Script Author: Katja Borchert, Ph.D. (katjab@millisecond.com), Millisecond
Credits:
Millisecond thanks Dr. Desjardins for her collaboration on this script!
Created: January 03, 2014
Last Modified: January 30, 2025 by K. Borchert (katjab@millisecond.com), Millisecond
Script Copyright © Millisecond Software, LLC
This script implements an Auditory Selective Attention Paradigm based on Hume et al (2006).
Differences btw script and Humes et al: - script only tests selective attention - script uses one male and one female speaker only (target and comp phrase are always spoken by the opposite gender) - script only uses call signals as cues - script measures latency
Humes, L.E., Lee, J.H. & Coughlin, M.P. (2006). Auditory measures of selective and divided attention in young and older adults using single-talker competition. J. Acoust. Soc. Am., 120, 2926 - 2937.
Bolia, R.S, Nelson, W.T., Ericson, M.A. & Simpson, B.D. (2000). A speech corpus for multitalker communications research. J. Acoust. Soc. Am., 107, 1065 - 1066.
40 minutes
Participants are presented two phrases (target vs. competing phrase) that contain information about a specific call signal (e.g. "Charlie" vs. "Ringo") a color (blue, red, white, or green) and a digit (1-8) (e.g "Ready Charlie go to BLUE 8 now") and are asked to select (1) a color box (on the right) and (2) a digit box (on the left) on the computer screen that correspond to the information provided by the target phrase. Before presenting the two phrases, participants are told which call signal belongs to the target phrase.
2 Conditions: tested in blocked design (by default order is determined randomly)
• Dichotic Presentation: target and comp phrases are played through different ears (need earphones)
• Monaural Presentation: target and comp phrases are always played through the RIGHT ear (see Humes et al, 2006)
+ 1 practice block of 32 trials (only monaural, with errorfeedback)
512 phrases provided => 2 speakers (male vs female) x 8 call signals x 4 colors x 8 digits
Each condition runs 4 blocks (default, controlled by parameters.blockspercondition, editable parameter)
Each block runs 32 trials (default, controlled by parameters.numberoftrialsperblock, editable parameter) => 4 colors x 8 digit combinations
callsignal (3000ms) -> phrasepresentation (lasts until both sentences are done)-> color/digit selections -> iti
"Target Phrase" Selection:
Each color/digit combination (32) is run once per block; order is randomly determined (-> list.trialtype)
Each of the 8 call signals is used 4 times as the target signal; order is randomly determined (-> list.NTargetcallsignal)
Each of the 2 speakers is used 16 times as the target speaker; order is randomly determined (-> list.NTargetspeaker)
"Comp(eting) Phrase" Selection:
Hard Constraint: Comp phrases contain different call signals, different color and digit info, and are spoken by the opposite speaker
(-> list.NCompcallsignal, list.NCompcolor, list.NCompdigit, list.NCompspeaker)
Soft Constraint: As much as possible, each call signal, each color, each digit, and each speaker are used equally often in the comp sentences.
However: in rare cases the soft constraint may have to be violated to fulfill the hard constraint (go to LISTS for more info)
English Stimuli are taken from Bolia et al (2000): only speaker 3 (male) and speaker (6) are included in this script
=> 256 x 2 => 512 phrases
(Bolia et al recorded all 256 combinations of 8 call signals x 4 colors x 8 digits from 8 people -4 male/4female- = 2048 phrases)
Stimuli are listed in script auditoryselectiveattentiontask_instructions_inc.iqjs (They are language dependent)
Instructions are not original. They are presented in the form of html-pages.
To edit the provided instructions, edit the html pages directly.
See script auditoryselectiveattentiontask_instructions_inc.iqjs.
