Negative Priming

Technical Manual

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

Created: January 31, 2024

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

Background

This Inquisit script implements a Negative Priming Procedure with affective stimuli. Negative Priming is generally characterized as the implicit memory effect in which actively suppressing information processing of a stimulus can impair processing of related material shortly thereafter. Negative Affective Priming uses stimuli of different valences (positive vs. negative). It has been used in the study of impaired cognitive processing in depression (Joorman & Gotlib, 2010)

The implemented Negative Affective Priming procedure is based on the published paradigm by Joorman & Gotlib (2010).

References

Affective Priming Procedure

Joormann, J., & Gotlib, I. H. (2010). Emotion regulation in depression: Relation to cognitive inhibition. Cognition and Emotion, 24(2), 281–298. https://doi.org/10.1080/02699930903407948

Word Database: English Words

Bradley, MM.; Lang, PJ. Affective norms for English words (ANEW): Technical Manual and Affective Ratings. Gainesville, FL: The Center for Research in Psychophysiology, University of Florida; 1999.

Duration

15 minutes

Description

Participants see two words on top of each other. One is the target word (printed in blue) and one is the distractor (printed in red). The words come from different valence categories (one is positive and the other negative). Participants are asked to ignore the red words. Their task is to categorize the blue words as positive or negative via corresponding keyboard responses.

Test trials are divided into 2 parts: Part1 are the Priming Trials (PTrials). Part2 are the Target Trials (TTrials).

For Negative Priming (NP) trials, the valence of the ignored (red) word in the PTrial (=distractor) is the same as the valence of the (blue) target word in the TTrial. The valence of the (blue) target in PTrials is opposite of the valence of the (blue) target in TTrials => negative priming is expected (slower responses in TTrials due to negative priming via the suppressed distractor of the same valence) => since the attended targets are of opposite valences there should not be any 'positive' valence priming effect

For Control (Ctrl) trials, the valence of the ignored (red) word in the PTrial is neutral compared to the positive or negative target word in the TTrial. The valence of the (blue) target in PTrials is opposite of the valence of the (blue) target in TTrials (same as in NP trials) => no negative priming is expected (neutral suppressed distractor should NOT negatively prime the target in the TTrial) => since the attended targets are of opposite valences there should not be any 'positive' valence priming effect in Ctrl trials either

Differences in TTrial Response Times in NP condition should be due to Negative Priming.

Although PTrials and TTrials are individual trials from a participant's perspective, participants may nonetheless potentially catch on the predictable response pattern created by PTrials and TTrial always requiring opposite responses. Thus, this script has the built-in functionality to add filler trials to obscure this response pattern.

Procedure

(1) Practice:

- 10 practice trials
- practice trials are individual trials (NOT 2-part trials like the test trials)
- half the practice trials require a positive response (half a negative response)
- the valence of the distractor is opposite to the target valence
- half the practice trials present the target on top, half on the bottom (randomly selected)
- the trial order is randomly determined
- practice trials select from their own pool of stimuli
- error feedback is provided

(2) Test: 5 Test Blocks (Editable Parameter)

- Each test block runs 32 test trials (each test trial has 2 parts) and 16 filler trials (see editable parameters)
=> from a participant's perspective there are (2*32) + 16 = 80 individual trials to run
- the order of the trials is randomly generated for each block
- no feedback

Test Trials ('Double Trials')

2 trialtypes (NP vs. Ctrl) x 2 target valences in target trials (pos vs neg) x 2 target positions in PTrials (top vs. bottom) x 2 target positions in target trials (top vs.bottom)
=> minimum of 16 test trials per block for a balanced design (each test trial runs 2 individual trials)
=> with 32 test trials, each combination is run twice

- Half the test trials are NP trials, half are Ctrl trials

NP:
distractor valence in PTrial = target valence in TTrial (negative priming)
target valence in PTrial opposite of target valence in TTrial (no positive priming)

Ctrl:
distractor valence in PTrial neutral and thus different than target valence in TTrial (no negative priming)
target valence in PTrial opposite of target valence in TTrial (no positive priming)

Filler Trials ('single trials')
number of filler trials can be controlled via an editable parameter.
By default, this script runs half as many filler trials as test trials
=> 0.5*32 = 16 Filler Trials

- filler trials randomly (with replacement) select neutral, positive or negative distractors
- filler trial select a different valence for their targets
- target screen position (top or bottom) is selected randomly with replacement

Trial Sequence

-> Fixation cross only for 500ms
-> Target and Distractor until response

Note On Stimuli Selection

- all neutral stimuli are selected randomly without replacement from the pool of neutral stimuli
(automatically resets once all stimuli have been selected)
- all negative stimuli are selected randomly without replacement from the pool of negative stimuli
(automatically resets once all stimuli have been selected)*
- all positive stimuli are selected randomly without replacement from the pool of positive stimuli
(automatically resets once all stimuli have been selected)*

•The script ensures that no stimuli are repeated in PTrials and TTrials,
thus the script forces a reset of the positive and negative selection lists if there are
not at least 2 different stimuli left to select.
Other consecutive trials can repeat stimuli however.

