___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ T.O.V.A. (Test of Variables of Attention) - visual stimuli For Ages: 4 & 5 year old children ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ last updated: 03-02-2022 by K. Borchert (katjab@millisecond.com) for Millisecond Software, LLC Script Copyright © 03-02-2022 Millisecond Software ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ BACKGROUND INFO ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ This script implements and administers: T.O.V.A. (Test of Variables of Attention), a computerized test of sustained attention and impulsivity. The T.o.V.A. is a Continuous Performance Test (CPT) with a simple shape in 2 different screen positions (top square/bottom square). Reference: Greenberg, L.M., & Waldman, I.D. (1993). Developmental normative data on the Test of Variable of Attention (T.O.V.A.™). Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 34, 1019–1030. Greenberg, L.M., Kindschi, C.L., Dupuy, T.R., Hughes, S.J. (2016). TOVA: Test of Variable Attention. Clinical Manual. http://files.tovatest.com/documentation/8/Clinical%20Manual.pdf Note: this script runs the half design used for children ages 4 & 5 ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ TASK DESCRIPTION ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Participants are presented 2 different stimuli (for 100ms) at a constant pace (every 2s). If the stimulus is a target (aka top square), they are asked to press the Spacebar. If it's not a target (aka bottom square), they are asked to simply wait for the next stimulus. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ DURATION ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ the default set-up of the script takes appr. 13 minutes to complete ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ DATA FILE INFORMATION ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ The default data stored in the data files are: (1) Raw data file: 'tova_ages4and5_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. frequency: 1 = low frequency condition; 2 = high frequency condition; 0 = practice response: the participant's key response (scancodes: 57 = Spacebar; 0 = noresponse) correct: the correctness of the response (1 = correct; 0 = incorrect) latency: the response latency (in ms); measured from onset of target/nontarget anticipatoryResponse: 1 = response is anticipatory (latency < parameters.minValidLatency; default: 200ms); 0 = response is not anticipatory commissionerror: 1 = valid commission error (excludes anticipatory responses); 0 = no valid commission error postCommissionHit: 1 = valid hit (excludes anticipatory responses) immediately after a commission error; 0 = not a valid hit immediately after a commission error (2) Summary data file: 'tova_ages4and5_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) minValidLatency: minimum latency in ms that is considered valid and not anticipatory (default: 200) sum_anticipatoryResponses: sums up number of anticipatory responses across all test trials percentAnticipatoryResponses: percentage of anticipatory response during test trials Notes: (a) the following summary statistic exclude all anticipatory responses (default: responses with latencies < 200ms) (b) z-scores were adjusted according to Gregg & Sedikides (2010, p.148) If the hit rate / FA rate is 0 => 0.005 is used instead IF the hit rate / FA rate is 1.0 => 0.995 is used instead propcorrect_practice: overall proportion correct of practice trials overallproportioncorrect: overall proportion correct of all experimental trials (across all test blocks) meanPostCommissionRT: mean correct hit latencies (in ms) committed immediately after a commission error (across all test blocks) meanHitRT: mean hit latency (in ms) of all experimental trials (across all test blocks) SDHitRT: standard deviation of all hit latencies (across all test blocks) hitRate: mean hit rate (across all test blocks) omissionsRate: mean omissions rate (across all test blocks) commissionRate: mean false alarm rate (across all test blocks) z_hr: z-value of mean hit rate (across all test blocks) z_FAr: z-value of mean False Alarm rate (across all test blocks) dprime: d' (parametric measure of discriminability). (across all test blocks) meanHitRT_LF: mean hit latency (in ms) in low frequency condition SDHitRT_LF: standard deviation of all hit latencies in low frequency condition hitRate_LF: mean hit rate in low frequency condition omissionsRate_LF: mean omissions rate in low frequency condition commissionRate_LF: mean false alarm rate in low frequency condition z_hr_LF: z-value of mean hit rate in low frequency condition z_FAr_LF: z-value of mean False Alarm rate in low frequency condition dprime_LF: d' (parametric measure of discriminability) in low frequency condition meanHitRT_HF: mean hit latency (in ms) in high frequency condition SDHitRT_HF: standard deviation of all hit latencies in high frequency condition hitRate_HF: mean hit rate in high frequency condition omissionsRate_HF: mean omissions rate in high frequency condition commissionRate_HF: mean false alarm rate in high frequency condition z_hr_HF: z-value of mean hit rate in high frequency condition z_FAr_HF: z-value of mean False Alarm rate in high frequency condition dprime_HF: d' (parametric measure of discriminability) in high frequency condition ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ EXPERIMENTAL SET-UP ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 5 blocks: total of 374 trials (324 test trials and 50 practice trials); takes ~13 minutes Practice: 50 trials with target:nontarget frequency = 1:1 (lasts ~2 minutes) Test Blocks: 1. Low Frequency: 162 trials with 36 targets, 126 nontargets (1:3.5)(lasts ~5.5 minutes) 2. High Frequency: 162 trials with 126 targets, 36 nontargets (3.5:1)(lasts ~5.5 minutes) Test Procedures: 1. Test purpose and instructions displayed. 1b. 2-min Practice Session begins 2. low frequency test begins. 2a. target/Non-target stimulus presented briefly for 100ms (~22.2% of the stimuli are targets). 2b. Awaits for user response (space bar) or terminates after 2000ms. 2c. Go to 2a until half time is reached. 3. high frequency test begins (unannounced). 3a. target/Non-target stimulus presented briefly for 100ms (~77.8% of the stimuli are targets). 3b. Awaits for user response (space bar) or terminates after 2000ms. 3c. Go to 3a until half time is reached 4. End of test (w/ thank you page). ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ INSTRUCTIONS ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ see section Editable Instructions (from Greenberg & Waldman, 1993) ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 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: SOA: Time interval between onsets of target/non-target stimulus (in ms) (here: 2000ms) squaresize: the size of the target/nontarget shape in canvas height percentage (default: 5%) backgroundsize: the size of the white background in canvas height percentage (default: 50%) /minValidLatency: minimum latency in ms that is considered valid and not anticipatory (default: 200) /showPracticeFeedback: true (1): error feedback is presented during practice false (0): no feedback is provided during practice (default)