___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ *Running Memory Span Task* ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Script Author: David Nitz (dave@millisecond.com) for Millisecond Software, LLC 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 Running Memory Span Task, a measure of working memory. The implemented procedure is based on: Broadway, J. M., & Engle, R. W. (2010). Validating Running Memory Span: Measurement of working memory capacity and links with fluid intelligence. Behavior Research Methods, 42 (2), 563-570. Task Copyright (c) 2010 by Jim Broadway and Randall Engle (http://psychology.gatech.edu/renglelab/) ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ TASK DESCRIPTION ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Participants are presented a series of letters of varying length (3-8) and when prompted have to report the last N items (3-6) of the list (they do not know N until they are prompted). The N items are called the 'targets' of the series; the remaining items are the 'distractors'. Together targets and distractors make up the 'input'. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 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: 'runningspan_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. recalltrial: counts the number of recall trials run response: the participant's response (selected response button; 0 = no response) correct: the correctness of the response (1 = correct; 0 = incorrect) latency: the response latency (in ms) (parameter) inputrate: rate at which letters are presented nTargets: number of targets presented nDistractors: number of distractors presented nInputs: number of presented letters (targets + distractors) text.letter.currentItem: the currently presented letter recalledletters: the targets of the current set that participant recalled runspantotal: sum of all correctly recalled targets runspanscore: sum of all correctly recalled targets of sets with at least 1 distractor (2) Summary data file: 'runningspan_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) runspantotal: sum of all correctly recalled targets runspanscore: sum of all correctly recalled targets of sets with at least 1 distractor ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ EXPERIMENTAL SET-UP ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ (A) 1 Practice Phase: * 1 level of N targets (2) x 4 numbers of distractors (0, 1, 2, 3) - order of number of distractors randomized (B) 1 Test Phase: * 4 levels of N targets (3, 4, 5, 6) x 3 numbers of distractors (0, 1, 2) - level of N tested in blocked design, order of N is randomized - order of number of distractors randomized within each block default timings: fixation(500ms) -> blank(500ms) -> letter(300ms) -> blank(200ms) ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ STIMULI ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ see section Editable Stimuli ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ INSTRUCTIONS ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ see section Editable Instructions ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 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: Inputrate can be set to either 2500 or 500. The resulting stimulus timings are 2500ms: fixation(500) -> blank(500) -> letter(300) -> blank(2200) 500ms: fixation(500) -> blank(500) -> letter(300) -> blank(200) showScoreReport: true (1): a score report is presented at the end of the task (spacebar is needed to continue)