Auditory Verbal Learning Task with Immediate Verbal Recall - AVLT - Form 1

Technical Manual

Script Author: Katja Borchert, Ph.D. (katjab@millisecond.com), Millisecond

Created: January 17, 2022

Last Modified: January 26, 2025 by K. Borchert (katjab@millisecond.com), Millisecond

Script Copyright © Millisecond Software, LLC

Background

This script implements an Inquisit version of the Modified Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (ModRey) by Hale et al (2019). The ModRey is a test of episodic memory performance in non-clinical and pre-clinical populations. It differs from the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT) by increasing its difficulty. Specifically the authors a) increased the number of items for the target and distractor lists from from 15 to 20 b) decreased the number of learning trials from 5 to 3 c) added an additional free recall trial of distractor list d) added a source memory task

The original ModRey presents the words orally and collects oral responses. This Inquisit implementation presents the words orally and collects soundcaptures of the spoken recall responses. These soundcaptures have to be manually scored for accuracy. Recognition and Source Responses (part2) are collected via keyboard input.

!Note: Millisecond also offers an alternative implementation of the Modrey with written recall input and the option of oral and/or visual word presentation. Written recall in those scripts is captured via textboxes that are scored by the script automatically.

References

Hale C, Last BS, Meier IB, Yeung LK, Budge M, Sloan RP, Small SA, Brickman AM. The ModRey: An Episodic Memory Test for Nonclinical and Preclinical Populations. Assessment. 2019 Sep;26(6):1154-1161. doi: 10.1177/1073191117723113. Epub 2017 Aug 11. PMID: 28799411; PMCID: PMC5829025.

Duration

10 minutes

Description

Script Modrey_Part1.Iqjs:

(1) Learning Phase with Immediate Recall: Participants are presented a list of 20 verbal words (fixed sequence, list A), one at a time at a speed of 1 word per second. Once the list has finished, participants are asked to recall as many of the list words as they remember, in any order. The list learning/immediate recall task is repeated 2 more times.

(2) Introduction of Distractor List: Then participants are distracted with distractor list B (one time).

(3) Free Recall of List A: After listB, participants are asked to recall all words from list A (list A is not presented anymore)

------------------End of part1----------------------------------------

(4) Delay: 1.5h//

Script Modrey_Part2.Iqjs:

(5) Delayed recall of List A - participants work through through a delayed recall test of list A

(6) Delayed recall of List B - participants work through through a delayed recall test of list B

(7) Recognition Test (List A) - 66 trials -target words are list A words; -distractors are phonetically similar and list B words

(8) Source Test: List A and List B words are presented in fixed order and participant has to decide the words' source list (A or B)

Procedure

(I) 3 blocks: List Learning/Recall Task with list A (IR1-IR3)
- the words are presented with a 2s SOA (editable)
- the order of the words is predetermined and the same across all 3 blocks
- at the end, a recall prompt appears (self-paced)

(II) 1 block: List List Learning/Recall Task with list B (IR_listB)
- the words are presented with a 2s SOA
- the order of the words is predetermined and the same across all 3 blocks
- at the end, a recall prompt appears (self-paced)

(III) 1 block (after delay): Free Recall Task with list A (SDFR) after a short delay
- enter words into a textbox (self-paced)

Stimuli

uses the words of the ModRey (Hale et al, 2019)
(words were pronounced with Google Translate and saved as .wav files)

can be run with version1 stimuli (see modrey_items_form1.iqjs)
can be run with version2 stimuli (see modrey_items_form2.iqjs)

Instructions

are provided by Millisecond - see script "modrey_oralrecall_part1_instructions_inc.iqjs"

Summary Data

File Name: modrey_oralrecall_part1_summary*.iqdat

Data Fields

NameDescription
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
list Target list A
form Form 1
recallScoreIR Needs to be manually computed
recallScoreSDFR Needs to be manually computed
recallScoreIRListB Needs to be manually computed
ir1 Immediate Recall ACCURACYneeds to be manually computed
ir2 Immediate Recall ACCURACYneeds to be manually computed
ir3 Immediate Recall ACCURACYneeds to be manually computed

Raw Data

File Name: modrey_oralrecall_part1_raw*.iqdat

Data Fields

NameDescription
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.
list Target list A
form Form 1
countIR Counts the number of immediate recall trials run
countAllRecallRounds Counts the number of ALL (immediate + delayed) recall trials run
stimulusItem The presented stimuli in order of trial presentation
stimulusNumber The itemnumber of the presented stimuli in order of trial presentation
response The participant's response
soundcaptures are stored
latency The response latency (in ms); measured until 'continue' button is pressed

Parameters

The procedure can be adjusted by setting the following parameters.

NameDescriptionDefault
Timing Parameters
soa Stimulus onset asynchrony (in ms): the words are presented roughly 2s apart2000
sdfrDelayMS Short delay (in ms) of the SDFR free recall of list A60000
finishTrialDurationMS The current duration (in ms) of the finish Trial.60000