Door Opening Task
Background
The Door Opening Task is a computerized behavioral assessment used to measure response perseveration and a child's sensitivity to reward versus punishment. Originally designed by Timothy K. Daughertyand Herbert C. Quay in 1991, it tests the balance between a person's Behavioral Activation System (BAS—the drive for rewards) and Behavioral Inhibition System (BIS—the sensitivity to punishment).
The task presents participants with a sequence of virtual doors on a computer screen. For every door, participants must make a choice: either open the next door or stop playing. Opening a door is either rewarded (adds 1 point/token) or punished (subtracts 1 point/token). At the beginning of the task, the doors are highly rewarding. However, as the game progresses, the probability shifts. The ratio of punished (losing) doors steadily increases while rewarded (winning) doors decrease. Participants are told they can quit at any time and walk away with whatever total points they have accumulated. Opening an excessively large number of doors despite receiving heavy, compounding losses is an indication of response perseveration. This means the individual is heavily "reward-dominant"—they continue seeking a reward they previously experienced, unable to inhibit their behavior even when the action becomes actively detrimental.
The Millisecond Door Opening Task is based on the published description by Walter Matthys and colleagues who utilized this task in 1998 to study behavioral systems in boys with disruptive behavior disorders, specifically looking at Conduct Disorder (CD) with and without comorbid Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (CD/ADHD). They found a distinct escalation in response perseveration across groups. While neurotypical boys (Control Group) quit relatively early on, once they realized the risks outweighted the gains, CD boys opened significantly more doors, displaying a higher degree of reward dominance. CD/ADHD Boys showed the highest degree of response perseveration by opening the most doors. This supported the Matthys et al theory that children with comorbid CD and ADHD have a highly hyperactive reward system (BAS) coupled with a severely underactive inhibition system (BIS), making it difficult for them to stop a losing behavior.
Task Procedure
The Door Opening tasks runs up to 11 blocks that steadily decrease the win probability of opening a door by 10%, starting at 100% wins down to 0% wins. Each block provides 10 doors for a total of 110 doors. The blocks change seemlessly into the next, so participants are not made aware of the changing win probabilities. The win probabilities in this script are not true probabilities but rather they are frequency based. So, in a block with an 80% win probability, participants will experience 8 wins and 2 losses, order is randomly determined.
Each door provides participants with the choice of opening it or quitting the game. If participants decide to open the door, they either win a point or lose a point. If they decide to quit the game, they keep the accumulated number of points.
What it Measures
The Door Opening Task measures response perseveration
Psychological domains
- Impulsivity: Tendency to act on a whim, displaying behavior characterized by little or no consideration of the long-term or negative consequences
- Feedback-Based Learning: Ability to update future expectations and future effort based on response feedback
- Inhibitory Control: The cognitive ability to suppress a dominant, prepotent behavioral response when environmental cues change.
- Decision-Making Under Risk: Ability to assess gambling risks as probability distributions change
Main Performance Metrics
- Number of Opened Doors: The script counts the number of doors a participant opens before quitting; measure of response perseveration
Psychiatric Conditions
The Door Opening Task has been used in the study with the following patient groups
- Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
- Conduct Disorder (CD)
- Alcohol and Drug Dependence
- Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD)
The Door Opening Task developed by Matthys et al (1998).
References
Search Google Scholar for peer-reviewed, published research using the Inquisit Door Opening Task.
Matthys, W., Goozen, S. H. M., Vries, H. ., Cohen-Kettenis, P. T., & Engeland, H. . (July 01, 1998). The Dominance of Behavioural Activation over Behavioural Inhibition in Conduct Disordered Boys with or without Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 39, 5, 643-651.
Matthys, W., van, G. S. H., Snoek, H., & van, E. H. (January 01, 2004). Response perseveration and sensitivity to reward and punishment in boys with oppositional defiant disorder. European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 13, 6, 362-4.
van, B. I., Matthys, W., van, G. S. H., & van, E. H. (January 01, 2005). Prediction of adolescent outcome in children with disruptive behaviour disorders--a study of neurobiological, psychological and family factors. European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 14, 3, 153-63.
Nederkoorn, C., Braet, C. Van Eijs, Y., Tanghe, A., & Jansen, A. (2006). Why obese children cannont resist food: The role of impulsivity. Eating Behaviors, 7, 315-322.
Verbeken, S., Braet, C., Claus, L., Nederkoorn, C., & Oosterlaan, J. (September 01, 2009). Childhood Obesity and Impulsivity: An Investigation with Performance-based Measures. Behaviour Change, 26, 3, 153-167.