Food Go/No Go Task

Technical Manual

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

Credits:
Millisecond thanks Dr. John Gunstad for his help with this script!

Created: January 21, 2017

Last Modified: January 04, 2025 by K. Borchert (katjab@millisecond.com), Millisecond

Script Copyright © Millisecond Software, LLC

Background

Go/Nogo Tasks are used as behavioral measures of inhibition and cognitive control. The Food Go/No Tasks (Teslovich et al, 2014) leverages this paradigm to investigate cognitive control in the context of food.

References

Food Gonogo:
Teslovich, T. et al (2014). Probing behavioral responses to food: Development of a foodspecific go/no-go task. Psychiatry Res, 30, 219(1): 166–170.

E-prime script available at: https://fablab.yale.edu/page/assays-tools

Z-Score Adjustments:
Gregg, A. & Sedikides, C. (2010). Narcissistic Fragility: Rethinking Its Links to Explicit and Implicit Self-esteem, Self and Identity, 9:2, 142-161 (p.148)

Duration

20 minutes

Description

Participants are presented a sequence of images. Some of these images depict food, others depict toys.

Go-Nogo task: general task is to press the spacebar as soon as possible whenever an stimuli of the Go category (e.g. food images) is presented and refrain from responding whenever a stimuli of the NoGo category (e.g. toys) is presented.

In this script, participants work through 4 conditions: (1) high-calorie food “go” with toy “no-go” (2) low-calorie food “go” with toy “no-go” (3) toy “go” with high-calorie food “no-go” (4) toy “go” with low-calorie food “no-go” Each condition runs ~75% go trials (35) and ~25% (13) nogo trials.

Procedure

Practice:
~3min practice session with a) Food (high and low calorie) Go / Toy Nogo and b) Food Nogo / Toys Go
Total practice trials: 22; trial/stimuli order fixed (see https://fablab.yale.edu/page/assays-tools)

Test:
4 conditions tested:
(1) high-calorie food “go” with toy “no-go” (block.highGO, 48 trials: 35 go trials, 13 nogo trials)
(2) low-calorie food “go” with toy “no-go”, (block.lowGO)
(3) toy “go” with high-calorie food “no-go”, (block.highNOGO)
(4) toy “go” with low-calorie food “no-go”, (block.lowNOGO)

tested within participants in a blocked format. The order of the 4 conditions were counterbalanced
by groupnumbers (4 orders, see section EXPERIMENT).
Each block runs 35 go trials and 13 nogo trials (= 4 x 48 test trials = 192 test trials total)
By default all blocks run trials/stimuli in a fixed order. Orders taken from:
https://fablab.yale.edu/page/assays-tools

To run the trials/stimuli in random order, go to section Editable Lists and follow further instructions.

Trial Sequence:
Fixation Cross (ITI duration: either fixed or random*) -> Target Image (500ms) -> Fixation Cross until response or up to 2000ms (End of Trial)

• if parameters.runRandomITI is set to false, a fixed ITI is run. Default is: 2500ms (can be set under section Editable Parameters).
Random ITIs are controlled by list.intertrialIntervals under section Editable Lists.
Each Block Starts With A Trial That Presents The Fixation Cross In Red For 500Ms

Stimuli

Stimuli used provided by:
https://fablab.yale.edu/page/assays-tools

Instructions

instructions modelled after instructions used by:
https://fablab.yale.edu/page/assays-tools

all instructions can be edited under section Editable Instructions

Scoring

Outlier Removal
This script provides summary variables based on 'cleaned' latency data:
latencies that are more than 3 standard deviations away from the overall mean (expressions.meanRT)
are removed from the calculations.

Zscore Adjustments
zScore Adjustements of hit and false alarm (FA) rates are based on recommendations by Gregg & Sedikides (2010, p.148).
If the hit rate / FA rate is 0 => 0.005 is used instead
IF the hit rate / FA rate is 1.0 => 0.995 is used instead

