Script Author: Katja Borchert, Ph.D. (katjab@millisecond.com), Millisecond
Created: January 02, 2023
Last Modified: January 26, 2025 by K. Borchert (katjab@millisecond.com), Millisecond
Script Copyright © Millisecond Software, LLC
This script implements Millisecond's version of an Attentional Blink Procedure run with images. In general Attentional Blink Procedures are used to study the temporary suppression of visual attention of a target that follows a distractor stimulus.
The implemented procedure is based on the Emotional Attentional Blink Procedure described by Keefe & Zald (2022). Instead of erotic couple images used as Emotional distractors and non-erotic couple images as Neutral distractors (as done by Keefe & Zald), this template script runs with simple spider images as 'Negative' and rose images as 'Neutral' distractor stand-ins. Target categories in this script are cars vs chairs (as opposed to left and right tilted cities and landscape images). Images of distractors as well as images of targets can be easily replaced to run different target and distractor images.
Keefe, J. M., & Zald, D. H. (2022). Emotional distractor images disrupt target processing in a graded manner. Emotion (Washington, D.C.), 22(5), 971–981. https://doi.org/10.1037/emo0000893
30 minutes
Participants are presented a sequence of 23 rapidly presented images (a new image every 100ms). 21 of these images are randomly selected images of landscapes and/or cars. One image is either a spider (distractor type1) or a rose (distractor type2) in this template script. A target image is presented at 5 different lags following (or preceding) the distractor image. In this template script the target image is either a car or a chair. As soon as participants detect the target, they should press either the left (car) or right arrow key (chair). The sequence will continue after a response until all images have been presented. After all images have been presented, participants are given a perceptual awareness question about the target (can be easily turned off via editable parameters).
(1) Practice: 20 trials (can be easily edited under section Editable Parameters)
- practice procedure the same as for a test block but with added feedback
(2) Test: 10 block of 40 trials each
Balanced Design per each block:
2 distractor types (negative vs. neutral) x 2 target categories (cars vs. chairs) x 2 distractor positions (5 or 7) x 5 target lags (-2,-1,1,2,8)
=> 40 trials per block, tested within participants (order of trials randomly determined)
=> 400 trials per test with 10 repetitions of each cell
•Distractor Sampling*
-the itemnumbers of the respective distractor images (per each category) are randomly selected without replacement
-the selection resets after all listed distractors in a category have been run
- the number of distractor images provided under item.distractors1/item.distractors2 determine how often a
distractor image could be repeated over all test trials
•Target Sampling*
-the itemnumbers of the respective target images (per selected target condition) are randomly selected without replacement
-the selection resets after all listed targets in a category have been run
- the number of target images provided under item.targets1/item.targets2 determine how often a
target image could be repeated over all test trials
•Trial Sequence*
-fixation cross trial: press spacebar to start next sequence (posttrialpause of 100ms)
-Image Sequence: 23 images presented at SOA= 100ms (see Editable Parameters)
- 1 Distractor
- 1 Target
- 21 Filler images
- response recorded during the 2300 duration of the presentation time
- Perceptual Awareness Trial until response
provided by Millisecond - can be edited can be edited in
script emotionalattentionalblink_stims_inc.iqjs
distractor1-category: spiders
distractor2-category: roses
target1-category: cars
target2-category: chairs
filler images: landscape and city images
NOTES:
(1) the images are only provided as PLACEHOLDERS
(2) these placeholder images were downloaded from https://pixabay.com/
License: Free to use under the Content License - No attribution required
provided by Millisecond - can be edited in script emotionalattentionalblink_instructions_inc.iqjs
The instructions are modelled on an eprime script running the task that was provided Millisecond
File Name: emotionalattentionalblink_summary*.iqdat
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| 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 |
| propCorrect | Overall proportion correct responses (based on based on adjAcc - no outliers removed) |
| propCorrectIV11 | Proportion correct responses for Distractor Condition 1 (here: Spiders standing in for 'Negative' emotional stimuli) |
