___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ WASON RULE DISCOVERY TEST ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Script Author: Katja Borchert, Ph.D. (katjab@millisecond.com) for Millisecond Software, LLC Date: 12-12-2016 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 the Wason Rule Discovery Test, a test of confirmation bias. Reference: Wason, P.C. (1960). On the failure to eliminate hypotheses in a conceptual task. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 12, 129-140. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ TASK DESCRIPTION ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Participants get a sequence of 3 numbers (e.g. 248) and are asked if they can guess the underlying rule (default rule: increasing numbers) of the sequence by selecting different sequences of 3 numbers until they feel reasonably sure they know the rule. Once participants are relatively sure they know the rule, they are asked to describe it. The computer evaluates each response and gives preliminary feedback (optional). ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ DURATION ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ the default set-up of the script takes appr. XXX minutes to complete (if no task duration is provided, please contact Millisecond Software (katjab@millisecond.com) ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ DATA FILE INFORMATION ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ The default data stored in the data files are: (1) Raw data file: 'wasonrulediscoverytest_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. countRounds: counts the number of rounds started latency: the response latency (in ms); measured from onset of trial response: the participant's response (selected button) targetNumber: the number that is currently entered number1: stores the value of number1 number2: stores the value of number2 number3: stores the value of number3 evaluate: stores the evaluation of the entered sequence in regard to the tested rule (yes/no) guess: 1 = 'yes' guess; 0 = 'no' guess countGuesses: counts all guesses made for a given rule countPosGuesses: counts all guesses that resulted in a "yes" countNegGuesses: counts all gueesses that resulted in a "no" confirmationBias: 1 = participant only selected rule-confirming sequences (no sequences that received a "no" feedback) 0 = participant selected at least one sequence that received a "no" feedback empty = participant did not select any sequences proposedRule: stores the openended response for the proposed rule (if any) ruleDetection: 1 = based on preliminary computer analyses of the given openended response based on keyword searches (keywords such as increase, grow, larger, bigger etc.) participant likely narrowed down the rule successfully 0 = otherwise NOTE: the preliminary computer analyses are based on keyword searches and might have missed a correct result or falsely identified a 'correct' rule. Manual coding is advised. Sequence Analysis: categorization of the sequences in terms of several categories, such as "only positive numbers", "mixed numbers", "only even numbers" (etc)) and keeps a count of how often participant used sequences that fall in those categories. onlyPositive: 1 = the entered sequence contains only positive numbers or 0; 0 = otherwise onlyNegative: 1 = the entered sequence contains only negative numbers; 0 = otherwise onlyIntegers: 1 = the entered sequence contains only integers; 0 = otherwise onlyDecimals: 1 = the entered sequence contains only decimals; 0 = otherwise onlyEvenNumbers: 1 = the entered sequence contains only even numbers; 0 = otherwise (applies only to integers) onlyOddNumbers: 1 = the entered sequence contains only odd numbers; 0 = otherwise (applies only to integers) sameRatios: 1 = the entered sequence contains only numbers of the same ratios of number1number2 = number2number3; 0 = otherwise sameIntervals: 1 = the entered sequence contains only numbers that are separated by equal distances number2-number1=number3-number1; 0 = otherwise onlyIncrease: 1 = the entered sequence contains only numbers that increase; 0 = otherwise onlyDecrease: 1 = the entered sequence contains only numbers that decrease; 0 = otherwise onlyDifferent: 1 = all numbers are different from each other; 0 = otherwise (at least two numbers are the same) count_onlyPositive: counts all sequences that only contain positive numbers count_onlyNegative: counts all sequences that contain only negative numbers count_mixedPositiveNegative: counts all sequences that contain a mixture of positive and negative numbers count_onlyIntegers: counts all sequences that contain only integers count_onlyDecimals: counts all sequences that contain only decimals count_mixedIntegerDecimals: counts all sequences that contain a mixture of integers and decimals count_onlyEvenNumbers: counts all sequences that contain only even numbers (applies only to integers) count_onlyOddNumbers: counts all sequences that contain only odd numbers (applies only to integers) count_mixedOddEvenNumbers: counts all sequences that contain a mixture of odd and even numbers (applies only to integers) count_sameRatios: counts all sequences that contain only constant ratios (like doubling numbers) count_differentRatios: