Think/No Think Task - Short

Think/No Think Task - Short

Technical Manual

Script Author: Katja Borchert, Ph.D. (katjab@millisecond.com), Millisecond

Created: January 29, 2020

Last Modified: January 11, 2025 by K. Borchert (katjab@millisecond.com), Millisecond

Script Copyright © Millisecond Software, LLC

Background

This script implements a slimmed down version of the Think/Not Think Task procedure to study the effect of thought suppression on memory. This version of the Think/NotThink task was developed by Anderson et al. to run the procedure during an fMRI session. Compared to Anderson & Green (2001), the current procedure is shorter and does not does not require behavioral responding during phase2

References

Anderson, M. C. et al (2004). Neural systems underlying the suppression of unwanted memories. Science, 303(5655), 232-236.

Anderson, M.C. & Green, C. (2001). Suppressing unwanted memories by executive control. NATURE, 410, 366-369.

Duration

Phase 1: ~5 min per study round Phase 2: ~2 minutes Phase 3: ~5 minutes

Description

Participants work through 3 phases:

1. phase1: Learning of 30 (default) random word pairs where the left word is going to be the recall cue of the right word. Recall is tested via textbox input in this script. Word pairs are assigned to three conditions: - recall words - suppression words - baseline words

2. phase2: Active Thought suppression instructions for some the suppression but not the recall word pairs. Baseline word pairs are skipped in this phase.

3. phase3: Re-testing all word pair learning: half the recall words are tested with the learned cues; half with independent cues

Procedure

Word Pair Assignment:

By default, this script runs preassigned fixed word pairs: Each odd item is paired with the following
even item (the assignments is randomized by randomization of the word order in item.words).
The advantage of pre-fixed word pairs is that the three phases can be distributed across several
script runs.

30 (default) fixed word pairs are divided into 3 groups:
- Recall: 10 word pairs (condition1)
- Suppression: 10 word pairs (condition2)
- Baseline: 10 word pairs (condition3)

! you can also use *random* pairings (see parameters.runFixedWordPairs under section Editable Parameters)
IF all three phases can be run within the same session.


Number Of Trials Per Condition:

The number of trials per condition is controlled by the number of words listed
under items.word (see section Editable Stimuli).
By default, 60 words (in random order) are provided that are paired to form 30 word pairs
(10 word pairs per condition).
You can add or delete word pairs per condition by adding or deleting the relevant
number of words from item.words/item.independentCues, just make sure that the
resulting number of trials per condition (recall, suppression, baseline) is EVEN.


Procedure:

1. phase1: Learning and recall of 30 random word pairs where the left word is going to be the recall cue of
the right word (study-phase).
phase3 is divided into a study and a recall phase:
a) Study: each word pair is presented for 5000ms (default; editable parameter)
b) Recall: each word pair is tested via textbox input
The order of the 30 word pairs during study/recall is randomly determined for each participant.

phase1 Termination:
By default phase3 is terminated after 100% correct recall (editable parameter) on all 30
word pairs (= successful completion) OR after 10 unsuccessful (editable parameter)
rounds.

If (and only if) successful phase3 completion => phase2 is started


2. phase2:
- Active Thought suppression instructions for 10 of these word pairs (suppression words):
The suppression cue words are presented in RED. Participants are instructed to actively suppress the
paired recall words for the presented cues for RED cues.

- Active Thought recall instructions for 10 of these word pairs (recall words)
The recall cue words are presented in GREEN. Participants are instructed to think about the
paired recall words for the presented cues for GREEN cues.

The order of the suppression and recall cues is randomly determined for each participant.

10 of the learned word pairs are not presented during phase2 (baseline words)


3. phase3: Re-testing recall of all 30 recall words (via textbox input)
- half the recall words are tested using the learned (random) cues learned during phase1
- half the recall words are tested using an independent cue that is related to the recall word

Stimuli

provided by Millisecond - can be edited under section 'Editable Stimuli'

Instructions

provided by Millisecond - can be edited under section 'Editable Instructions'