| propCorrectIV12 | Proportion correct responses for Distractor Condition 2 (here: Roses standing in for 'Neutral' emotional stimuli) |
| propCorrectIV21 | Proportion correct responses for Target Lag Condition 1 (here: -2) |
| propCorrectIV22 | Proportion correct responses for Target Lag Condition 2 (here: -1) |
| propCorrectIV23 | Proportion correct responses for Target Lag Condition 3 (here: 1) |
| propCorrectIV24 | Proportion correct responses for Target Lag Condition 4 (here: 2) |
| propCorrectIV25 | Proportion correct responses for Target Lag Condition 1 (here: 8) |
| propCorrectIV11IV21 | Proportion correct responses for trials that presented a Negative stim (here: spider) as a distractor and a target with lag -2 |
| propCorrectIV11IV22 | Proportion correct responses for trials that presented a Negative stim (here: spider) as a distractor and a target with lag -1 |
| propCorrectIV11IV23 | Proportion correct responses for trials that presented a Negative stim (here: spider) as a distractor and a target with lag 1 |
| propCorrectIV11IV24 | Proportion correct responses for trials that presented a Negative stim (here: spider) as a distractor and a target with lag 2 |
| propCorrectIV11IV25 | Proportion correct responses for trials that presented a Negative stim (here: spider) as a distractor and a target with lag 8 |
| propCorrectIV12IV21 | Proportion correct responses for trials that presented a Neutral stim (here: rose) as a distractor and a target with lag -2 |
| propCorrectIV12IV22 | Proportion correct responses for trials that presented a Neutral stim (here: rose) as a distractor and a target with lag -1 |
| propCorrectIV12IV23 | Proportion correct responses for trials that presented a Neutral stim (here: rose) as a distractor and a target with lag 1 |
| propCorrectIV12IV24 | Proportion correct responses for trials that presented a Neutral stim (here: rose) as a distractor and a target with lag 2 |
| propCorrectIV12IV25 | Proportion correct responses for trials that presented a Neutral stim (here: rose) as a distractor and a target with lag 8 |
| meanCorrRT | Overall response time (in ms) for correctly classifying the presented target |
| meanCorrRTIV11 | Response time (in ms) for correctly classifying the presented target with Negative distractors (here: spider) |
| meanCorrRTIV12 | Response time (in ms) for correctly classifying the presented target with Neutral distractors (here: roses) |
| meanCorrRTIV21 | Response time (in ms) for correctly classifying the presented target with lag -2 |
| meanCorrRTIV22 | Response time (in ms) for correctly classifying the presented target with lag -1 |
| meanCorrRTIV23 | Response time (in ms) for correctly classifying the presented target with lag 1 |
| meanCorrRTIV24 | Response time (in ms) for correctly classifying the presented target with lag 2 |
| meanCorrRTIV25 | Response time (in ms) for correctly classifying the presented target with lag 8 |
| meanCorrRTIV11IV21 | Response time (in ms) for correctly classifying the presented target with Negative (spiders) distractors and lag -2 |
| sdIV11IV21 | Standard deviation (in ms) for response times for correctly classifying the presented target with Negative (spiders) distractors and lag -2 |
| meanCorrRTIV11IV22 | Response time (in ms) for correctly classifying the presented target with Negative (spiders) distractors and lag -1 |
| sdIV11IV22 | Standard deviation (in ms) for response times for correctly classifying the presented target with Negative (spiders) distractors and lag -1 |
| meanCorrRTIV11IV23 | Response time (in ms) for correctly classifying the presented target with Negative (spiders) distractors and lag 1 |
| sdIV11IV23 | Standard deviation (in ms) for response times for correctly classifying the presented target with Negative (spiders) distractors and lag 1 |
| meanCorrRTIV11IV24 | Response time (in ms) for correctly classifying the presented target with Negative (spiders) distractors and lag 2 |
| sdIV11IV24 | Standard deviation (in ms) for response times for correctly classifying the presented target with Negative (spiders) distractors and lag 2 |
| meanCorrRTIV11IV25 | Response time (in ms) for correctly classifying the presented target with Negative (spiders) distractors and lag 8 |
| sdIV11IV25 | Standard deviation (in ms) for response times for correctly classifying the presented target with Negative (spiders) distractors and lag 8 |
| meanCorrRTIV12IV21 | Response time (in ms) for correctly classifying the presented target with Neutral (roses) distractors and lag -2 |
| sdIV12IV21 | Standard deviation (in ms) for response times for correctly classifying the presented target with Neutral (roses) distractors and lag -2 |