Summary Data

File Name: foodgonogo_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
order The order in which the four test blocks were run
propCorrect Overall proportion correct across all trials
meanRT Mean correct reaction times across all GO trials
sd Standard deviation of correct reaction times in GO trials
maxRT Reaction time that is 3 standard deviations slower than the overall mean
minRT Reaction time that is 3 standard deviations faster than the overall mean
Food
hitRateFood Hit rate in food GO trials (across low and high calorie food)
omissionFood Miss rate in food GO trials (should have responded to food but did not)
commissionFood False alarm rate in food (across low and high calorie food) NOGO trials (should NOT have responded to food but did)
=> the higher the commission rate, the lower cognitive control in the face of food stimuli
(aka cannot refrain from responding)
corrRejectRateFood Correct rejection Rate in food NOGO trials (correctly suppressed response to food nogo trials)
meanRTFoodOrig Mean hit reaction time (in ms) in food GO trials (no outliers removed)
meanRTFoodCleaned Mean hit reaction time (in ms) in food GO trials (outliers removed)
hitRateHC Hit rate in high calorie (HC) food GO trials
omissionHC Miss rate in high calorie (HC) food GO trials (should have responded to food but did not)
commissionHC False alarm rate in high calorie (HC) food NOGO trials (should NOT have responded to food but did)
=> the higher the commission rate, the lower cognitive control in the face of food stimuli
(aka cannot refrain from responding)
corrRejectRateHC Correct rejection Rate in high calorie (HC) food NOGO trials (correctly suppressed response to food nogo trials)
meanRTHCOrig Mean hit reaction time (in ms) in high calorie (HC) food GO trials (no outliers removed)
meanRTHCCleaned Mean hit reaction time (in ms) in high calorie (HC) food GO trials (outliers removed)
hitRateLC Hit rate in low calorie (LC) food GO trials
omissionLC Miss rate in low calorie (LC) food GO trials (should have responded to food but did not)
commissionLC False alarm rate in low calorie (LC) food NOGO trials (should NOT have responded to food but did)
=> the higher the commission rate, the lower cognitive control in the face of food stimuli
(aka cannot refrain from responding)
corrRejectRateLC Correct rejection Rate in low calorie (LC) food NOGO trials (correctly suppressed response to food nogo trials)
meanRTLCOrig Mean hit reaction time (in ms) in low calorie (LC) food GO trials (no outliers removed)
meanRTLCCleaned Mean hit reaction time (in ms) in low calorie (LC) food GO trials (outliers removed)
Ctrl (Toys)
hitRateCtrl Hit rate in ctrl GO trials (across blocks when toys were paired with low calorie OR high calorie nogo trials)
omissionCtrl Miss rate in ctrl GO trials (should have responded to toys but did not)
commissionCtrl False alarm rate in ctrl NOGO trials (should NOT have responded to toys but did)
corrRejectRateCtrl Correct rejection Rate in ctrl NOGO trials (correctly suppressed response to toys nogo trials)
meanRTCtrlOrig Mean hit reaction time (in ms) in ctrl GO trials (no outliers removed)
meanRTCtrlCleaned Mean hit reaction time (in ms) in ctrl GO trials (outliers removed)
hitRateCtrlHC Hit rate in ctrl GO trials paired with nogo HC food
omissionCtrlHC Miss rate in ctrl GO trials paired with nogo HC food (should have responded to toys but did not)
commissionCtrlHC False alarm rate in ctrl NOGO trials (should NOT have responded to toys but did)
corrRejectRateCtrlHC Correct rejection Rate in ctrl NOGO trials (correctly suppressed response to toys nogo trials)
meanRTCtrlHCOrig Mean hit reaction time (in ms) in ctrl GO trials paired with nogo HC food (no outliers removed)
meanRTCtrlHCCleaned Mean hit reaction time (in ms) in ctrl GO trials paired with nogo HC food (outliers removed)
hitRateCtrlLC Hit rate in ctrl GO trials paired with nogo LC food
omissionCtrlLC Miss rate in ctrl GO trials paired with nogo LC food (should have responded to toys but did not)
commissionCtrlLC False alarm rate in ctrl NOGO trials (should NOT have responded to toys but did)
corrRejectRateCtrlLC Correct rejection Rate in ctrl NOGO trials (correctly suppressed response to toys nogo trials)
meanRTCtrlLCOrig Mean hit reaction time (in ms) in ctrl GO trials paired with nogo LC food (no outliers removed)
meanRTCtrlLCCleaned Mean hit reaction time (in ms) in ctrl GO trials paired with nogo LC food (outliers removed)
Signal Detection Measures
zHitRateHC Z-value of the hit rate with signal = HCfood and noise = toys
zFARateHC Z-value of the false alarm rate with signal = HCfood and noise = toys
dPrimeHC Computes d' (parametric measure of discriminability btw. signals and noise)
=> Range (in this script)
-5.1516586840152740479 <= dprime <= 5.1516586840152740479 (=perfect performance)
=> The higher the value, the better signals (HC food stims) were distinguished from noise (toys)
(d' = 0: chance performance; negative d-primes: participant treated nontargets as targets and targets as nontargets)
cHC C-criterion in signal detection:The absolute value of c provides an indication of the strength of
the response bias/response style
negative: participant more likely to report that signal (HC food stims) is present (liberal response style)
may favor faster responding in speed-accuracy trade-off response paradigms
positive: favoring caution (conservative response style)
zHitRateLC Z-value of the hit rate with signal = LCfood and noise = toys
zFARateLC Z-value of the false alarm rate with signal = LCfood and noise = toys
dPrimeLC Computes d' (parametric measure of discriminability btw. signals and noise)
cLC C-criterion
zHitRateCtrlHC Z-value of the hit rate with signal = toys and noise = HCfood
zFARateCtrlHC Z-value of the false alarm rate with signal = toys and noise = HCfood
dPrimeCtrlHC Computes d' (parametric measure of discriminability btw. signals and noise)
cCtrlHC C-criterion
zHitRateCtrlLC Z-value of the hit rate with signal = toys and noise = LCfood
zFARateCtrlLC Z-value of the false alarm rate with signal = toys and noise = LCfood
dPrimeCtrlLC Computes d' (parametric measure of discriminability btw. signals and noise)
cCtrlLC C-criterion

Raw Data

File Name: foodgonogo_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.
order The order in which the four test blocks were run
calorieType "high" vs. "low" vs. "ctrl"
goType "go" vs. "nogo"
iti Current intertrial interval in ms
stim Stores the currently presented target picture
response The participant's response (scancode of response button)
Spacebar: 57
no response: 0
correct The correctness of the response (1 = correct; 0 = otherwise)
latency The response latency (in ms); measured from onset of image until response is registered

Parameters

The procedure can be adjusted by setting the following parameters.

NameDescriptionDefault
Stim Sizing
fixationSize The size of the fixation cross in proportion to canvas height8%
picSize The proportional size of the pictures60%
Duration Parameter
pictureDuration The duration (in ms) that the images are on screen500
rw The duration (in ms) of the response window; measured from onset of target image2500
runRandomITI True (1): a random ITI is selected from list.intertrialIntervals
false (2): a fixed ITI is selected (see parameters.fixedITI)
true
fixedITI The fixed intertrial interval (in ms) if parameters.runRandomITI = false2500
Responsekey
responseKey Go-responsekey scancode (" " -> spacebar)" "