Stimuli

provided by Millisecond - can be edited in script negativepriming_instructions_inc.iqjs.
The words used will depend on the actual language (e.g. English) used for the instructions.
The following will explain how the English words were selected for this script.
For remaining languages, the information will be provided in the language specific script
negativepriming_instructions_inc.iqjs.

English Stimuli Selection Procedure:

The English stimuli are NOT original to Joorman & Gotlib (2010, stimuli selection: p.5).
They were taken for the Inquisit script from the Affective Norms of English words (Bradley & Lang,1999)
and selected as follows:

Positive Items:

- valence rating >= 7
- arousal rating: 4 <= arousal <= 6 (midlevel arousal)
- dominance rating: 4 <= arousal <= 6 (midlevel dominance)
- word length: 4 <= word length <= 6 (target and distractor should be within 2 letters of each other, and neither too short nor too long)

Of the determined 41 stimuli, Millisecond selected the 32 words with the highest valence:

Mean Valence: 7.52
Mean Arousal: 5.01
Mean Dominance: 5.55
Mean word length: 5.13

Neutral Items:

- 4.5 <=valence rating <= 5.5
- arousal rating: 4 <= arousal <= 6 (midlevel arousal)
- dominance rating: 4 <= arousal <= 6 (midlevel dominance)
- word length: 4 <= word length <= 6 (target and distractor should be within 2 letters of each other, and neither too short nor too long)

Of the determined 38 stimuli, Millisecond selected the 16 words with a valence closest to 5:

Mean Valence: 5.01
Mean Arousal: 4.64
Mean Dominance: 4.90
Mean word length: 5.13

Negative Items:

- valence rating <= 3.5
- arousal rating: 4 <= arousal <= 6 (midlevel arousal)
- dominance rating: 4 <= arousal <= 6 (midlevel dominance)
- word length: 4 <= word length <= 6 (target and distractor should be within 2 letters of each other, and neither too short nor too long)

Of the determined 39 stimuli, Millisecond selected the 32 with the lowest valence rating:

Mean Valence: 2.73
Mean Arousal: 5.02
Mean Dominance: 4.42
Mean word length: 5.38

Practice Items:

The 7 positive and negative practice items were chosen from the pool of 'rejected' positive and negative items

Instructions

provided by Millisecond - can be edited in script negativepriming_instructions_inc.iqjs

Scoring

Summary Data

- summary variable based on TTrial performance only
- latency data based on validRTs only (300 <= latency <= 2000)

Summary Data

File Name: negativepriming_summary*.iqdat

Data Fields

Name	Description
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	Proportion correct responses across all test trials (TTrial only)
meanCorrRT	Mean correct response time across all test trials (TTrial only) extreme latency outliers removed (300 <= latency <= 2000)
propRTOutliers	Proportion removed latency data relative to all latency data (correct or incorrect responses)
propCorrectNP	Proportion correct responses across all NP trials (TTrial only)
meanCorrRTNP	Mean correct response time across all NP trials (TTrials only) - extreme outliers removed (see SCORING)
propCorrectCtrl	Proportion correct responses across all Control trials (TTrial only)
meanCorrRTCtrl	Mean correct response time across all Control trials (TTrials only) - extreme outliers removed (see SCORING)