| meanCorrRTIV12IV22 | Response time (in ms) for correctly classifying the presented target with Neutral (roses) distractors and lag -1 |
| sdIV12IV22 | Standard deviation (in ms) for response times for correctly classifying the presented target with Neutral (roses) distractors and lag -1 |
| meanCorrRTIV12IV23 | Response time (in ms) for correctly classifying the presented target with Neutral (roses) distractors and lag 1 |
| sdIV12IV23 | Standard deviation (in ms) for response times for correctly classifying the presented target with Neutral (roses) distractors and lag 1 |
| meanCorrRTIV12IV24 | Response time (in ms) for correctly classifying the presented target with Neutral (roses) distractors and lag 2 |
| sdIV12IV24 | Standard deviation (in ms) for response times for correctly classifying the presented target with Neutral (roses) distractors and lag 2 |
| meanCorrRTIV12IV25 | Response time (in ms) for correctly classifying the presented target with Neutral (roses) distractors and lag 8 |
| sdIV12IV25 | Standard deviation (in ms) for response times for correctly classifying the presented target with Neutral (roses) distractors and lag 8 |
| trMeanCorrRT | Overall response time (in ms) for correctly classifying the presented target (tr= trimmed; OUTLIERS REMOVED) |
| trMeanCorrRTIV11 | Response time (in ms) for correctly classifying the presented target with Negative distractors (here: spider) |
| trMeanCorrRTIV12 | Response time (in ms) for correctly classifying the presented target with Neutral distractors (here: roses) |
| trMeanCorrRTIV21 | Response time (in ms) for correctly classifying the presented target with lag -2 |
| trMeanCorrRTIV22 | Response time (in ms) for correctly classifying the presented target with lag -1 |
| trMeanCorrRTIV23 | Response time (in ms) for correctly classifying the presented target with lag 1 |
| trMeanCorrRTIV24 | Response time (in ms) for correctly classifying the presented target with lag 2 |
| trMeanCorrRTIV25 | Response time (in ms) for correctly classifying the presented target with lag 8 |
| trMeanCorrRTIV11IV21 | Response time (in ms) for correctly classifying the presented target with Negative (spiders) distractors and lag -2 |
| trSDIV11IV21 | Standard deviation (in ms) for response times for correctly classifying the presented target with Negative (spiders) distractors and lag -2 |
| trMeanCorrRTIV11IV22 | Response time (in ms) for correctly classifying the presented target with Negative (spiders) distractors and lag -1 |
| trSDIV11IV22 | Standard deviation (in ms) for response times for correctly classifying the presented target with Negative (spiders) distractors and lag -1 |
| trMeanCorrRTIV11IV23 | Response time (in ms) for correctly classifying the presented target with Negative (spiders) distractors and lag 1 |
| trSDIV11IV23 | Standard deviation (in ms) for response times for correctly classifying the presented target with Negative (spiders) distractors and lag 1 |
| trMeanCorrRTIV11IV24 | Response time (in ms) for correctly classifying the presented target with Negative (spiders) distractors and lag 2 |
| trSDIV11IV24 | Standard deviation (in ms) for response times for correctly classifying the presented target with Negative (spiders) distractors and lag 2 |
| trMeanCorrRTIV11IV25 | Response time (in ms) for correctly classifying the presented target with Negative (spiders) distractors and lag 8 |
| trSDIV11IV25 | Standard deviation (in ms) for response times for correctly classifying the presented target with Negative (spiders) distractors and lag 8 |
| trMeanCorrRTIV12IV21 | Response time (in ms) for correctly classifying the presented target with Neutral (roses) distractors and lag -2 |
| trSDIV12IV21 | Standard deviation (in ms) for response times for correctly classifying the presented target with Neutral (roses) distractors and lag -2 |
| trMeanCorrRTIV12IV22 | Response time (in ms) for correctly classifying the presented target with Neutral (roses) distractors and lag -1 |
| trSDIV12IV22 | Standard deviation (in ms) for response times for correctly classifying the presented target with Neutral (roses) distractors and lag -1 |
| trMeanCorrRTIV12IV23 | Response time (in ms) for correctly classifying the presented target with Neutral (roses) distractors and lag 1 |
| trSDIV12IV23 | Standard deviation (in ms) for response times for correctly classifying the presented target with Neutral (roses) distractors and lag 1 |
| trMeanCorrRTIV12IV24 | Response time (in ms) for correctly classifying the presented target with Neutral (roses) distractors and lag 2 |
| trSDIV12IV24 | Standard deviation (in ms) for response times for correctly classifying the presented target with Neutral (roses) distractors and lag 2 |
