Linguistic Selection Task with Mouse Tracking

Technical Manual

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

Credits:
Millisecond thanks Dr. Spivey for his generous help with this script!

Created: January 16, 2021

Last Modified: January 08, 2025 by K. Borchert (katjab@millisecond.com), Millisecond

Script Copyright © Millisecond Software, LLC

Background

This script implements a linguistic selection mousetracking procedure based on Spivey et al (2005).

References

Spivey, M. J., Grosjean, M., and Knoblich, G. (2005). Continuous attraction toward phonological competitors. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 102, 10393–10398

Duration

2.5 minutes

Description

Participants click on a STAET button at the bottom of the screen with the mouse which presents the two images, one in the upper left and one in the upper right corner of the screen. A soundFile that names one of the objects is played with a 500ms delay*. Participants are asked to click the named object as fast as possible.

Mouse coordinates are recorded every ~17ms.

•Delay: the delay was added to the procedure to maximize the chance that participants were already moving the mouse when soundFile was played.

Procedure

(1) Intro/Demo: one demo trial

(2) Test: 8 item phonologically similar item pairs (e.g. candy/candle)
- each phonologically similar item pair is presented together twice (each of the objects acts as the target (foil) once)
- each item of the phonological item pair is presented with the same control item (e.g. candy-jacket; candle-jacket) once
(in this case the phonologically similar objects are always the target)
=> 32 trials total

within each item pair, the position of the target is balanced
(=> the target object appears twice on the left and twice on the right);
the assignment of left/right is determined randomly within each item pair.

Trialsequence:

click 'start' button (in trial.start)->
images (target vs. distractor)->
target soundFile is played 500ms later -> response ( response can be recorded before soundFile ends playing)

Stimuli

images of phonological similar item pairs as well as corresponding soundFiles were
generously provided by Dr. Spivey.
Millisecond converted
- the images to .png files
- the audio files to .wav files.
audiofiles were shortened by Millisecond (the built-in 500ms delay was removed)

Instructions

provided by Millisecond - can be edited under section Editable Instructions

Summary Data

File Name: linguisticselectiontask_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
propCorrect The overall proportion correct selection rate
meanCorrRT The overall mean correct response time (in ms)
(3) Mouse tracking data file: 'linguisticselectiontask_stream*.iqdat'*
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
display.canvasHeight The pixel width of the active canvas
display.canvasWidth The pixel height of the active canvas
the percentage sizes of the active canvas are by definition: 100% height, 100% width
displayHeightMM The width of the active canvas in mm
displayWidthMM The height of the active canvas in mm
blockCode Name of the current block
blockNum Number of the current block
trialCode Name of the current trial
trialNum Number of the current trial
targetItemNumber The selected itemnumber of the target image
targetPosition 1 = target is presented on the left; 2 = target is presented on the right
distractorCategory 1 = distractor is a foil (phonologically similar); 2 = distractor is a control item
script.elapsedTime The measured time (in ms) elapsed since start of script (start of script = 0ms)
sound.targetSoundFileAudio.timestamp The timestamp (in ms) of the target soundFile
lastButtonResponse The last recorded response (either: start, target, distractor)
the response of one trial ends a trial and will thus be listed under the following trial
Stimuli Positions In Canvas Percentages: 0%-100% (From Right To Left), 0%-100% (From Top To Bottom)
startButtonXPct The horizontal percentage coordinate of the start button
startButtonYPct The vertical percentage coordinate of the start button
startButtonHeightPct The percentage height of the start button
startButtonWidthPct The percentage width of the start button
targetXPct The horizontal percentage coordinate of the target
targetYPct The vertical percentage coordinate of the target
targetHeightPct The percentage height of the target
targetWidthPct The percentage width of the target
distractorXPct The horizontal percentage coordinate of the distractor
distractorYPct The vertical percentage coordinate of the distractor
distractorHeightPct The percentage height of the distractor
distractorWidthPct The percentage width of the distractor
Stimuli Positions In Canvas Pixels
startButtonXPX The horizontal pixel coordinate of the start button
startButtonYPX The vertical pixel coordinate of the start button
startButtonHeightPX The pixel height of the start button
startButtonWidthPX The pixel width of the start button
targetXPX The horizontal pixel coordinate of the target
targetYPX The vertical pixel coordinate of the target
targetHeightPX The pixel height of the target
targetWidthPX The pixel width of the target
distractorXPX The horizontal pixel coordinate of the distractor
distractorYPX The vertical pixel coordinate of the distractor
distractorHeightPX The pixel height of the distractor
distractorWidthPX The pixel width of the distractor
Stimuli Positions In Mm: Height: 0Mm => Top Of Canvas; Width: 0Mm => Left
startButtonXMM The horizontal mm coordinate of the start button
startButtonYMM The vertical mm coordinate of the start button
startButtonHeightMM The mm height of the start button
startButtonWidthMM The mm width of the start button
targetXMM The horizontal mm coordinate of the target
targetYMM The vertical mm coordinate of the target
targetHeightMM The mm height of the target
targetWidthMM The mm width of the target
distractorXMM The horizontal mm coordinate of the distractor
distractorYMM The vertical mm coordinate of the distractor
distractorHeightMM The mm height of the distractor
distractorWidthMM The mm width of the distractor
Mouse coordinates (in pixel, percentages and mm)
mouse.x The horizontal mouse coordinates in pixel
mouse.y The vertical mouse coordinate in pixel
if the mouse leaves the active canvas, you might get negative numbers
xPct, yPct Positions in canvas percentages
xMM, yMM Positions in canvas mm

Raw Data

File Name: linguisticselectiontask_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.
targetItemNumber The selected itemnumber (1-8) of the target image
trialType 1 = target1 presented with phonological similar distractor
2 = target2 presented with phonological similar distractor
3 = target1 presented with control item
4 = target2 presented with control item
targetPosition 1 = target is presented on the left
2 = target is presented on the right
( the four trials run per targetItemnumber present the target on the left and right equally often)
distractorCategory 1 = distractor is a foil (phonologically similar); 2 = distractor is a control item
target Stores the file name of the presented target
distractor Stores the file name of the presented distractor
response The participant's response
correct Accuracy of response: 1 = correct response; 0 = otherwise
latency The response latency (in ms); measured from: onset of images

Parameters

The procedure can be adjusted by setting the following parameters.

NameDescriptionDefault
soundFileDelay The delay (in ms) of the soundFile after image presentation500
picHeight The height of the images in canvas height percentages20%
imageLeftXPct X-coordinate of the left image15%
imageRightXPct X-coordinate of the right image85%
imageYPct Y-coordinate of both images20%
playButtonYPct The vertical coordinate of the 'play' button75%