___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Cued Go / No-Go Task
(German instructions)
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
last updated: 03-10-2025 by K. Borchert (katjab@millisecond.com) for Millisecond Software, LLC
Script Copyright © 03-10-2025 Millisecond Software
Translation provided by K. Borchert for Millisecond Software
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
BACKGROUND INFO
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Go/Nogo Tasks are used as behavioral measures of inhibition and cognitive control.
This script implements a probability based cued Go / No-Go Task that presents
a) cues that predict go trials with a high probability ('go cue') and b) cues that predict nogo
trials with a high probability ('nogo cue').
In general, commission errors are of particular interest in all Go/Nogo tasks as a measure of cognitive
control. In cued Go/Nogo tasks, go-cues are thought to generate a response prepotency that
speed up correct responses in go-trials but add an additional difficulty to overcome in subsequent
nogo trials and therefore increase the likelihood of commission errors.
As a result, the cued go/nogo paradigm provides a sensitive measure of cognitive control.
The implemented procedure is based on:
Fillmore, M. T., Rush, C. R., & Hays, L. (2006). Acute effects of cocaine in two models of inhibitory control:
implications of non-linear dose effects. Addiction, 101, 1323–1332.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
TASK DESCRIPTION
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Participants are asked to press the Spacebar when they see a green rectangle (=go) but refrain from pressing the Spacebar
when they see a blue rectangle (=nogo). The blue and green rectangles can be vertical or horizontal. The
vertical rectangle has a high probability of being green (a go trial) and the horizontal rectangle has a high probability of
being blue (a nogo trial). Participants get information about the orientation of the rectangle (=cue) shortly before
the color of the rectangle is revealed.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
DURATION
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
the default set-up of the script takes appr. 10 minutes to complete
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
DATA OUTPUT DICTIONARY
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
The fields in the data files are:
(1) Raw data file: 'cuedgonogo_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.
trialCount: current trialCount
cueType: 1 = vertical cue (high probability of preceding a go-trial ~ a go cue)
2 = horizontal cue (high probability of preceding a nogo-trial ~ a nogo cue)
targetType: 1 = vertical go
2 = vertical nogo
3 = horizonal go
4 = horizonal nogo
targetCondition: 1 = go target
2 = nogo target
soa: current stimulus onset asynchrony
cuepic: the image file presented as the cue
targetpic: the image file presented as the target
response: response made (either 57 = Spacebar or "" for no response)
correct: the accuracy of response (1 = correct; 0 = error)
latency: the latency (in ms) of the response (or if no response: trialduration); measured from onset of target
(2) Summary data file: 'cuedgonogo_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)
////////////////////////////////
overall: across cue conditions
////////////////////////////////
errorRate: overall error rate (omission + commission errors)
hitRate: hit rate in go-trials (participant correctly pressed Spacebar)
omissionRate: error rate in go-trials (participant missed to press Spacebar)
commissionRate: error rate in nogo trials (participants hit the Spacebar)
corrRejectRate: correct rejection rate in nogo trials (participants correctly refrained from pressing the Spacebar)
//////////////////////////////
Signal Detection Measures
/////////////////////////////
zHitRate: z-score of the hitRate
zFARate: z-score of the falseAlarm/commission rate
Note: *Adjustments to z-scores as recommended by:
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)
=> Adjustments are made if the FArate (hitRate) = 0 (increased to 0.005) or 1 (decreased to 0.995)*
dPrime: 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 (go stims) were distinguished from noise (nogo stims)
(d' = 0: chance performance; negative d-primes: participant treated nontargets as targets and targets as nontargets)
c: 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 (go stims) is present (liberal response style);
may favor faster responding in speed-accuracy trade-off response paradigms
positive: favoring caution (conservative response style)
//GoCue (vertical)
errorRateGoCue: error rate for trials in which cue = GoCue (vertical) - combined omission+commission errors
hitRateGoCue: hit rate for trials in which cue = GoCue (vertical) and target = go stim
omissionRateGoCue: error rate for trials in which cue = GoCue (vertical) and target = go stim
commissionRateGoCue: error rate for trials in which cue = GoCue (vertical) and target = nogo stim
(DV of interest)
correctRejectRateGoCue: proportion correct (no responses) responses for trials in which cue = GoCue (vertical) and target = nogo stim
zHitRateGoCue: z-score of the hitRate for go trials with go-cue
zFARateGoCue: z-score of the falseAlarm/commission rate for nogo trials with go-cue
dPrimeGoCue: d' (measure of sensitiGoCueity)
cGoCue: response bias measure (c-criterium)
//NogoCue (horizontal)
errorRateNoGoCue: error rate for trials in which cue = NogoCue (horizontal) - combined omission+commission errors
hitRateNoGoCue: hit rate for trials in which cue = NogoCue (horizontal) and target = go stim
omissionRateNoGoCue: error rate for trials in which cue = NogoCue (horizontal) and target = go stim (Misses)
commissionRateNoGoCue: error rate for trials in which cue = NogoCue (horizontal) and target = nogo stim (False Alarms)
corrRejectRateNoGoCue: proportion correct (no responses) for trials in which cue = NogoCue (horizontal) and target = nogo stim
zHitRateNoGoCue: z-score of the hitRate for go trials with nogo-cue
zFARateNoGoCue: z-score of the falseAlarm/commission rate for nogo trials with nogo-cue
dPrimeNoGoCue: d' (measure of sensitiNogoCueity)
cNoGoCue: response bias measure (c-criterium)
//responseTimes:
hitRT: overall mean hitRT (in ms) in go trials (correctly pressing the spacebar)
hitRTGoCue: mean hitRT (in ms) for go trials with go Cue (vertical) and target = go
hitRTNoGoCue: mean hitRT (in ms) for go trials with nogo Cue (horizontal) and target = go
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
EXPERIMENTAL SET-UP
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Factorial design with
5 x SOA (100,200,300,400,500)
2 x Cue (1=vertical,2=horizontal)
2 x Target (Go, No-Go)
Vertical cue go / no-go ratio is 4:1 (80% go trials, 20% no-go trials) => higher probability of go trials after vertical cue
Horizontal cue go / no-go ratio is 1:4 (20% go trials, 80% no-go trials) => higher probability of nogo trials after horizontal cue
Minimum number of trials required to fulfill the above conditions is 50.
Task runs 250 trials, i.e., each factor combination is repeated 5 times.
=> 100 vertical cue-go targets (20 for each SOA); 25 vertical cue-nogo targets (5 for each SOA)
=> 100 horizontal cue-nogo targets (20 for each SOA); 25 horizontal cue-go targets (5 for each SOA)
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
STIMULI
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
see section Editable Stimuli
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
INSTRUCTIONS
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
see section Editable Instructions
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
EDITABLE CODE
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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:
/ fixationduration: duration of the fixation cross in ms (default: 800)
/ cue_delay: interstimulus interval between offset of fixation and onset of cue in ms (default: 500ms)
/ responsetimeout: responsetimeout in ms (default: 1000)
/ iti: intertrial interval in ms (default: 700)
