COGDRAS - Immediate Word Recognition

Technical Manual

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

Created: January 01, 2020

Last Modified: January 10, 2025 by K. Borchert (katjab@millisecond.com), Millisecond

Script Copyright © Millisecond Software, LLC

Background

This script implements a procedure to test Immediate Word Recognition. Immediate Word Recognition is a subset of the Cognitive Drug Research Computerized Assessment System (COGDRAS).

References

THE EVALUATION OF EARLY DEMENTIA. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF GERIATRIC PSYCHIATRY, VOL. 10: 199-206.

Duration

3 minutes

Description

Participants view a list of 12 words, each presented for 3seconds. Afterwards they are given 24 words (12 old, 12 new) and are asked to press a dedicated YES-key for words previously seen and press a dedicated NO-key for new words.

Procedure

(1) Learning:
- 12 words are presented one-by-one in the middle of the screen; each is presented for 3s (editable parameter)

(2) Recognition Test
- 12 target words (from learning) and 12 foil (=new)) words are presented, one-by-one in the middle of the screen;
order is randomly determined
- participant respond by pressing 'Q' for yes (it's a target) or 'P' for no (it's a foil/not a target)

Stimuli

provided by Millisecond - can be edited under section Editable Stimuli

The current words provided in this script were taken from:
McEvoy, C. L., & Nelson, D. L. (1982). Category name and instance norms for 106 categories of various sizes.
American Journal of Psychology, 95, 581-634.
Nairne, J. S. (1990). A feature model of immediate memory. Memory and Cognition, 18, 251-269.

Each of the 24 words come from a different category.
The words can easily be exchanged for others.

Instructions

provided by Millisecond - can be edited under section Editable Instructions

Summary Data

File Name: immediatewordrecognition_cogdras_summary*.iqdat

Data Fields

NameDescription
inquisit.version Inquisit version number
computer.platform Device platform: win | mac |ios | android
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
irecAcc Proportion correct recognition (across target and foil words) in Immediate Word Recognition Test
irecRT Mean response time (in ms) of correct responses (across target and foil words)
during recognition phase in Immediate Word Recognition Test
irecHitRT Mean response time (in ms) of correct responses for target words only
rHit The hitrate (proportion correct responses for target words => participant said 'yes' to target words)
rFA The false alarm rate (proportion of incorrect responses for foil words => participants said 'yes' to foil words)
irecAPrime Non-parametric measure of sensitivity in Immediate Word Recognition Test
Range: 0 (all incorrect responses) - 0.5 (random responses) - 1 (all correct responses)
For Aprime measure see
Stanislaw, H. & Todorov, N. (1999). Calculation of signal detection theory measures.
Behavior Research Methods, Instruments, & Computers, 1999, 31 (1), 137-149.
Nicholl et al (1995) used the non-parametric signal theory index
(SI) presented by Frey and Colliver (1973) with a range of -1 (all incorrect) to 1 (all correct)

Raw Data

File Name: immediatewordrecognition_cogdras_raw*.iqdat

Data Fields

NameDescription
build Inquisit version number
computer.platform Device platform: win | mac |ios | android
date Date the session was run
time Time the session was run
subject Participant ID
group Group number
session Session number
blockCode Name of the current block
blockNum Number of the current block
trialCode Name of the current trial
trialNum Number of the current trial
stimulusitem The presented words
response The participant's response (scancode of response buttons)
16 = Q
25 = P
57 = spacebar
responseLabel "yes" vs. "no"
responseCategory "Hit" (pressed yes-key for a target word)
"Miss" (pressed no-key for a target word) = omission error
"CR" (pressed no-key for a foil word) = correct rejection
"FA" (pressed yes-key for a foil word) = commission error
correct Accuracy of response: 1 = correct response; 0 = otherwise
latency The response latency (in ms); measured from: onset of words

Parameters

The procedure can be adjusted by setting the following parameters.

NameDescriptionDefault
Stimsize
stimSize The proportional sizing of the words 10%
Duration Parameters
firstStimDelay The delay (in ms) of the first stim after pressing spacebar to start1000
stimPresentationDuration The presentation duration (in ms) of each word 3000
isi The interstimulus interval (in ms) 0
Response Keys
leftKey The left response key (here: Q)"Q"
rightKey The right response key (here: P)"P"
yesKey The assignment of left/right key to the yesKey (here Q); left keys will appear on the left on touch screensparameters.leftKey
noKey The assignment of left/right key to the noKey (here P); right keys will appear on the right on touch screensparameters.rightKey