| trMeanCorrRTIV12IV25 | Response time (in ms) for correctly classifying the presented target with Neutral (roses) distractors and lag 8 |
| trSDIV12IV25 | Standard deviation (in ms) for response times for correctly classifying the presented target with Neutral (roses) distractors and lag 8 |
| numberRemovedIV11IV21 | Number of data points removed in condition: Negative (spiders) distractors and lag -2 |
| numberRemovedIV11IV22 | Number of data points removed in condition: Negative (spiders) distractors and lag -1 |
| numberRemovedIV11IV23 | Number of data points removed in condition: Negative (spiders) distractors and lag 1 |
| numberRemovedIV11IV24 | Number of data points removed in condition: Negative (spiders) distractors and lag 2 |
| numberRemovedIV11IV25 | Number of data points removed in condition: Negative (spiders) distractors and lag 8 |
| numberRemovedIV12IV21 | Number of data points removed in condition: Neutral (roses) distractors and lag -2 |
| numberRemovedIV12IV22 | Number of data points removed in condition: Neutral (roses) distractors and lag -1 |
| numberRemovedIV12IV23 | Number of data points removed in condition: Neutral (roses) distractors and lag 1 |
| numberRemovedIV12IV24 | Number of data points removed in condition: Neutral (roses) distractors and lag 2 |
| numberRemovedIV12IV25 | Number of data points removed in condition: Neutral (roses) distractors and lag 8 |
File Name: emotionalattentionalblink_raw*.iqdat
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| 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. |
| blockCounter | Counts the number of blocks run in each phase |
| trialCounterPerBlock | Counts the number of trials run in each block |
| distractorCondition | 1 = spiders ('negative'); 2 = roses ('neutral') |
| targetCondition | 1 = car; 2 = chair |
| dPosition | Sequence position the distractor is presented in: 5 or 7 |
| tLag | The current Target lag (Lag: how many trials the target is presented after the distractor) -2: two trials BEFORE the distractor (one image in between) - 1: one trial BEFORE distractor (directly precedes distractor) 1: one trial AFTER distractor (directly follows distractor) 2: two trials AFTER distractor (one image in between) 8: eight trials AFTER distractor (seven images in between) |
| tPosition | The sequence position the target is presented in |
| dOnsetMS | The calculated onsettime (in ms) of the distractor |
| tOnsetMS | The calculated onsettime (in ms) of the target |
| corrResponse | The correct key to press for the current trial (scancode) |
| response | The response of participant (SCANCODE of response button) in the current trial trial.imageSequence 203: left arrow 205: right arrow trial.perceptualAwareness: IMPORTANT!!! scancodes of numbers are confusing (column responseText stores the actual response key pressed) 2: participant pressed key "1" (see column responseText) 3: participant pressed key "2" (see column responseText) 4: participant pressed key "3" (see column responseText) 5: participant pressed key "4" (see column responseText) |
| responseText | Stores the label of the response key pressed (as opposed to its scancode) |
| correct | Correctness of response in the current trial trial.imageSequence 1 = correct response key was pressed (regardless of when in the sequence) 0 = anything else |
| latency | Response latency (in ms); measured from onset of trial |
| rt | The difference in ms 'latency - actual target onsettime => response time (in ms) measured from onset of target => neg: response was made before target was presented => pos: response was made after target was presented custom latency variable-calculated in trial.imageSequence |
| validRT | 0 = the response time (if any) is not valid (either no response, response made before target, or response is anticipatory) 1 = response is valid: response was made after targetonset AND not within anticipatoryRT range (here: 200ms) |
| adjAcc | The adjusted accuracy of the given response depending on values.RT trial.imageSequence 1 = correct response key was pressed for the current target (correct classification) AND response key was pressed 200ms+ AFTER targetonset (response is not considered anticipatory) 0 = anything else |
| distractorIndex | The selected distractor itemnumber -> see item.distractors1/distractors2 (used for debugging purposes) |
| targetIndex | The selected target itemnumber -> see item.targets1/targets2 |
| filler1Index | The selected filler itemnumber1 -> see item.fillers |
| filler2Index | The selected filler itemnumber2 -> see item.fillers |
| filler3Index | The selected filler itemnumber3 -> see item.fillers |
