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CHILD FLANKER TEST
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Script Author: Katja Borchert, Ph.D. (katjab@millisecond.com) for Millisecond Software, LLC
Date: 02-25-2014
last updated: 02-14-2025 by K. Borchert (katjab@millisecond.com) for Millisecond Software, LLC
Script Copyright © 02-14-2025 Millisecond Software
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BACKGROUND INFO
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This script implements a basic child-friendly Flanker Test,
an inhibition test assessing a person's ability to suppress a dominant motor response.
The implemented procedure is based on:
Christ, S.E., Kester, L.E., Bodner, K.E. & Miles, J.H. (2011). Evidence for Selective Inhibitory Impairment in Individuals
With Autism Spectrum Disorder. Neuropsychology, 25, 690–701.
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TASK DESCRIPTION
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Participants are presented 5 fish in one row and are instructed to pay attention to the center fish (target).
If the center fish looks to the right, participants are instructed to press a specific response key.
If the center fish looks to the left, participants are instructed to press a different response key.
The fish flanking the middle fish (the flankers) can either look in the same (compatible) or the
opposite direction (incompatible) than the target/center fish (Note: all flanker fish look in the same direction).
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DURATION
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the default set-up of the script takes appr. 8 minutes to complete
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DATA OUTPUT DICTIONARY
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The fields in the data files are:
(1) Raw data file: 'childflankerfish_raw*.iqdat'
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.
trialType: 1 = congruent, target fish to the right
2 = incongruent, target fish to the right
3 = congruent, target fish to the left
4 = incongruent, target fish to the left
congruence: stores the congruence of the target and flankers (congruent vs incongruent)
targetDirection: stores the direction of the target fish (targetleft vs targetright)
stimulusItem.1-
stimulusItem.4: the presented stimuli in order of trial presentation
response: the participant's response (scancode)
30 = A = left
38 = L = right
responseCategory: stores the response category depending on latency and response key used
("anticipatory", "valid", "too slow", "wrong response")
correct: the correctness of the response
(1 = correct; 0 = otherwise)
Note: a response can be correct BUT not valid (if latency is too fast or too slow)
latency: the response latency in ms
list.acc.mean: proportion correct and valid responses in the current block
(2) Summary data file: 'childflankerfish_summary*.iqdat'
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)
practice1Acc: proportion correct and valid practice 1 responses
practice2Acc: proportion correct and valid practice 2 responses
percentErrors: overall %errors across all test trials (error = any response that was not categorized as valid-correct)
meanRT: mean latency (in ms) of all correct-valid responses
percentErrorsC: %errors across congruent test trials (error = any response that was not categorized as valid-correct)
meanrtC: mean latency (in ms) of all correct-valid responses to congruent trials
percentErrorsIc: %errors across incongruent test trials (error = any response that was not categorized as valid-correct)
meanrtIc: mean latency (in ms) of all correct-valid responses to incongruent trials
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EXPERIMENTAL SET-UP
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2 congruence (congruent vs incongruent) x 2 target directions (right vs left) tested within participants
1. Practice Block: 12 trials with only targets (6 left, 6 right, randomly sampled)
2. Practice Block: 12 trials with targets and flankers (3 congruent_left, 3 congruent_right, 3 incongruent_right, 3 incongruent_left,
randomly sampled)
3. Test Block: 60 trials with targets and flankers (all 4 conditions equally often, randomly sampled)
=> number of trials can be edited under EDITABLE CODE -> Editable Values
Trial Sequence:
1. trial.flanker: trialduration max. 3000ms (default, editable)
-> trial terminates immediately after a given response or after max trialduration.
!!Note: to adjust the size of the 5 fish on your monitor, go to EDITABLE CODE -> Editable Values and edit
parameters.fishSize and/or parameters.flankerdistance
2. (trial.feedbackStims): if errors occurred; error trialduration editable
Errors:
a) Anticipatory response: responses faster than parameters.anticipatoryresponselatency (default: 200ms, editable value)
b) Too slow: no response occuring before parameters.max_trialduration (default: 3000ms = max trialduration of trial.flanker, editable value)
c) Wrong Response: incorrect response key was pressed
Error feedback is presented in a visual (text that specifies the specific error) and auditory form (sound file).
3. trial.iti: trialduration 1500ms (default, editable)
4. (trial.rest): if number of trials indicate that a rest trial should be presented (default: after 40 trials, editable)
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STIMULI
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Fish stimuli are used from the ChildANT.iqjs script (the fish were originally downloaded from:
http://www.sacklerinstitute.org/cornell/assays_and_tools/)
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INSTRUCTIONS
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Instructions are not original. They can easily be edited under EDITABLE CODE -> Editable Instructions
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EDITABLE CODE
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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:
responseKeys:
/responseKeyTargetRight: the response key for target fish that look to the right (default: "A")
/responseKeyTargetLeft: the response key for target fish that look to the left (default: "L")
Fish presentation:
/fishSize: determines the size/height in screen height % of the individual fish pictures (default: 10%)
/flankerDistance: determines the distance in screen width % between flankers (default: 10%)
Note: change these parameters to optimize the fish presentation on your screen
/feedbackStimsHeight: determines the height of the feedback text in screen height (default: 5%)
trialNumbers:
/numberofPracticeTrials: determines the number of practice trials in each practice blocks (default: 12)
Notes: Christ et al (2011) ran 20 practice trials per practice session
/numberofTrials: determines the number of test trials (default: 60)
Notes:
1) list.trialtype controls the distribution of congruent/incongruent trials
by default, the same number of congruent right, incongruent right, congruent left, incongruent left
trials are run.
2) Christ et al (2011) ran 120 trials
/restTrial: determines the number of trials after which a rest trial is presented (default: 20)
Notes: Christ et al (2011) presented the breaks after 40 trials
trialDurations:
/maxTrialDuration: the maximum trial duration of the flanker presentation in ms (default: 3000ms)
/iti: the duration of the intertrial interval in ms- time between response and next presentation
OR time between offset of feedbackStims and next presentation (default: 1500ms)
/feedbackStimsDuration: duration of error feedback in ms (default: 1000ms)
/restDuration: duration of rest trial in ms(default: 60000ms)
/anticipatoryResponseLatency: all response latencies (in ms) lower than this value will be categorized as "anticipatory responses" (default: 200ms)
//Feedback:
/presentTestFeedback: 1 (true): performance feedback is presented during the test blocks
0 (false): no performance feedback is presented during the test blocks