Summary Data

File Name: thinknothink_short_summary*.iqdat

Data Fields

NameDescription
inquisit.version Inquisit version number
computer.platform Device platform: win | mac |ios | android
computer.touch 0 = device has no touchscreen capabilities; 1 = device has touchscreen capabilities
computer.hasKeyboard 0 = no external keyboard detected; 1 = external keyboard detected
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
Phase1
countPhase1 The number of phase1 rounds run in this script
propCorrectPhase1 The overall proportion correct recall performance during phase 1
if performance < parameters.minPropRecallPhase1 => phase2/phase3 are not run in this script
Phase3
propCorrectPhase3 The overall proportion correct recall performance during phase 3
Per Condition
propCorrectRecallPairPhase3 The proportion correct recall performance for recallpair words (condition 1) during phase 3
propCorrectRecallPairPhase3L The proportion correct recall performance for recallpair words (condition 1) cued with the 'learned' cue during phase 3
propCorrectRecallPairPhase3I The proportion correct recall performance for recallpair words (condition 1) cued with the 'independent' cue during phase 3
propCorrectSuppressionPairPhase3 The proportion correct recall performance for suppression words (condition 2) during phase 3
propCorrectSuppressionPairPhase3L The proportion correct recall performance for suppression words (condition 2) cued with the 'learned' cue during phase 3
propCorrectSuppressionPairPhase3I The proportion correct recall performance for suppression words (condition 2) cued with the 'independent' cue during phase 3
propCorrectBaselinePairPhase3 The proportion correct recall performance for baseline words (condition 3) during phase 3
propCorrectBaselinePairPhase3L The proportion correct recall performance for baseline words (condition 3) cued with the 'learned' cue during phase 3
propCorrectBaselinePairPhase3I The proportion correct recall performance for baseline words (condition 3) cued with the 'independent' cue during phase 3

Raw Data

File Name: thinknothink_short_raw*.iqdat

Data Fields

NameDescription
build Inquisit version number
computer.platform Device platform: win | mac |ios | android
computer.touch 0 = device has no touchscreen capabilities; 1 = device has touchscreen capabilities
computer.hasKeyboard 0 = no external keyboard detected; 1 = external keyboard detected
date Date the session was run
time Time the session was run
subject Participant ID
group Group number
session Session number
blockcode The name the current block (built-in Inquisit variable)
blocknum The number of the current block (built-in Inquisit variable)
trialcode The name of the currently recorded trial (built-in Inquisit variable)
trialnum The number of the currently recorded trial (built-in Inquisit variable)
trialnum is a built-in Inquisit variable; it counts all trials run
even those that do not store data to the data file.
countPhase1 Counts the number of phase1 (learning) rounds run by this script
condition 1 = recall word pairs (used in phase2 for active recall)
2 = suppression word pairs (used in phase2 for active suppression)
3 = baseline word pairs (not used in phase2)
phase3ConditionCue The condition cue used in phase3
1 = learned cue (from phase1)
2 = independent cue
pairNumber The pairNumber of the currently presented word pair.
pairNumbers are 1-10 for each of the three conditions
indexCueWord The itemnumber (item.words/item.independentCue) of the cueWord
cueWord The cue word
indexRecallWord The itemnumber (item.words) of the recall word
recallWord The recall word
stimulusItem The presented stimuli in order of trial presentation
phase1: the word pair with the cue word on the left
phase2: the cue word
phase3: the cue word
response The participant's response
correct Accuracy of response: 1 = correct response; 0 = otherwise
latency The response latency (in ms); measured from: onset of cue

Parameters

The procedure can be adjusted by setting the following parameters.

NameDescriptionDefault
Design
runFixedWordPairs True = the script uses fixed word pairs for each condition
false = the script randomly creates word pairs for the three conditions		true
runPhase1 True = phase1 is run by this script
false = phase1 is skipped and script automatically starts with phase2
if false -> script assumes that phase1 criterium has been reached		true
runPhase2 True = phase2 is run by this script (if criterium for phase 1 has been reached)
false = phase2 is skipped by this script		true
runPhase3 True = phase3 is run by this script (if criterium for phase 1 has been reached)
false = phase3 is skipped by this script		true
Sizing Parameters
wordHeight The proportional sizing of the word pairs 5%
Timing Parameters
acquisitionDurationMS The duration (in ms) that study word pairs are presented during phase1 5000
minPropRecallPhase1 The minimum proportion correct recall performance after phase1
that is required to move on to phase2
(default: 1.0 => 100% correct recall performance)		1.0
maxStudyRepeatsPhase1 The max. number of study-recall repeats run in this session
the script terminates after 10 unsuccessful phase1 rounds		10
phase2TrialDurationMS The duration (in ms) that cue words are presented during phase24000
© Copyright Millisecond Software, LLC. All Rights Reserved