Pinata Task
Background
The Piñata Task is a child friendly Monetary Incentive Delay (MID) task designed by Sarah M. Helfinstein and colleagues in 2013 to measure anticipatory reward processing and brain activity in children. The Task is presented as a virtual piñata-whacking game featuring cartoon animal piñatas instead of the abstract geometric shapes used in the adult version. The Piñata Task is validated for use in children and young adolescents ranging from 8 to 14 years old.
Task Procedure
The Millisecond Piñata Task consists of two independent scripts. One script runs the Practice phase, and the other runs the Test phase. The scripts can be run as a batch script (in which case the two phases can share data), or independently from each other.
Each phase runs trials that present 1-11 different animal piñata shapes (e.g. an alligator) that 'hang' in the center of the screen. Participants must press the spacebar as soon as possible to 'whack' the piñata to win its price (which are points in the form of little stars). However, the response window is extremely short, so participants have to respond fast. After a short suspenseful delay during which the piñata is still present and intact (but spacebar presses are no longer accepted), participants receive feedback and learn whether they successfully 'whacked' the piñata and won the star-points hiding in it. If the stars are won, they will fall down from the piñata into a basket. If nothing is won, the animal piñata simply disappears. A cue is given before the presentation of the piñata that tells participants exactly how many star-points they can win. This cue consists of 'dangling' part of the pinata in the top of half of the screen that shows the number of stars the piñata contains (0,1,2 or 4). This cue is presented for 1500ms before the piñata is 'pulled up' once more. A variable anticipatory delay is run before the full piñata is 'lowered' into the center of the screen.
The Practice task runs 4 blocks of 40 trials to familiarize participants with the set up. In addition, the participant's response window is assessed based on their hit performance and categorized into one of five response window categories that determine the active response window used during the test trials. During practice, the response window to 'whack' the pinata is set at 275ms. During the test, the response window varies between 225ms (group 5) and 425ms (group 1). If the Piñata Task is administered as a batch script, the assessed response window category is automatically shared with the test scripts. If the practice and test phase are run independently from each other, the assessed response window category must be entered at the beginning of the test script.
The Test script runs 6 blocks of 22 trials each (with two repeats of each piñata shape). Across the 132 trials, the three anticipatory delays (1000ms, 1500ms, 2000ms) are each run 44 times.
What it Measures
The Monetary Incentive Delay (MID) task to induce anticipation of reward (and punishment) and measures incentive motivation
Psychological Domains
- Incentive Motivation: The influence of incentives on physical effort
- Approach vs. Avoidance Motivation: The difference of incentives on physical effort in reward and punishment situations
- Attention Allocation: Cues act as signals that force the brain to instantly prioritize attention to prepare for the target.
- Motor Preparation: Ability to use visual cues to prepare for physical action
- Feedback-Based Learning: Ability to update future expectations and future effort based on response feedback
Main Performance Metrics
- Success Variables: Hits, Misses, Anticipatory Responses and No Responses to all 4 levels of potential winnings
- Processing Speed: Mean correct response time to to all 4 levels of potential winnings
Psychiatric Conditions
The Pinata task has been used with the following patient groups
- Irritability and Mood Dysregulation
- Anhedonia
The Pinata Task is a Monetary Incentive Delay Task for children described by Helfinstein et al (2013).
References
Search Google Scholar for peer-reviewed, published research using the Inquisit Pinata Task.
Helfinstein SM, Kirwan ML, Benson BE, Hardin MG, Pine DS, Ernst M, Fox NA. Validation of a child-friendly version of the monetary incentive delay task. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci. 2013 Aug;8(6):720-6. doi: 10.1093/scan/nss057. Epub 2012 May 7. PMID: 22569186; PMCID: PMC3739918.
Dennison MJ, Rosen ML, Sambrook KA, Jenness JL, Sheridan MA, McLaughlin KA. Differential Associations of Distinct Forms of Childhood Adversity With Neurobehavioral Measures of Reward Processing: A Developmental Pathway to Depression. Child Dev. 2019 Jan;90(1):e96-e113. doi: 10.1111/cdev.13011. Epub 2017 Dec 21. PMID: 29266223; PMCID: PMC6013316.