Script Author: Katja Borchert, Ph.D. (katjab@millisecond.com), Millisecond
Created: January 06, 2023
Last Modified: January 25, 2024 by K. Borchert (katjab@millisecond.com), Millisecond
Script Copyright © Millisecond Software, LLC
This script implements Millisecond's computerized version of the Sustained Auditory Attention Ability Test (SAAAT), a variant of an auditory continuous performance test to measure auditory vigilance and sustained attention (Lemos & Feniman, 2010). The SAAAT was originally developed for children (age group: 6-11 years old).
Lemos, I.C.C. & Feniman, M.R. (2010). Sustained Auditory Attention Ability Test (SAAAT) in seven year- old children with cleft lip and palate. Braz J Otorhinolaryngol, 76(2): 199-205.
José, M. R., Mondelli, M. F. C. G., Correia, J. B., Bohn, V., Lauris, J. R. P., Zeigelboim, B. S., & Feniman, M. R. (2021). Adult Perfomance on the Sustained Auditory Attention Skill Test. International Archives of Otorhinolaryngology, 25(2), e249–e254. https://doi.org/10.1055/s-0040-1712481
15 minutes
Participants hear a sequence of words with a new word being played every 1second. Anytime participants hear the word 'no', they are instructed to press the Spacebar. For any other word, they are instructed to simply wait for the next word. The test runs a total of 600 word without a break (6 blocks of 100 trials each).
(1) Practice: 1 block of 50 trials (max number of practice blocks: 2)
- 10 go-trials (with word 'NO')
- 40 nogo trials (each of the 20 nogo stim is presented 2 times)
If performance is lower than parameters.minPracticeACC (default: 85% correct) at the end of the final
practice block, the script prematurely terminates.
Participants receive error feedback during practice.
(2) Test: 6 blocks of 100 trials (words) with no break
- each block runs 20 'no' trials (go-stims) and 80 nogo-trials (each of the 20 nogo stim is presented 4 times)
- the word SOA is 1000ms (response window equals SOA) - editable parameter
- Word Sequence:
- this script provides the following 2 options
Option1: the same fixed but randomly-generated sequence of the words is used for each block (see list.stimSequence)
Option2: each block randomly presents a new order of the words
see parameters.randomStimOrder
Trial Sequence:
word1 (1000ms) -> word2 (1000ms) ->....word100 (1000ms)
The test contains 21 monosyllabic words taken from Lemos & Feniman (2010) with the exception of the word
'flower' and 'now'. The word 'flower' (two syllables) was replaced with the word 'fall'
and the word 'now' (too close to no) was replaced by the word 'soon' by Millisecond.
All soundfiles were played binaurally.
All words were recorded with the English Google Translate Fairy by Millisecond and converted
to *wav files in Audacity - can be edited under section 'Editable Stimuli'
provided by Millisecond - can be edited under section 'Editable Instructions'
File Name: saaat_summary*.iqdat
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| inquisit.version | Inquisit version number |
| computer.platform | Device platform: win | mac |ios | android |
| startDate | Date the session was run |
| startTime | Time the session was run |
| subjectId | Participant ID |
| groupId | Group number |
| sessionId | Session number |
| elapsedTime | Session duration in ms |
| completed | 0 = Test was not completed 1 = Test was completed |
| goTrialCountOverall | Number of go-trials ('signal trials') overall |
| hitRateOverall | Overall hit rate (responding on go-trials) - correct response |
| omissionRateOverall | Overall omission rate (not responding on go-trials) - error response |
| noGoTrialCountOverall | Number of nogo-trials ('noise trials') overall |
| commissionRateOverall | Overall commission rate (responding on nogo-trials) - error response |
| corrRejectRateOverall | Overall correct rejection rate (not responding on nogo-trials) - correct response |
Signal Detection Measures |
|
| zHitRate | The calculate z-score of the hitRate during Phase X |
| zFARate | The calculated z-score of the falseAlarm/commission rate during Phase X *Adjustments to z-scores as recommended by Gregg, A. & Sedikides, C. (2010). Narcissistic Fragility Rethinking Its Links to Explicit and Implicit Self-esteem, Self and Identity, 9:2, 142-161 (p.148) => Adjustments are made if the FArate (hitRate) = 0 (increased to 0.005) or 1 (decreased to 0.995)* |
| dPrime | Computes d' (parametric measure of discriminability btw. signals and noise) => Range (in this script) -5.1516586840152740479 <= dprime <= 5.1516586840152740479 (=perfect performance) => The higher the value, the better signals (go stims) were overall distinguished from noise (nogo stims) (d' = 0: chance performance; negative d-primes: participant treated nontargets as targets and targets as nontargets) |
| c | C-criterion in signal detection:The absolute value of c provides an indication of the strength of the response bias/response style negative: participant more likely to report that signal is present (liberal response style) may favor faster responding in speed-accuracy trade-off response paradigms positive: favoring caution (conservative response style) |
| omissionErrorsOverall | Total number of times participant made an omission Error -> missed response to a target 'no' (out of a total of 120 targets = 6blocks * 20targetsPerBlock) => Lemos & Feniman (2010): measure of inattention |
| commissionErrorsOverall | Total number of times participant made a commission Error -> response to a non-target (out of 480 nontargets) => Lemos & Feniman (2010): measure of impulsivity |
| totalErrorsOverall | Sum of all errors (out of 600) |
| vigilanceReduction | The difference in (hits from block1 - hits in block6) => Lemos & Feniman (2010): measure of sustained attention |
Per Block |
|
| goTrialCount1 | Number of go-trials in block1 |
| noGoTrialCount1 | Number of nogo-trials in block1 |
| propCorrect1 | Proportion correct responses in block1 |
| omissions1 | Number of omission errors made in block1 (missed responses to targets); out of 20 targets |
| commissions1 | Number of commission errors made in block1 (responses to non-targets); out of 80 nontargets |
| errors1 | Sum of omission and commission errors in block1 |
| hitRT1 | Mean hit response time (in ms) in block1 (same for block2-block6) |
File Name: saaat_raw*.iqdat
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| build | Inquisit version number |
| computer.platform | Device platform: win | mac |ios | android |
| date | Date the session was run |
| time | Time the session was run |
| subject | Participant ID |
| group | Group number |
| session | Session number |
| blockCode | Name of the current block |
| blockNum | Number of the current block |
| trialCode | Name of the current trial |
| trialNum | Number of the current trial |
| phase | Practice vs. test |
| blockCounterPerPhase | Counts the number of blocks run in the current phase |
| trialCounterPerBlock | Counts the number of trials run in the current block |
| trialType | "target" vs. "noTarget" |
| stim | Stores the itemnumber of the presented soundfile |
| stimulusItem | Presented soundfile |
| response | The response of participant |
| respCategory | "hit", "miss", "correctReject", "falseAlarm" |
| corrResp | Stores the correct response for the current trial |
| correct | Correctness of response (1 = correct, 0 = error) |
| latency | Response latency (in ms); measured from: onset of trial |
The procedure can be adjusted by setting the following parameters.
| Name | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|
| randomStimOrder | True: a new random stim/word order is run for each block false: the semi-randomly pregenerated list.stimSequence is used for each block and run in fixed order | false |
| maxNumberOfPracticeBlocks | The maximum number of practice blocks that are run | 2 |
| minPracticeAcc | The minimum percent correct practice performance at the end of practice that needs to be achieved to continue with the test | 0.85 |
Timing Parameters |
||
| stimSOAMS | The stimulus onset asynchrony (in ms) of each spoken word | 1000 |