___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ *RISKY GAINS TASK* ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Script Author: Katja Borchert, Ph.D. (katjab@millisecond.com) for Millisecond Software LLC Date: 09-14-2012 last updated: 02-28-2022 by K. Borchert (katjab@millisecond.com) for Millisecond Software, LLC Script Copyright © 02-28-2022 Millisecond Software ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ BACKGROUND INFO ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ This script implements the Risky Gains Task, a measure of risk-taking decision-making behavior. The implemented procedure is based on: Paulus M.P., Rogalsky, C., Simmons, A., Feinstein, J.S., & Stein, M.B. (2003). Increased activation in the right insula during risk-taking decision making is related to harm avoidance and neuroticism. NeuroImage, 19, 1439-1448. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ TASK DESCRIPTION ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Accept (Press the Spacebar) or reject (wait) an increasing offer of 20, 40, 80 points. If you choose the 20 points, you are guaranteed to get 20 points (trial ends). If you wait for the 40 points offer, you may a) lose 40 points right away (trial ends) b) get the offer to get 40 points and take it (trial ends) or c) get the offer to get 40 points but reject it and wait for the 80 point offer. Similarly, if you wait for the 80 point offer you a) may lose 80 points right away (trial ends) or b) win it right away (trial ends). The goal of the game is to gain as many points as possible. A new offer sequence is offered every 3.5s (default). ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 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: 'riskygainstask_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. trialcount: counts the trialsequences condition: 0 = no punish condition; 1 = punish80 condition; 2 = punish40 condition stimulusitem: the presented stimuli in order of trial presentation response: the participant's response, scancode of response button (57 = spacebar; 0 = noresponse) latency: the response latency (in ms) ///Safe Choice: win20: keeps track of all the times participant chooses and wins 20, the completely safe choice ///Risky Choices: win40: keeps track of all the times participant chooses and wins 40 win80: keeps track of all the times a participant goes all the way and wins riskychoices40: keeps track of all times participant waits for 40 riskychoices80: keeps track of all times participant waits for 80 lose40: keeps track of all the times that a participant waits for an offering of 40 and loses 40 points lose80 : keeps track of all the times a participant goes all the way and loses totalpoints: keeps track of the winnings (2) Summary data file: 'riskygainstask_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) totalpoints: keeps track of the winnings ///Safe Choice: win20: keeps track of all the times participant chooses and wins 20, the completely safe choice ///Risky Choices: win40: keeps track of all the times participant chooses and wins 40 win80: keeps track of all the times a participant goes all the way and wins riskychoices40: keeps track of all times participant waits for 40 riskychoices80: keeps track of all times participant waits for 80 lose40: keeps track of all the times that a participant waits for an offering of 40 and loses 40 points lose80 : keeps track of all the times a participant goes all the way and loses ///Latency Measures: meanrt_win20: calculates the mean reaction time (in ms) that it takes to choose 20 meanrt_win40: calculates the mean reaction time (in ms) that it takes to choose 40 if 40 is offered ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ EXPERIMENTAL SET-UP ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 1 Practice Block: 12 practice trials 1 Experimental Block: * 96 trials with ratio trial.nopunish : trial.punish40 : trial.punish80 = 9:4:3 (=> 54 trial.nopunish, 24 trial.punish40, 18 trial.punish80) (see Paulus et al, 2003) * These counts ensure that participants always win the same amount of money if they choose consistently one of the 3 options. *random sampling (without replacement) of trial types 3 Trialtypes trial.nopunish: no choice is punished trial.punish40: choice 40 is punished => if you reject the 20 points, you will lose 40 points trial.punish80: choice80 is punished => if you reject 20 and 40 points, you will lose 80 points TrialDuration: Sequence: offer 20 ->(offer 40)->win/lose feedback screen (20, 40, 80) -> blank screen * a new sequence is presented every 3.5s (default, see Paulus et al, 2003) (=> there is no time advantage for any choice) * each offer lasts 1000ms (unless a positive response is given), * win/lose feedback screens last 1000ms * a blank screen is presented as long as necessary to complete the necessary 3.5s (minimum: 500ms) Trialduration (default: 3500ms) as well as Stimuluspresentation times (default:1000) can be easily edited under section Editable Parameters. Totalpoints: The points that a participant earns are displayed at the bottom of the screen during the trials (default). To turn off the total points display, change variable parameters.totalshow under section Editable Parameters. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ STIMULI ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ The soundfiles used to provide auditory feedback are not original and can easily be exchanged for others under section Editable Stimuli-> Audio Stimuli ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ INSTRUCTIONS ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Instructions are not original to the task. They are provided by Millisecond Software 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). ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 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: /stimulusduration: an offer is presented for (default) 1s (1000ms); in ms /trialduration : every (default) 3.5 s (3500ms) a new offering sequence begins; in ms /showtotal: 1 = the total points are displayed on the screen for the participants to see (default) 0 = the total points are not displayed on the screen /responsekey: the scancode of the response key (default: " " for Space Bar)