Last Modified: January 18, 2025 by K. Borchert (katjab@millisecond.com), Millisecond
Script Copyright © Millisecond Software, LLC
This script implements an Aggression Themed Emotional Stroop task. The classic Stroop paradigm demonstrates the interference of word meaning on naming the color in which the words are written as measured by reaction time differences to color-meaning congruent and color-meaning incongruent combinations. The Aggression Stroop takes advantage of this basic Stroop interference effect by comparing reaction times to aggression related words, positive and negative words and neutral words.
The implemented procedure is based on:
Smith, P. & Waterman, M. (2003). Processing bias for aggression words in forensic and nonforensic samples. Cognition and Emotion, 17, 681-701.
This script uses keyboard input instead of voice recordings.
5 minutes
Participants are presented words from 5 different categories (aggression, neutral, positive, negative, color word) in four different colors (blue, red, yellow, green) and are asked to press one of four response keys to indicate the color of the words regardless of their meaning.
1. Practice Block: 10 trials (not original; this script uses the words "one" to "ten" as practice stimuli)
2. Test Block: 125 trials (= 5 categories x 25 trials); trials are randomly sampled
without replacement
• error feedback given; to remove follow instructions under section TRIALS
• original stimuli by Smith & Waterman (2003)
(due to a potential typo in the original article one word appeared
under two categories (Appendix2); we replaced it with a word that is similar in length and appearance
=> section Editable STIMULI-> Negative Words)
• each color appears 6 times in each category (the 7th pairing of word-color is random)
• color words "red", "yellow", "blue" and "green" are not used as targets
• 5 color words are repeats (see Smith & Waterman, 2003)
Instructions are not original to the task. They are provided by Millisecond
and can be edited in script "emotionalstroopwithkeyboardinput_instructions_inc.iqjs"
File Name: emotionalstroopwithkeytboardinput_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 |
| propCorrectPos | Proportion correct for all 5 categories meanrtNeu- |
| meanrtPos | Mean latencies for correct responses for all 5 categories separately biasAgg- |
| biasPos | Bias Scores: Difference between mean latency in categories Aggression, Color, Positive Words, Negative Words and Neutral Word condition (category mean latencies are subtracted from mean latency of Neutral condition) => positive scores: meaning of category words interfered more than meaning of neutral words on color categorization task |
File Name: emotionalstroopwithkeytboardinput_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 |
| target | The currently selected target word |
| color | The currently selected color |
| response | The participant's key response (scancode of response button) scancode/label for the red response button (default: 32 -> d) scancode/label for the green response button (default: 33 -> f) scancode/label for the blue response button (default: 36 -> j) scancode/label for the yellow response button (default: 37 -> k) |
| responseCategory | The interpreted key response "red" "green" "blue" "yellow" |
| correct | The correctness of the response (1 = correct; 0 = incorrect) |
| latency | The response latency (in ms); measured from onset of word |
The procedure can be adjusted by setting the following parameters.
| Name | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|
| fixationCrossPresentationTime | Time (in ms) that fixation cross is presented | 500ms |
| keyRed | The red response button | d |
| keyGreen | The green response button | f |
| keyBlue | The blue response button | j |
| keyYellow | The yellow response button | k |