Script Author: Katja Borchert, Ph.D. (katjab@millisecond.com), Millisecond
Created: January 17, 2017
Last Modified: January 06, 2023 by K. Borchert (katjab@millisecond.com), Millisecond
Script Copyright © Millisecond Software, LLC
This script implements a variant of the Remote Associates Test, a test of creativity, based on:
Mednick, S. A. (1962). The associative basis of the creative process. Psychological Review, 69, 220-232.
Mednick, S. A. (1968). Remote Associates Test. Journal of Creative Behavior, 2, 213-214.
Bowden, E.M., & Jung-Beeman, M. (2003). Normative data for 144 compound remote associate problems. Behavioral Research Methods, Instrumentation, and Computers, 35, 634-639.
30 minutes
Participants are presented 30 triads consisting of 3 remotely associated words of the kind (paint/doll/cat) and are asked to come up with a fourth item that is associated with all three (here: "house"). The 30 triads are presented one-by-one (participants cannot go back and forth between items) Each triad has a maximum timelimit of 1 minute.
- 30 triads are presented one by one
- 10 triads are categorized as "easy", 10 triads are categorized as "medium", 10 triads are categorized as "hard"
Categorization (Bowden & Jung-Beeman, 2003 - Appendix):
easy: proportion of participants solving triad (at 15s) > 0.75
medium: 0.45 < proportion of participants solving triad (at 15s) < 0.55
hard: proportion of participant solving triad (at 15s) < 0.25
- the order of the triads is determined randomly for each participant (by default -
can be edited under section Editable Lists)
- triads are selected from Bowden & Jung-Beeman (2003), Appendix
- triads can be replaced under section "Editable Stimuli"
Instructions are not original to the task. They are provided by Millisecond
as htm/html pages and can be edited by changing the provided htm/html files.
To edit htm/html-files: open the respective documents in simple Text Editors such as TextEdit (Mac)
or Notepad (Windows).
File Name: remoteassociatestest_itembyitem_summary*.iqdat
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| 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 |
| maxResponseWindow | The maximum time (in ms) allowed for each item |
| nrTriads | The number of triads presented (default: 30) |
| numberCorrect | Number of correctly solved triads |
| propSolved | Proportion correctly solved triads |
| meanRT | Mean correct latency (in ms) for solved triads |
| sd | Standard deviation of correct latencies |
| numberCorrectEasy | Number of correctly solved 'easy' triads |
| propSolvedEasy | Proportion correctly solved 'easy' triads |
| meanRTEasy | Mean correct latency (in ms) for solved 'easy' triads |
| sdEasy | Standard deviation of correct latencies for solved 'easy' triads |
| numberCorrectMedium | Number of correctly solved 'medium' triads |
| propSolvedMedium | Proportion correctly solved 'medium' triads |
| meanRTMedium | Mean correct latency (in ms) for solved 'medium' triads |
| sdMedium | Standard deviation of correct latencies for solved 'medium' triads |
| numberCorrectHard | Number of correctly solved 'hard' triads |
| propSolvedHard | Proportion correctly solved 'hard' triads |
| meanRTHard | Mean correct latency (in ms) for solved 'hard' triads |
| sdHard | Standard deviation of correct latencies for solved 'hard' triads |
File Name: remoteassociatestest_itembyitem_raw*.iqdat
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| 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 | Participant ID |
| group | Group number |
| 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 |
| triadCount | Counts the triads |
| stimulusItem | The presented triad |
| difficulty | Stores the difficulty for the current triad |
| solution | Stores the solution for the current triad |
| response | The participant's response |
| correct | The correctness of the response (1 = correct; 0 = incorrect) |
| latency | The response latency (in ms) (measured from onset of triad to submitting response) |
The procedure can be adjusted by setting the following parameters.
| Name | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|
| maxResponseWindow | The maximum time (in ms) allowed for each item | |
| nrTriads | The number of triads presented | 30 |
| debugmode | 1 = script runs in debug mode (presents solutions); 0 = otherwise |