File Name: auditoryselectiveattentiontask_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 |
| percentCorrectDichotic | Stores the percent correct for Combined responses in Dichotic condition |
| meanrtDichotic | Stores the mean combined latency (in ms) of correct Combined responses for Dichotic condition |
| percentCorrectDichoticColor | Stores the percent correct for Dichotic Color responses |
| meanRTDichoticColor | Stores the mean correct Color response latency (in ms) for dichotic condition |
| percentCorrectDichoticDigit | Stores the percent correct for Dichotic Digit responses |
| meanRTDichoticDigit | Stores the mean correct Digit response latency (in ms) for dichotic condition as selecting the digit box is the second response this latency might be more comparable across participans as the start position of the mouse cursor at the beginning of the digit trial is similar for each trial (mouse cursor on left side of screen on one of the color boxes) |
| percentCorrectMonaural | Stores the percent correct for Combined responses in Monaural condition |
| meanrtMonaural | Stores the mean combined latency (in ms) of correct Combined responses for Monaural condition |
| percentCorrectMonauralColor | Stores the percent correct for Monaural Color responses |
| meanRTMonauralColor | Stores the mean correct Color response latency (in ms) for Monaural condition |
| percentCorrectMonauralDigit | Stores the percent correct for Monaural Digit responses |
| meanRTMonauralDigit | Stores the mean correct Digit response latency (in ms) for Monaural condition as selecting the digit box is the second response this latency might be more comparable across participans as the start position of the mouse cursor at the beginning of the digit trial is similar for each trial (mouse cursor on left side of screen on one of the color boxes) |
File Name: auditoryselectiveattentiontask_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. |
| earCondition | 1 = dichotic presentation of target and comp phrases 2 = monaural presentation of target and comp phrases |
| trialType | Stores the combination of color x digit run (11 = blue1 -> 18 = blue8; 21 = red1 -> 28 = red8; 31 = white1 -> 38 = white8; 41 = green1 -> 48 = green8) |
| countTrialsCondition | Counts all trialsequences per condition (resets after each condition is run) |
| countTrialsBlock | Counts all trialsequences per block (resets after each block) |
| targetear | 1 = target in right ear (depending on values.earcondition -> comp phrase in left ear) 2 = target in left ear (depending on values.earcondition -> comp phrase in right ear) monaural: only right ear |
| callSignal | Stores the actual name of the current call signal (not just the digit) |
| nTargetcallSignal | Charlie (1), ringo (2), laker (3), hopper (4), arrow (5), tiger (6), eagle (7), baron (8) |
| nTargetColor | Blue (1), Red (2), White (3), Green (4) |
| nTargetDigit | 1-8 |
| nTargetSpeaker | 1 = male (here: speaker 3 from Bolia et al, 2000) 2 = female (here: speaker 6 from Bolia et al, 2000) |
| keyTarget | Calculates the index to select the target phrase (= itemnumber of the current target phrase) |
| targetphrase | Stores the current target phrase sound file |
| nCompcallSignal | Charlie (1), ringo (2), laker (3), hopper (4), arrow (5), tiger (6), eagle (7), baron (8) |
| nCompColor | Blue (1), Red (2), White (3), Green (4) |
| nCompDigit | 1-8 |
| nCompSpeaker | 1 = male (here: speaker 3 from Bolia et al, 2000) 2 = female (here: speaker 6 from Bolia et al, 2000) |
| keyComp | Calculates the key to select the comp phrase (= itemnumber of the current comp phrase) |
| compphrase | Stores the selected comp phrase sound file comp phrase has to be different in call signal, speaker, color AND digit |
| responseColor | Stores the color response (the first box selected) |
| correctColor | Stores whether the correct color was selected (1 = correct; 0 = incorrect) |
| rtColor | The latency (in ms) of the color response (measured from: start of trial to clicking the color box) mouse cursor may not be necessarily in the same position for all participants mouse may have been moved. |
| responseDigit | Stores the digit response in ms (the second box selected) |
| correctDigit | Stores whether the correct digit was selected (1 = correct; 0 = incorrect) |
| rtDigit | The latency (in ms) of the digit response (measured from: click of color response box to click of digit box) |
| correctCombined | 0 = no response was correct; 1 = one response was correct; 2 = both responses were correct |
| rtCombined | Calculates the combined latency of selecting both response boxes in ms |
The procedure can be adjusted by setting the following parameters.
| Name | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|
| fontSizeCallSignal | The size/height of the callsign cue in % of canvas height | 10% |
| fontSizeOther | The size/height of other instructions in % of canvas height does not affect the coordinate response screen | 5% |
| callSignalDuration | The duration of the call sign cue in ms | 3000 |
| blocksperCondition | The number of blocks run per condition | 4 |
| numberofTrialsperBlock | The number of trials run per block 8 digits x 4 numbers = 32 => each digit/color combination is presented once in a block !!!If you change the numberoftrialsperblock, check LISTS -> list.trialtype and follow further instructions (if certain color x digit combos should be removed) !!!Depending on the chosen number of trials, messages might be posted under the message list in the Inquisit editor after the script is run informating the user that the poolSize attribute of several lists was adjusted. This should not impact the functioning of the script. !!!For trialnumbers 1-3, the lists under LISTS need to be edited by removing the /poolSize attribute completely from all the lists that use this attribute (otherwise adjustments are automatically made that might prevent the script from running). | 32 |
| conditionOrder | 1 = dichotic condition only 2 = monaural condition only 3 = random order of dichotic and monaural condition (default) the practice block will run for each of those conditions unless removed from the expt-element under section EXPERIMENT | 3 |