| filler4Index | The selected filler itemnumber4 -> see item.fillers |
| filler5Index | The selected filler itemnumber5 -> see item.fillers |
| filler6Index | The selected filler itemnumber6 -> see item.fillers |
| filler7Index | The selected filler itemnumber7 -> see item.fillers |
| filler8Index | The selected filler itemnumber8 -> see item.fillers |
| filler9Index | The selected filler itemnumber9 -> see item.fillers |
| filler10Index | The selected filler itemnumber10 -> see item.fillers |
| filler11Index | The selected filler itemnumber11 -> see item.fillers |
| filler12Index | The selected filler itemnumber12 -> see item.fillers |
| filler13Index | The selected filler itemnumber13 -> see item.fillers |
| filler14Index | The selected filler itemnumber14 -> see item.fillers |
| filler15Index | The selected filler itemnumber15 -> see item.fillers |
| filler16Index | The selected filler itemnumber16 -> see item.fillers |
| filler17Index | The selected filler itemnumber17 -> see item.fillers |
| filler18Index | The selected filler itemnumber18 -> see item.fillers |
| filler19Index | The selected filler itemnumber19 -> see item.fillers |
| filler20Index | The selected filler itemnumber20 -> see item.fillers |
| filler21Index | The selected filler itemnumber21 -> see item.fillers |
| dOnsetMS | The calculated onsettime (in ms) of the distractor |
| tOnsetMS | The calculated onsettime (in ms) of the target |
| f1OnsetMS | The calculated onsettimes (in ms) of filler1 |
| f2OnsetMS | The calculated onsettimes (in ms) of filler2 |
| f3OnsetMS | The calculated onsettimes (in ms) of filler3 |
| f4OnsetMS | The calculated onsettimes (in ms) of filler4 |
| f5OnsetMS | The calculated onsettimes (in ms) of filler5 |
| f6OnsetMS | The calculated onsettimes (in ms) of filler6 |
| f7OnsetMS | The calculated onsettimes (in ms) of filler7 |
| f8OnsetMS | The calculated onsettimes (in ms) of filler8 |
| f9OnsetMS | The calculated onsettimes (in ms) of filler9 |
| f10OnsetMS | The calculated onsettimes (in ms) of filler10 |
| f11OnsetMS | The calculated onsettimes (in ms) of filler11 |
| f12OnsetMS | The calculated onsettimes (in ms) of filler12 |
| f13OnsetMS | The calculated onsettimes (in ms) of filler13 |
| f14OnsetMS | The calculated onsettimes (in ms) of filler14 |
| f15OnsetMS | The calculated onsettimes (in ms) of filler15 |
| f16OnsetMS | The calculated onsettimes (in ms) of filler16 |
| f17OnsetMS | The calculated onsettimes (in ms) of filler17 |
| f18OnsetMS | The calculated onsettimes (in ms) of filler18 |
| f19OnsetMS | The calculated onsettimes (in ms) of filler19 |
| f20OnsetMS | The calculated onsettimes (in ms) of filler20 |
| f21OnsetMS | The calculated onsettimes (in ms) of filler21 each of these 23 images should have an onsettime covering 0-2200ms; they will NOT be printed in order |
The procedure can be adjusted by setting the following parameters.
| Name | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|
Design |
||
| numberOfPracticeTrials | Specifies the number of target trials to run | 20 |
| numberTestBlocks | Specifies the number of test blocks run this script runs a completely balanced design. The number of trials per block are calculated by expressions.numberOfTestTrials_perblock below | 10 |
| numberOfImagesPerSequence | The total number of images per 'blink' sequence one image is the critical distractor (D) - neutral vs. emotional distractor image one image is the critical target (T) the remaining images (here: 21) are regular filler images (F) IMPORTANT: the MAX number of images that the default implementation of this script can handle is 25 | 23 |
| runPerceptualAwarenessQuestion | True = this script runs a perceptual awareness question regarding the target after a positive (correct or incorrect) response false = this script does NOT a perceptual awareness question regarding the target | true |
Timing Parameters |
||
| soaMS | The stimulus onset asynchrony (in ms) for each image in the sequence 100ms translates to 6 vertical refreshframes on a 60Hz monitor | 100 |
| feedbackDurationMS | The feedback duration in ms (feedback during practice only) | 1000 |
| anticipatoryRTMS | Any response times faster than parameters.anticipatoryRTMS are considered anticipatory and not considered valid responses (can easily be turned off by setting this parameter to 0) | 200 |
Sizing Parameters |
||
| fixationHeightPct | Relative height of the fixation cross in % (relative to active canvas) | 8% |
| imageHeightPct | Regulates the size of the images | 50% |
Responsekeys |
||
| leftResponseKeyScanCode | The left response key (here: left arrow to indicate cars) | 203 |
| rightResponseKeyScanCode | The right response key (here: right arrow to indicate chairs) | 205 |