counts all sequences that have different ratios count_sameIntervals: counts all sequences that contain only numbers that are separated by equal distances (number2-number1 = number3-number2) count_differentIntervals: counts all sequences that contain numbers that are not spread equally count_onlyIncrease: counts all sequences that only increase from number to number; 0 = otherwise count_onlyDecrease: counts all sequences that only decrease from number to number; 0 = otherwise count_mixedIncreaseDecrease: counts all sequences that contain a mixture of increases and decreases; 0 = otherwise count_onlyDifferent: counts all sequences that contain only different numbers count_someEquals: counts all sequences that contain at least 2 numbers that are the same (2) Summary data file: 'wasonrulediscoverytest_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) countGuesses: number of all guesses made for a given rule countPosGuesses: number of all guesses that resulted in a "yes" countNegGuesses: number of all gueesses that resulted in a "no" confirmationBias: 1 = participant only selected rule-confirming sequences (did not enter any sequence that received a "no" feedback) 0 = participant selected at least one sequence that received a "no" feedback empty = participant did not select any sequences proposedRule: stores the openended response for the proposed rule (if any) ruleDetection: 1 = based on preliminary computer analyses of the given openended response based on keyword searches (keywords such as increase, grow, larger, bigger etc.) participant likely narrowed down the rule successfully 0 = otherwise NOTE: the preliminary computer analyses are based on keyword searches and might have missed a correct result or falsely identified a 'correct' rule. Manual coding is advised. Sequence Analysis: categorization of the sequences in terms of several categories, such as "only positive numbers", "mixed numbers", "only even numbers" (etc)) and keeps a count of how often participant used sequences that fall in those categories. => to contradict the rule "doubeling numbers", participant needed to test at least one sequence that used different ratios count_onlyPositive: counts all sequences that only contain positive numbers and/or zero (=> positive+) count_onlyNegative: counts all sequences that contain only negative numbers count_mixedPositiveNegative: counts all sequences that contain a mixture of positive+ and negative numbers count_onlyIntegers: counts all sequences that contain only integers count_onlyDecimals: counts all sequences that contain only decimals count_mixedIntegerDecimals: counts all sequences that contain a mixture of integers and decimals count_onlyEvenNumbers: counts all sequences that contain only even numbers (applies only to integers) count_onlyOddNumbers: counts all sequences that contain only odd numbers (applies only to integers) count_mixedOddEvenNumbers: counts all sequences that contain a mixture of odd and even numbers (applies only to integers) count_sameRatios: counts all sequences that contain only constant ratios (e.g. like doubling numbers) count_differentRatios: counts all sequences that have different ratios count_sameIntervals: counts all sequences that contain only numbers that are separated by equal distances (number2-number1 = number3-number2) count_differentIntervals: counts all sequences that contain numbers that are not spread equally count_onlyIncrease: counts all sequences that only increase from number to number; 0 = otherwise count_onlyDecrease: counts all sequences that only decrease from number to number; 0 = otherwise count_mixedIncreaseDecrease: counts all sequences that contain a mixture of increases and decreases; 0 = otherwise count_onlyDifferent: counts all sequences that contain only different numbers count_someEquals: counts all sequences that contain at least 2 numbers that are the same * separate data files: to change to one data file for all participants (on Inquisit Lab only), go to section "DATA" and follow further instructions ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ EXPERIMENTAL SET-UP ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ sequence selection -> feedback -> sequence selection ->...-> until 'I think I know' button is selected -> textbox that collects the description of the rule -> Summary Feedback ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ STIMULI ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ provided by Millisecond Software - can be edited under section Editable Stimuli ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 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: /exampleNumber1: the first example number given (default: 2) /exampleNumber2: the second example number given (default: 4) /exampleNumber3: the third example number given (default: 8) /rule: the rule tested 1: increase in value (default); no other rule is implemented at this point! /ruleDescription: describes the rule in simple words (used in instruction pages) (default: "increasing numbers") Note: only rule = 1 is implemented at this point. /skipFeedback: true = no feedback/explanations about the task are provided at the end false = (preliminary) feedback/explanations about the task are provided at the end