___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ *SIMPLE REACTION TIME TASK - auditory* ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Script Author: Katja Borchert, Ph.D. (katjab@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 runs a simple auditory reaction time task. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ TASK DESCRIPTION ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ After variable time intervals, a sound is played to the participant. The task is to press the spacebar as soon as the sound is presented. Mean and Median latency, latency standard deviation as well as minimum latency and maximum latency are recorded in the summary data file. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ DURATION ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ the default set-up of the script takes appr. 2 minutes to complete ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ DATA FILE INFORMATION ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ The default data stored in the data files are: (1) Raw data file: 'srtauditory_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. (parameter) targetspeaker: the current speaker through which target is presented (parameter) volumeadjust: the current volume adjustment (parameter) speakerfixed: determines whether to play the sound though a fixed speaker or randomly through either the left, the right, or both speakers. (parameter) maxtrialnumber: the number of valid trials in a block that should be run stimDelay: the current delay (in ms) of the sound stimulusitem: the presented stim (here the sound file) response: the participant's response (scancode of response buttons) 57 = spacebar correct: accuracy of response: 1 = correct response (response was made after sound was played); 0 = otherwise (= early response) latency: the trial latency (in ms); measured from: onset of trial until response was made rt_stim the time btw. onset of sound until response was made (in ms) countEarlyResponses: counts the number of times the spacebar was pressed before the sound was played (excludes first trial) countValidTrials: counts the number of times the spacebar was pressed after the sound was played (excludes first trial) (2) Summary data file: 'srtauditory_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) (parameter) targetspeaker: the current speaker through which target is presented (parameter) volumeadjust: the current volume adjustment (parameter) speakerfixed: determines whether to play the sound though a fixed speaker or randomly through either the left, the right, or both speakers. (parameter) maxtrialnumber: the number of valid trials in a block that should be run meanRT: the mean response times (in ms) of valid responses (first trial excluded) SDRT: the standard deviation (in ms) of the response times of valid responses (first trial excluded) medianRT: the median response times (in ms) of valid responses (first trial excluded) minRT: the fastest response time (in ms) of valid responses (first trial excluded) maxRT: the slowest response time (in ms) of valid responses (first trial excluded) countEarlyResponses: counts the number of times the spacebar was pressed before the sound was played (excludes first trial) ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ EXPERIMENTAL SET-UP ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ * By default, the script runs 2 blocks of 20 trials each * the time intervals are randomly chosen from 2000ms, 3000ms, 4000ms, 5000ms, 6000ms, 7000ms, 8000ms intervals * By default, the sound is panned through both speakers. * By default, the sound volume is not adjusted. * By default, the color of the screen background is white. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ STIMULI ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ see section Editable Stimuli ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ INSTRUCTIONS ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Instructions 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: targetspeaker: sets the speaker through which the sound is presented; default is 0 (=center=both) Alternatives: -10000 (only through the left speaker) 10000 (only through the right speaker) volumeadjust: sets a volume adjuster; -10000 sets it to silent, 0 makes no adjustments to the original sound; default is 0. maxtrialnumber: sets the number of valid trials that should be run in a block; the default is 20 Notes: b) early response trials are not considered valid and are repeated a) the first trial is considered 'practice' and does not count towards trialnumber) screencolor: sets the background color of the screen speakerfixed: determines whether to play the sound though a fixed speaker or randomly through either the left, the right, or both speakers. volumefixed: determines whether to randomly adjust the volume of the sound or use a fixed volume (0 = fixed volume; 1 = random volume adjustment); default is 0