English Version
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Relational Responding Task (RRT)
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Script Author: Katja Borchert, Ph.D. (katjab@millisecond.com) for Millisecond Software, LLC
Date: 06-05-2025
last updated: 06-23-2025 by K. Borchert (katjab@millisecond.com) for Millisecond Software, LLC
Script Copyright © 06-23-2025 Millisecond Software
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BACKGROUND INFO
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This script implements the Relational Responding Task (RRT), a task proposed by
De Houwer et al (2015) to measure implicit beliefs with the potential to capture differences in how
cognitively paired categories are related to each other.
Take for example the categories "I" and "physical exercise". These might be closely related concepts
in one's mind, however, the underlying relationship might be 'want to' vs. 'need to' which may
have different consequences for actual behavior.
The RRT uses latency measures and forces people to categorize actual statements according to pre-determined rules
that they may or may not agree with. Between blocks, the rule changes to the opposite one (e.g. from
'boys are smarter than girls' to 'girls are smarter than boys') and the difference in response behavior
under these two opposing rules is assumed to give information about the underlying belief of the
participant.
////Reference:
De Houwer, J., Heider, N., Spruyt, A., Roets, A. and Hughes, S. (2015). The relational responding task:
toward a new implicit measure of beliefs.
Frontiers in Psychology. 6: 319.https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00319.
D-score algorithm:
Greenwald, A. G., Nosek, B. A., & Banaji, M. R. (2003). Understanding and Using the Implicit Association Test:
I. An Improved Scoring Algorithm. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 85, 197-216.
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TASK DESCRIPTION
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In this template task, participants work on statements that align with two opposing rules:
Examples:
RULE1: "flowers are more beautiful than insects" vs.
RULE2: "insects are more beautiful than flowers".
After a practice blocks during which participants practice the assigned response keys for 'true' vs. 'false'
(inducer trials), participants work on evaluating the truth of statements such as
"flowers are prettier than insects" first under RULE1 and then under RULE2.
Inducer trials are interspersed with statement trials during the test blocks to discourage
response recoding (e.g.,in terms of physical location).
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DURATION
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the default set-up of the script takes appr. 8 minutes to complete
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DATA OUTPUT DICTIONAIRY
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The fields in the data files are:
(1) Raw data file: 'XXX_raw*.iqdat' (a separate file for each participant)
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: with the current subject id
group: with the current group id
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.
blockCounter: tracks the number of blocks run
trialCounterPerBlock: tracks the number of trials per block run
phase: practice vs. test
blockType: first or second block tested for the current rule (test only)
rule: current rule tested (1 or 2)
stimType: 1 = true stim (inducer)
2 = false stim (inducer)
3 = rule1 consistent stim
4 = rule2 consistent stim
corrResponse: stores the correct response key for the current trial
stimulusitem: presented stimuli
response: the response of participant (scancode of response button)
responseText: the label of the response key pressed
correct: correctness of INITIAL response (1 = correct, 0 = error)
Note: errors need to be corrected before trial terminates
but the initial response accuracy is noted in the data file
latency: response latency (in ms) of CORRECT response; measured from: onset of stims
Note: errors need to be corrected before trial terminates
(2) Summary data file: 'xxx_summary*.iqdat' (a separate file for each participant)
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)
rule1: the tested rule1
rule2: the tested rule2
//DVs:
These reaction times were transformed into dRRT scores using the improved D-algorithm that
Greenwald et al (2003) developed for the IAT.
Note: only response times during the test blocks to the statements (not inducer stims)
were considered for the D-score analysis as recommended by De Houwer et al (2015, p.5).
The considered response times needed to be shorter than 10s to be considered valid (see IAT algorithm).
Analogous to the IAT, two separate dRRT scores are calculated for the first and second test blocks run
with each rule. The final dRRT score is the non-weighted mean of the two.
