interfer to a greater degree with the verbal digits than the non-verbal response of simply selecting the sum from a provided circle of digits. However, Wingenfeld report that errors typically were simple addition errors rather than suppression failures even with verbal responses. On the other hand, having to find the correct response button might take more time than simply saying the response out loud. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ TASK DESCRIPTION ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Participants hear a sequence of single digit numbers (1-9) presented at a constant speed and are asked to mentally sum the last 2 digits (NOT a running total). Participants then select the current sum from a circle of numbers 1-18 (= nonverbal response) ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ DURATION ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ the default set-up of the script takes appr. 10 minutes to complete ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ DATA FILE INFORMATION ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ The default data stored in the data files are: (1) Raw data file: 'pasat_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. currentLevel: the currently tested level currentDigit: the currently presented digit SOA: current SOA (in ms) currentSum: the current correct sum response: the participant's response (selected number) correct: the correctness of the response (1 = correct; 0 = incorrect) NR: 1 = no response was made within response window; 0 = otherwise (=no response) error: 1 = addition error; 0 = otherwise suppressionFailure: 1 = response is consistent with using previous sum (not digit) to generate new sum; 0 = otherwise consecutiveCorrect: counts the number of consecutive correct responses (resets back to 0 after 3 correct responses in a row) latency: the response latency (in ms); measured from onset of digit countCorrect_level1: counts the number of correct responses for level1 countCorrect_level2: counts the number of correct responses for level2 countCorrect_level3: counts the number of correct responses for level3 countCorrect_level4: counts the number of correct responses for level4 (2) Summary data file: 'pasat_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) Note: percentiles are calculated based on Wingenfeld et al (1999), table3 (p. 272) countCorrect_level1: counts the number of correct responses for level1 zscore_correct_level1: z-score of number of correct responses based on Wingenfeld et al (1999) p_correct_level1: percentile of z-score of number of correct responses based on Wingenfeld et al (1999) countNR_level1: counts the number of no responses for level1 zscore_NR_level1: z-score of number of no responses based on Wingenfeld et al (1999) p_NR_level1: percentile of z-score of no responses based on Wingenfeld et al (1999) countErrors_level1: counts the number of addition errors for level1 (could include random selections) zscore_errors_level1: z-score of number of number of addition errors based on Wingenfeld et al (1999) p_errors_level1: percentile of z-score of number of addition errors based on Wingenfeld et al (1999) countSF_level1: counts the number of suppression failures for level 1 zscore_SF_level1: z-score of number of suppression failures based on Wingenfeld et al (1999) p_SF_level1: percentile of z-score of suppression failures based on Wingenfeld et al (1999) suppression failure = using the previous sum instead of previous digit countcorrStrings_level1: counts the number of times three consecutive correct responses were given on level 1 zscore_corrStrings_level1: z-score of number of correct strings (3 correct in a row) based on Wingenfeld et al (1999) p_corrStrings_level1: percentile of z-score of correct strings (3 correct in a row) based on Wingenfeld et al (1999) (same for level2-level4) ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ EXPERIMENTAL SET-UP ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ (I) Practice: * 11 practice trials (+ start trial) * provides feedback * default SOA: 4000ms (II) Test: * 4 possible speed levels (level1-level4); number of levels to run can be set under section Editable Values (by default, all 4 levels are run) level 1: default SOA 2400ms level 2: default SOA 2000ms level 3: default SOA 1600ms level 4: default SOA 1200ms * by default, each level presents 60 trials (not counting the first digit presentation); number can be set under section Editable Values * to be added digit is selected randomly without replacement (reset after all digits 1-9 have been used) for each trial Trial Sequence: verbal digit presentation (SOA: depends on level): select sum of last 2 digits from a circle of numbers 1-18 __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ INSTRUCTIONS ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ provided by Millisecond Software - can be edited under section Editable Instructions Instructions are not original to the task. They are provided by Millisecond Software as htm pages and can be edited by changing the provided html files. To edit html-files: open the respective documents in simple Text Editors such as TextEdit (Mac) or Notepad (Windows). ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ EDITABLE CODE ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ check below for (relatively) easily editable values, 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 values you can change are: /levelCount: number of test levels (blocks) to run. Can be 1, 2, 3 or 4 /practiceTrials: number of practice trials to run /level1Trials: number of trials to run in level 1 (not counting the first) /level2Trials: number of trials to run in level 2 /level3Trials: number of trials to run in level 3 /level4Trials: number of trials to run in level 4 /SOAPractice: Stimulus Onset Asynchrony (SOA) in practice trials (= trialduration) /SOALevel1: Stimulus Onset Asynchrony (SOA) in level1 trials (= trialduration) /SOALevel2: Stimulus Onset Asynchrony (SOA) in level2 trials (= trialduration) /SOALevel3: Stimulus Onset Asynchrony (SOA) in level3 trials (= trialduration) /SOALevel4: Stimulus Onset Asynchrony (SOA) in level4 trials (= trialduration) /circleproportion: proportion of canvas height used for the circle radius of response buttons (default: 0.4) /debugmode: 1 = the correct answer is displayed on the screen 0 = the correct answer is not displayed on the screen (default)