Script Author: Katja Borchert, Ph.D. (katjab@millisecond.com), Millisecond
Created: January 01, 2015
Last Modified: January 02, 2023 by K. Borchert (katjab@millisecond.com), Millisecond
Script Copyright © Millisecond Software, LLC
This script implements a computerized Event-based Prospective Memory Task similarly to the non-computerized one described in Cheng et al (2013). Prospective Memory (event based) = Remembering to do in the case a certain event happens.
Cheng, H., Yang, Z., Dong, B., Chen, C., Zhang, M., Huang, Z., Chen, Z & Kai Wang, K. (2013). Chemotherapy-induced prospective memory impairment in patients with breast cancer. Psycho-Oncology 22, 2391–2395 (2013) Published online 15 May 2013 in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com). DOI: 10.1002/pon.3291.
5 minutes
Participants are told that they participate in a visual search experiment. They are presented 'cards' with 12 items randomly presented in a 4x3 matrix; 10 of these items belong to one category and 2 to another ('outsiders'). Participant are asked to select the 2 outsiders by mouse click.
Prospective Memory Task1: Before the start of the task participants are also asked to do an exta click with their mouse whenever the 2 outsiders are two particular target words (here: "giraffe" and "rabbit").
Prospective Memory Task2: Additionally they are asked to let the experimenters know whether they are right-handed or left-handed at the end of the task For this purpose, a general comment box is provided at the end of the task.
• in Cheng et al (2013) Prospective Memory Task 1: tap the desk whenever the 2 target words appear Prospective Memory Task 2: at the end of the experiment, tell your experimenter your phone number
• 1 Test Block of 30 trials (6 main categories x (4 outsider categories + 1 target outsider categories))
• Target Trials: 5th, 10th, 15th, 20th, 25th, 30th (target trials randomly selected from the 6 possible combinations)
• The remaining 24 trials are randomly selected
• Participants have as much time as needed to find the outliers
Scoring: for each successful mouse-press, participants earned a point. No penalties are given for False Alarms
(but False Alarms are recorded for subsequent data analyses).
Participants earn an additional 2 points for remembering to enter left-handed or right-handed at the end.
Max: 8 points
Stimuli are not original to Cheng et al (2013).
In this script, there are 6 categories of main stimuli and 5 categories of outsider stimuli
(one of them the target stimuli).
Each majority category is presented with each outsider category once (=> 6 x 5 = 30 trials).
The 2 outsider stimuli of a foil category are randomly selected from a group of 6.
The stimuli can easily be edited under section Editable Lists.
The provided instructions are not original to Cheng et al (2013). They are provided by Millisecond and
are easily editable under section Editable Instructions.
File Name: prospectivememorytask_versiona_summary*.iqdat
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| inquisit.version | Inquisit version number |
| computer.platform | Device platform: win | mac |ios | android |
| 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 |
| version | "A" (version A runs the handedness question as Prospective Memory Task 2) |
| hit | Stores the number of hits (=pressing mouse button during intertrial interval after a target trial to indicate the target outsiders) |
| miss | Stores the number of misses (=pressing mouse button during intertrial interval after a target trial to indicate the target outsiders) |
| fa | Stores the number of false alarms (=pressing mouse button during intertrial interval after a non-target trial to indicate the target outsiders) |
| cr | Stores the number of correct rejections (=pressing mouse button during intertrial interval after a non-target trial to indicate the target outsiders) |
| prospectiveMemoryTask2Response | Stores the reported handedness (-> Prospective Memory Task II) the computer can only determine if the comment left for experimenter contains the word 'left' or 'right' => the responses should be manually checked to make sure, no response that indicates a recall of the handedness task was missed. |
| prospectiveMemory2Response | Number of final target points earned (number of hits + 2 points for Prospective Memory Task 2) |
File Name: prospectivememorytask_versiona_raw*.iqdat
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| build | Inquisit version number |
| computer.platform | Device platform: win | mac |ios | android |
| date | Date the session was run |
| time | Time the session was run |
| subject | Participant ID |
| group | Group number |
| session | Session number |
| blockCode | Name of the current block |
| blockNum | Number of the current block |
| trialCode | Name of the current trial |
| trialNum | Number of the current trial |
| version | "A" (version A runs the handedness question as Prospective Memory Task 2) |
| majority | Refers to the majority category (1-6) 1 = countries 2 = fruit 3 = cars 4 = flowers 5 = insects 6 = cities |
| trialType | 1 = target trial; 2 = foil trial |
| outsider | Refers to the outsider category (1-4; 5 = target category) 1 = metals 2 = clothes 3 = rivers 4 = furniture pieces 5 = mammals (TARGETS) outsider1- |
| outsider2 | Store the 2 randomly assigned outsider (minority) words |
| response | The participant's response |
| correct | The correctness of the response (1 = correct; 0 = incorrect) => foil trials: lButtonDown is correct response; target trials: lButtonDown is correct response |
| finalCorrect | 0 = did not select any correct outsider 1 = selected one correct outsider 2 = selected both correct outsiders |
| latency | The response latency (in ms) |
| response1 | The first selected item |
| response2 | The second selected item |
| hit | Stores the number of hits (=pressing mouse button during intertrial interval after a target trial to indicate the target outsiders) |
| miss | Stores the number of misses (=pressing mouse button during intertrial interval after a target trial to indicate the target outsiders) |
| fa | Stores the number of false alarms (=pressing mouse button during intertrial interval after a non-target trial to indicate the target outsiders) |
| cr | Stores the number of correct rejections (=pressing mouse button during intertrial interval after a non-target trial to indicate the target outsiders) |
| prospectiveMemory2Response | Stores the reported handedness (-> Prospective Memory Task II) the computer can only determine if the comment left for experimenter contains the word 'left' or 'right' => the responses should be manually checked to make sure, no response that indicates a recall of the handedness task was missed. |
| finalPoints | Number of final target points earned (number of hits + 2 points for Prospective Memory Task 2) |
The procedure can be adjusted by setting the following parameters.
| Name | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|
| itiDuration | The duration of the intertrial interval in ms. The intertrial interval is the trial that records an additional mouse press for Memory Task 1 (default: 2000ms) |