//the calculation of the dRRT score for the first blocks for each rules (block 3/6)
meanRTRule1B1: mean correct response time (in ms) of responding to statements under RULE1 in block3
meanRTRule2B1: mean correct response time (in ms) of responding to statements under RULE2 in block6
sdRTB1: pooled variance
dRRT1: calculated difference score = (meanRTRule2B1-meanRTRule1B1)/sdRTB1
positive: rule1 responding faster
negative: rule2 responding faster
//the calculation of the dRRT score for the second blocks for each rules (block 4/7)
meanRTRule1B2: mean correct response time (in ms) of responding to statements under RULE1 in block4
meanRTRule2B2: mean correct response time (in ms) of responding to statements under RULE2 in block7
sdRTB2: pooled variance
dRRT2: calculated difference score = (meanRTRule2B2-meanRTRule1B2)/sdRTB2
positive: rule1 responding faster
negative: rule2 responding faster
dRRT: the non-weighted mean of the two dRRT scores
positive: rule1 responding faster
negative: rule2 responding faster
percentCorrect: the overall percent correct score of initial responses in test trials of D-score qualifying latencies
propRT300: the proportion of response latencies < 300ms
excludeCriteriaMet: 1 = yes, exclusion supported per Greenwald et al for the IAT (2003, p.214, Table 4):
More than 10% of all response latencies are faster than 300ms
0 = otherwise
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EXPERIMENTAL SET-UP
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Block 1 (inducerPractice): Key Assignment Practice for TRUE and FALSE ('Inducer Stimuli')
- participants see synonyms for 'true' and 'false' and have to respond as quickly as
possible by pressing the assigned keys for true (default: Q) and false (default: P)
- 10 trials for synonyms for 'true'
- 10 trials for synonyms for 'false'
=> order is randomly determined
Block 2 (rule1Practice): Practice for Statement Evaluation under RULE1 (here: "flowers are more beautiful than insects")
- 10 statements that should be evaluated as 'true' (Rule1 consistent)
- 10 statements that should be evaluated as 'false' (Rule2 consistent)
=> order is randomly determined
Block 3 (rule1Test): Test for RULE1
- 10 statements that should be evaluated as 'true' (Rule1 consistent)
- 10 statements that should be evaluated as 'false' (Rule2 consistent)
- 10 true 'inducer' stimuli
- 10 false 'inducer' stimuli
=> order is randomly determined
Block 4 (rule1Test): Test for RULE1 (NOTE: same as Block 3)
- 10 statements that should be evaluated as 'true' (Rule1 consistent)
- 10 statements that should be evaluated as 'false' (Rule2 consistent)
- 10 true 'inducer' stimuli
- 10 false 'inducer' stimuli
=> order is randomly determined
Block 5 (rule2Practice): Practice for Statement Evaluation under RULE2 (here: "insects are more beautiful than flowers")
- 10 statements that should be evaluated as 'true' (Rule2 consistent)
- 10 statements that should be evaluated as 'false' (Rule1 consistent)
=> order is randomly determined
Block 6 (rule2Test): Test for RULE2
- 10 statements that should be evaluated as 'true' (Rule2 consistent)
- 10 statements that should be evaluated as 'false' (Rule1 consistent)
- 10 true 'inducer' stimuli
- 10 false 'inducer' stimuli
=> order is randomly determined
Block 7 (rule2Test): Test for RULE2 (Note: same as Block6)
- 10 statements that should be evaluated as 'true' (Rule2 consistent)
- 10 statements that should be evaluated as 'false' (Rule1 consistent)
- 10 true 'inducer' stimuli
- 10 false 'inducer' stimuli
=> order is randomly determined
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STIMULI
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provided by Millisecond Software - can be edited in script "rrt_stims_inc.iqjs"
Note: Rule1 and Rule2 can also be found in "rrt_stims_inc.iqjs"
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INSTRUCTIONS
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provided by Millisecond Software - can be edited in script "rrt_instructions_inc.iqjs"
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EDITABLE CODE
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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:
//sizing:
/ stimHeight = 5% //the proportional size of the verbal stims (proportional to canvas height)
//responseKeys:
/ leftResponseKey = "Q" //the dedicated left response key (left on English keyboard)
/ rightResponseKey = "P" //the dedicated right response key (right on English keyboard)
/////////assignment of the left and right response keys to be the 'true' and 'false' keys
/ trueResponseKey = parameters.leftResponseKey //true responses: left response key (here: Q)
/ falseResponseKey = parameters.rightResponseKey //false responses: right respone key (here: P)
