Scrambled Sentences Task

Background

The Scrambled Sentence Task (SST), introduced by Richard M. Wenzlaff in 1988, is a psychological assessment test to uncover hidden cognitive biases, particularly related to depression or anxiety.

Participants are given a list of jumbled words and must construct a grammatically correct sentence—usually by rearranging 5 of the 6 provided words. The task is designed to reveal an individual's underlying interpretations, as the omitted word often shifts the meaning of the sentence from positive to negative. For example, a scrambled phrase like 'winner a born I am loser' can be unscrambled to form either 'I am a born winner' or 'I am a born loser'. The specific sentence a participant creates frequently highlights their subconscious state of mind. To minimize deliberate responses, participants are frequently put under time constraints and a 'cognitive load' (e.g., memorizing a 6-digit number). while taking the test.

The Millisecond SST uses 20 scrambled sentence fragments that can result in either a positive or negative sentence and 20 filler fragments that always result in a valence-neutral sentence (to obscure the nature of the task somewhat). The sentences were originally used by Wenzlaff and colleagues in 1998 to study the sensitivity of the SST procedure to unmask depressive thinking when cognitive load demands overwhelm conscious control.

Task Procedure

Each trial starts with a fixation cross presented center left for 2 seconds, followed by the 6 scrambled sentence words. Each word is presented in its own box and participants need to unscramble the sentences by clicking/touching the words in the desired order within 10 seconds. Digits appear above each word to indicate the selected word order. Responses cannot be corrected.

After a practice session that presents 5 valence-neutral sentences without a time limit (nevertheless, once the 10 seconds are up, participants receive feedback that 10 seconds have elapsed), participants work on the 40 test statements (20 valence oriented and 20 valence-neutral statements run in a random order with the constraint that max. three trials of the same trial type can run consecutively). An (optional) cognitive load test is run at the beginning of the test: participants are asked to memorize a 6-digit number for a recall test at the end of the test procedure.

What it Measures

The Scrambled Sentence Task (SST) measures implicit biases, particularly related to depression or anxiety.

Psychological domains

• Implicit Cognition: Cognitive Processes not under conscious control
• Social Cognition: People's thoughts and perceptions of themselves and others in the social world

Main Performance Metrics

• Negativity Bias Index: Proportion negative solutions (based on correct solutions entered); main measure of a negativity bias

Psychiatric Conditions

The SST has been used with the following patient groups

• Major Depressive Disorder (MDD)
• Anxiety
• Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

References

Search Google Scholar for peer-reviewed, published research using the Inquisit Scrambled Sentences Task.

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Hedlund, S., & Rude, S. S. (1995). Evidence of latent depressive schemas in formerly depressed individuals. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 104, 517–525.

Wenzlaff, R. M., & Bates, D. E. (1998). Unmasking a cognitive vulnerability to depression: How lapses in mental control reveal depressive thinking. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 75, 1559–1571

Everaert, J., Duyck, W., & Koster, E. H. W. (2014). Attention, interpretation, and memory biases in subclinical depression: A proof-of-principle test of the combined cognitive biases hypothesis. Emotion, 14(2), 331–340

Sanchez, A. et al (2015). Life is . . . great! Emotional attention during instructed and uninstructed ambiguity resolution in relation to depressive symptoms. Biological Psychology, 109 (2015), 67–72.