Raw Data

File Name: negativepriming_raw*.iqdat

Data Fields

Name	Description
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.
blockCounter	Tracks the number of blocks run
trialCounterPerBlock	Tracks the number of trials run per block (Test Trial = (PTrial + TTrial) count as one trial)
trialPhase	"P" (PTrial), "T" (TTrial), "F" (Filler)
Iv: Stays The Same Across Pttrial And Ttrial
trialType	1 = NP; 2 = Ctrl (Main IV); 3 = Filler (ignored for data analyses)
targetValenceTTrial	1 = target in TTrial is negative; 2 = target in TTrial is positive
targetPositionPTrial	1 = target in PTrial is on top; 2 = target in PTrial is on the bottom
targetPositionTTrial	1 = target in TTrial is on top; 2 = target in TTrial is on the bottom
Changes Btw. Ptrial And Ttrial
targetWord	The currently presented target word
distractorWord	The currently presented distractor word
targetValence	1 = the currently presented target is negative; 2 = the currently presented target is positive
distractorValence	1 = the currently presented distractor is negative; 2 = the currently presented distractor is positive; 3 = distractor is neutral
targetPosition	1 = current target is on top (distractor on bottom); 2 = current target is on the bottom (distractor on top)
correctResp	Stores the correct response key for the current trial
Dvs
response	The response of participant (scancode of response button)
responseText	The response button pressed Example response = 18 (scancode) => responseText = "E"
correct	Correctness of response (1 = correct, 0 = error)
latency	Response latency (in ms); measured from: onset of words
validRT	1 = latency falls within 300 <= latency <= 2000 (see editable parameters) 0 = latency falls outside of specified range
Additional Variables
targetY	Stores the vertical screen coordinate of the target
distractorY	Stores the vertical screen coordinate of the distractor 0% = top of the screen -> 100% bottom of the screen
Ratings Of Targets And Distractors
tValence	The valence rating assigned to the current target
tArousal	The arousal rating assigned to the current target
tDominance	The dominance rating assigned to the current target
tLength	The length of the current target
dValence	The valence rating assigned to the current distractor
dArousal	The arousal rating assigned to the current distractor
dDominance	The dominance rating assigned to the current distractor
dLength	The length of the current distractor
Previous Stimuli Used (To Check That No Repeats Across Ptrials And Ttrials)
prevDistractor	Stores the distractor stimulus from the previous trial
prevTarget	Stores the target stimulus from the previous trials

Parameters

The procedure can be adjusted by setting the following parameters.

Name	Description	Default
Design
numberOfBlocks	Number of test blocks to run	5
numberTTrialsPerBlock	Number of TTrials run per block should be a multiple of 16 if there are 32 TTrials in a block, there are also 32 PTrials in a block (so from a participant's perspective there are 64 test trials)!	32
ratioFillerToTTrial	Script adds an additional (0.5TTrials) number of filler trials to each block by default: 0.532 = 16 filler trials (filler trials are single trials not double ones!) for a total of 32 TTrials per block there will be: 32 PTrials + 32 TTrials + 16 filler trials = 80 single trials from participant perspective)	0.5
targetColor	The color of the target words (require a response)	blue
distractorColor	The color of the distractor words (should be ignored)	red
Latency Outlier Removal
minLatency	The minimum acceptable response time (in ms)	300
maxLatency	The maximum acceptable response time (in ms)	2000
Sizing And Position Parameters
wordHeightPct	The relative height of the words (relative to canvas height)	8%
Positions: The Percent Vertical Active Canvas Position (Top = 0 -> Bottom = 100%)
topY	Top canvas position	35%
bottomY	Bottom canvas position	65%
Timing Parameters
getreadyDuration	The duration (in ms) of the get-ready trial	3000
fixationDurationMS	The duration (in ms) of the fixation cross	500
Response Keys
leftResponseKey	The assigned left response key (left side on QWERTY keyboard)	"A"
rightResponseKey	The assigned right response key (right side on QWERTY keyboard)	"L"
positiveResponseKey	Assignment of right or left response key to positive key	parameters.rightResponseKey
negativeResponseKey	Assignment of left or right response key to negative key	parameters.leftResponseKey

Negative Priming

Technical Manual

Background

References

Affective Priming Procedure

Word Database: English Words

Duration

Description

Procedure

(1) Practice:

(2) Test: 5 Test Blocks (Editable Parameter)

Test Trials ('Double Trials')

Trial Sequence

Note On Stimuli Selection

Stimuli

English Stimuli Selection Procedure:

Positive Items:

Neutral Items:

Negative Items:

Practice Items:

Instructions

Scoring

Summary Data

Summary Data

Data Fields

Raw Data

Data Fields

Iv: Stays The Same Across Pttrial And Ttrial

Changes Btw. Ptrial And Ttrial

Dvs

Additional Variables

Ratings Of Targets And Distractors

Previous Stimuli Used (To Check That No Repeats Across Ptrials And Ttrials)

Parameters

Design

Latency Outlier Removal

Sizing And Position Parameters

Positions: The Percent Vertical Active Canvas Position (Top = 0 -> Bottom = 100%)

Timing Parameters

Response Keys