Serial Probe Recognition Task

Background

The Serial Probe Recognition (SPR) Task is a classic cognitive psychology paradigm used to measure working memory and short-term visual or verbal recognition. It asks subjects to observe a sequence of items and then identify whether a specific "probe" item appeared in that sequence.

The test was originally developed by Saul Sternberg in 1966 to test how the human brain searches short-term memory. This classic task is available in the Millisecond library under the name Sternberg Memory Task.

The simplicity of the SPR task has made this testing paradigm popular in animal cognition research because it allows researchers to study complex brain functions without needing verbal instructions. Because animals cannot verbally report what they remember, researchers adapt the SPR paradigm into a non-verbal, computer-controlled operant task using touchscreens, joysticks, or response levers. If an animal exhibits a similar reaction time curve or memory drop-off as a human, a similar memory architecture in both is considered likely. The SPR paradigm has thus become a foundational tool for studying comparative cognition, neurobiology, and pharmacology.

The Millisecond SPR task is written as a simple template script. It is based on the classic study by Stephen F. Sands and Anthony A. Wright from 1980 in which they demonstrated that rhesus monkeys display the same Serial Position Effect as humans. The Millisecond SPR tasks currently targets human participants but can be adapted for different populations.

Task Procedure

The current selection of 210 simple images gets randomly divided into 140 list stimuli and 70 'independent' non-list probes. The entire SPR task consists of one block that runs 140 trial sequences. For each trial sequence the computer presents lists of 10 picture stimuli; each stimulus is presented in the top half of the computer monitor for 1s with a 800ms interstimulusinterval. One second after the last stimulus is presented, a probe image is presented in the lower part of the computer monitor. Participants have 2 seconds to decide whether the probe was part of the just presented list: Half the probes are negative (the probe was not part of the list);half the probes are positive (the probe was part of the list) with each probe position (1-10) being represented equally often. Currently response keys used are 'A' for affirmative responses and 'L' for rejections. The order of negative and positive probes (and probe positions) are randomly determined. To avoid any list stimulus to be presented more than once, additional stimuli can easily be added to the default selection pool.

What it Measures

The Serial Probe Recognition (SPR) Task is a measure of (visual) short-term memory

Psychological domains

• Short Term Memory: Temporary storage of incoming information for about 15seconds
• Primacy and Recency effects: Influence of position of incoming information on memory performance
• Processing Speed: Speed of information processing

Main Performance Metrics

• Accuracy: proportion correct responses overall, separate for positive and negative probe trials as well as by probe position; main measure of memory retention
• Latency: mean correct response time overall, separate for positive and negative probe trials as well as by probe position; measure of processing speed

Psychiatric Conditions

The following patient groups show impaired performance on Serial Probe Recognition tasks

• Dementia
• Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI)
• Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)
• Schizophrenia

References

Search Google Scholar for peer-reviewed, published research using the Inquisit Serial Probe Recognition Task.

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Sands, S. F., & Wright, A. A. (1980). Serial probe recognition performance by a rhesus monkey and a human with 10- and 20-item lists. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes, 6, 386–396.

Castro, C., & Gallagher, Michela. (1997). Primacy and Recency Effects in Rhesus Monkeys ( Macaca mulatta ) Using a Serial Probe Recognition Task: II. Effects of Atropine Sulfate. Behavioral Neuroscience, 111(4), 676-682.

Pineda, Herrera, Kang, & Sandler. (1998). Effects of cigarette smoking and 12-h abstention on working memory during a serial-probe recognition task. Psychopharmacology, 139(4), 311-321.

Crites, S., Delgado, P., Devine, J., & Lozano, D. (2000). Immediate and delayed stimulus repetitions evoke different ERPs in a serial‐probe recognition task. Psychophysiology, 37(6), 850-858.

Myers, Todd M., Galbicka, Gregory, Sipos, Maurice L., Varadi, Suzanne, Oubre, John L., & Clark, Matthew G. (2002). Effects of anticholinergics on serial-probe recognition accuracy of rhesus macaques ( Macaca mulatta). Pharmacology, Biochemistry and Behavior, 73(4), 829-834.

Myers, Todd M., & Clark, Matthew G. (2006). Serial-probe recognition in rhesus macaques: Effects of midazolam. Pharmacology, Biochemistry and Behavior, 85(3), 555-561.

Miyamoto, Kentaro, Osada, Takahiro, Adachi, Yusuke, Matsui, Teppei, Kimura, Hiroko M., & Miyashita, Yasushi. (2012). Functional differentiation of memory retrieval network in macaque posterior parietal cortex. Neuron, Neuron.