___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ *SYNONYM ANTONYM TASK* ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Script Author: Katja Borchert, Ph.D. (katjab@millisecond.com) for Millisecond Software LLC Date: 11-05-2012 last updated: 03-01-2022 by K. Borchert (katjab@millisecond.com) for Millisecond Software, LLC Script Copyright © 03-01-2022 Millisecond Software ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ BACKGROUND INFO ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Script implements the Synonym Antonym Task as used in: Salthouse, T.A., Atkinson, T.M, & Berish, D.E. (2003).Executive Functioning as a Potential Mediator of Age-Related Cognitive Decline in Normal Adults. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 132, 566–594. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ TASK DESCRIPTION ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Participant is presented with a target word and needs to select from among 5 choices the word a) that has the closest meaning to the target word (Synonym Task) or b) that has the opposite meaning of the target word (Antonym Task) Selection is done via mouse-click. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ DURATION ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ This is a timed task. The default set-up allows 5 minutes. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ DATA FILE INFORMATION ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ The default data stored in the data files are: (1) Raw data file: 'synonymantonym_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) taskduration: time alloted to the entire task (default: 300000ms = 5min) Presented Stim1: the presented stimuli in order of trial presentation Presented Stim2: = presented word choice1-Choice5: contains the stimulus for the 5 choices correctchoice: contains the index of the correct choice for each target response: the participant's response correct: the correctness of the response (1 = correct; 0 = incorrect) latency: the response latency (in ms) numcorrect_syn- numcorrect_ant: sum up all correct responses for Synonyms/Antonyms total_correct: sum of all correct responses (2) Summary data file: 'synonymantonym_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) taskduration: time alloted to the entire task (default: 300000ms = 5min) numcorrect_syn- numcorrect_ant: sum up all correct responses for Synonyms/Antonyms total_correct: sum of all correct responses ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ EXPERIMENTAL SET-UP ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ The script presents 10 synonym trials (block.synonymtask) before moving on to 10 antonym trials (block.antonymtask). Each trial presents a target and 5 word choices. After participants select their choice via mouse-click, the selection gets briefly highlighted before the next trial starts. Timer: There are 5 min allotted to finish block.synonym AND block.antonym (default, can be changed under VALUES -> EDITABLE PARAMETERS). A clock on the screen counts down the min/s for the participants. 60s (default, can be changed under VALUES -> EDITABLE PARAMETERS) before the 5 min are up, a red circle appears around the clock to highlight the remaining time. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ STIMULI ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Stimuli can be edited under EDITABLE STIMULI -> synonym stimuli -> item.synonym and STIMULI -> antonym stimuli -> item.antonym ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 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: /taskduration: time alloted to the entire task in ms (default: 300000ms = 5min) /timereminder: a red circle appears around the clock at this time (in ms) )to highlight how much time is left (default: 60000ms = 1min left)