___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ VISUAL SCANNING ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Script Author: Katja Borchert, Ph.D. (katjab@millisecond.com) for Millisecond Software, LLC Date: 08-26-2014 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 a Visual Scanning Task; a visual search and recognition task designed to assess Perceptual Speed. Reference: UNIFIED TRI-SERVICE COGNITIVE PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT BATTERY (UTC-PAB) I. DESIGN AND SPECIFICATION OF THE BATTERY. ENGLUND, C.E., REEVES. D.L., SHINGLEDECKER, C.A., THORNE, D.R., WILSON, K.P., & HEGGE. F.W. (1987). REPORT NO. 87-10, NAVAL HEALTH RESEARCH CENTER, P 0 BOX 85122, SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA 92138 NAVAL MEDICAL RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT COMMAND, BETHESDA, MARYLAND (p.39) which was inpired by: Neisser, U. (1963). Decision time without reaction time: experiments in visual scanning. American Journal of Psychology, 76:d376-385. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ TASK DESCRIPTION ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Participants are presented with a letter matrix consisting of 25 rows of 5 letters each. The task is to read the matrix from top to bottom, left to right and find the target letter 'K' within 10s (default) and press the Spacebar as soon as the K is found. Row numbers will appear to the right of each row and participants have 4s (default) to type in the row number. Optional feedback can be provided before the next trial sequence is started. If time limits are exceeded, the current trial sequence is terminated, a beep is played, and new trial sequence is started. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ DURATION ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ the default set-up of the script takes appr. 10 minutes to complete ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ DATA FILE INFORMATION ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ The default data stored in the data files are: (1) Raw data file: 'visualscanning_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. phase: "practice" vs. "test" countblocks: counts the number of test blocks started stimulusitem: presented stimuli response: the participant's response correct: the correctness of the response latency: the response latency in ms Note: not all trials that are run might record data In this script, by default the relevant raw data is saved by trial.savetrialdata. Because trial.savetrialdata is the default trial to save the data for each trial sequence, response/correct/latency are NOT storing any useful variables by default. If you want to save data from each trial, go to section TRIALS and set /recorddata = true for each trial that should save data. targetcode: contains the target box e.g. r16c3 correctrowdigits: stores the correct row digit of the current trial sequence input_rowdigits: stores the complete row digit response (both digits) responsecode: stores the response code "correct" "incorrect" (input was wrong) "late matrix response" (participants took too long to press the spacebar) "late row response" (participants pressed spacebar but then took too long to input the row number) matrix_rt: stores the latency of the Spacebar response in ms firstdigit_rt: stores the latency of the first digit input in ms seconddigit_rt: stores the latency of the second digit input in ms count_trialsstarted: counts all trial sequences that got started by script (though trial sequence might have been cut-off before any response could have been given) count_attemptedtrials: counts all attempted trials (across blocks); attempted: responsecode is set to four response options count_completedtrials: counts all trials (across blocks) in which participants input a row number (responsecode is either correct or incorrect) count_latematrix: counts how many times participant was late with Spacebar response count_laterowconfirmation: counts how many times participant was late with row number input countcorrect: counts all correct trials (across blocks) propcorrect: proportion correct responses out of all attempted ones remainingtasktime: stores how much time is left for another block (updated at the end of each block) max_blockduration: stores the maximum block duration time that is still available for the current block (in ms) blockstarttime: stores the elapsed time at the start of each new block in ms (2) Summary data file: 'visualscanning_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) max_testblocks: Maximum number of blocks to be run (e.g. 20) countblocks: counts the number of test blocks started remainingtasktime: stores how much time is left for another block in ms (updated at the end of each block) Note: test is over if either countblocks = (parameter) max_testblocks OR if remainingtasktime <= 0 count_trialsstarted: counts all trial sequences that got started by script (though trial sequence might have been cut-off before any response could have been given) count_attemptedtrials: counts all attempted trials (across test blocks) count_completedtrials: counts all trials (across test blocks) in which participants input a row number count_latematrix: counts how many times participant was late with selection response countcorrect: counts all correct trials (across test blocks) propcorrect: proportion correct responses out of all attempted test trials ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ EXPERIMENTAL SET-UP ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ default set-up: Practice: - 1 block of 21 trials (Englund et al, 1987, suggest 10 -> edit parameters.nr_trainingblocks under section 'Editable Values' ) Test: - 2 (default) blocks or max. 5 min (default), whichever comes first (editable values under section 'Editable Values') - each block runs 21 trials (target in each of the 21 possible row locations) Trial Sequence: (A) trial.fixation: fixation arrow for 500ms (default) Fixation arrow is presented one field to the left of the first matrix item (it's a preparatory time & location cue) (B) trial.matrix: presents 25 rows x 5 column matrix randomly filled with all letters of the alphabet targetletter: K (only 1 K present in matrix); position is randomly determined with the constraints that it cannot be presented in the first 3 rows and the last row (Englund et al, 1987). 10s (default) to find K => press Spacebar (default) when K is found => trial.confirmation_a => if K is not found within time frame; a beep is played (C) trial.confirmation_a/trial.confirmation_b 2-digit row numbers appear to the right of each row and participant is asked to type in the 2-digit row number (trial.confirmation_a takes in the first number; trial.confirmation_b takes in the second number) => max duration: 4s (default); if confirmation is NOT given within 4 s a beep is played and a new trial is started (D) trial.feedback/trial.beep: -trial.feedback (optional) presents feedback regarding the performance and the location of K -trial.beep: presents beep if time limits were exceeded (E) trial.savetrialdata stores the trial data of the completely run trial sequence to the data file. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ STIMULI ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ the letters are presented in Courier New (a monospaced font) Letter size can be adjusted under Editable Parameters if needed. Letters are white on a black background. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ INSTRUCTIONS ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Instructions are based on Englund et al (1987). They are provided by Millisecond Software in the form of html pages 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: /responsekey: the response key (default: " " -> spacebar) /fontsize_letters: fontsize of the letters in screen height percentages (default: 2.5%) /fontsize_fixation: fontsize of the fixation mark in screen height percentages (default: 3%) /max_testblocks: Maximum number of test blocks to be run (e.g. 2) /nr_trainingblocks: Number of training blocks to be run (default: 1) Note: Englund et al (1987) suggest to run 10 (p.43) /max_tasktime: Maximum duration of the task in ms (default: 300000ms => 5min) /showfeedback: 1 = feedback is provided after 2nd digit row input 0 = no feedback is provided (Note: if responses were too late a beep is played in either condition) /fixationduration: duration of the fixation trial in ms (default: 500ms) /matrixduration: maximum duration of the matrix presentation in ms (default: 10000ms => 10s) /confirmationduration: maximum duration allotted to input both digits of row number in ms /posttrialduration: time allotted between input of second digit and next fixation cross in ms Note: this duration is used to present (optional) feedback and the beeps