Script Author: Katja Borchert, Ph.D. (katjab@millisecond.com), Millisecond
Credits:
Millisecond thanks Dr. Christopher Was for sharing all source material for the task!
Created: October 24, 2017
Last Modified: November 18, 2025 by K. Borchert (katjab@millisecond.com), Millisecond
Script Copyright © Millisecond Software, LLC
The Activated Long Term Memory (ALTM) Task studies the availability in conceptually related LTM representations of previously processed information. It uses a Memory Load Task to activate concepts in Long Term Memory.
This Inquisit script is based on an original ALTM e-prime script shared by Dr. Christopher Was. It implements a category priming task.
Woltz, D. J., & Was, C. A. (2006). Activation in long-term memory during and after attention focus in working memory. Memory and Cognition, 34(3), 668-684
Was, C. A., & Woltz, D. J. (2007). Reexamining the relationship between working memory and comprehension: The role of available long-term memory. Journal of Memory and Language, 56(1), 86-102.
Was, C. A., J. Dunlosky, J., Bailey, H. & Rawson, K.A. (2012). The unique contributions of the facilitation of procedural memory and working memory to individual differences in intelligence. Acta Psychologica 139 (2012) 425-433
30 minutes
Each of the 18 rounds of the ALTM task in this script consists of 3 phases:
Phase1: Word List Presentation (Memory Load) Participants are presented word lists consisting of 5 words of two different categories. Each word is presented for 2s.
Phase2: Facilitation Task A recall test asks participants 'which of the two categories was there more of'.
Phase3: Likeness Comparisons of word pairs For half the rounds (9) the test words come from the same two categories used during phase 1. For the remaining rounds (9) the test words come from unrelated two categories.
PRACTICE:
• 2 rounds, 1 set per round (4 sets are provided, but sets 3 & 4 are not run*, see list.setNRPractice
under section Editable Lists); the sets are selected in sequential order
• everything else is the same as the test trials
TEST:
• 18 rounds, 1 set per round (24 sets are provided, but sets 16, 17, 19, 22, 23, 24 are not run*, see list.setNr
under section Editable Lists); the sets are selected in sequential order
• each round divided into 3 phases:
(1) word list presentation: 5 words are presented, each is presented for 2s (with SOA=2s, default)
- 3 of the words come from the Fconcept (F = focused) category, 2 come from the Iconcept (I = Ignored) category
- 6 different orders of Fconcept and Iconcept words are run in a fixed sequential order throughout the script:
"IFIFF", "FIFIF", "FIFFI", "IFFIF", "FIIFF", "IFFFI", see list.presentationOrder under section Editable Lists
List Presentations Timing:
get Ready (2500ms)->blank(1000ms)->fixation(750ms) ->
->word1(2000ms)->isi:blank(0ms)->....->word5(2000ms)->isi:blank(0ms)->iti:blank(1000ms) (end of word list presentation)
(2) recall task: unlimited time to respond
- the assigned response keys to the F and I concepts are selected randomly (without replacement)
(F concept is the 'Focused' concept and thus the one presented more of)
Recall Timing:
recall delay: blank screen (500ms) -> recall question (up until response) -> isi: blank screen (500ms)
-> Feedback (up until response) -> iti: blank (500ms) (end of recall procedure)
(3) word comparisons: unlimited time to respond
(a) warm-up trials: 4 warm up trials (2 same, 2 different => order of word pairs is randomized)
=> warm-up comparisons use words unrelated to any of the categories from the test comparison trials
=> half the comparisons are same/like, half are different
(b) 8 test comparison trials
=> for half the rounds (9), the comparison pairs come from the F and I concept categories (= primedSets)
(the remaining rounds (9) use comparison pairs that come from two other categories = unprimed Sets)
=> half the comparisons are same/like, half are different
=> fixed order of comparison pairs
Comparison Procedure Timing:
comp delay: blank (500ms) -> get Ready (4000ms) ->procedure start:
isi1: blank (1000ms) -> Fixation (500ms) -> isi2: blank (750ms) -> Comparison Words (until response) ->
isi1: blank (1000ms) -> Fixation (500ms) -> isi2: blank (750ms) -> Comparison Words (until response) ->
...last comparison ->
feedback delay: blank (1000ms) -> feedback (until response) -> iti: blank (2000ms) (end of comparison procedure)
• reduced number of sets:
the script procedure implemented in this Inquisit script follows closely the one run by the original eprime script
shared by Dr. Christopher Was. The original e-prime script provides 24 sets of which 18 are run.
(1) List Presentations Timing:
get Ready (2500ms)->blank(1000ms)->fixation(750ms) ->
->word1(2000ms)->isi:blank(0ms)->....->word5(2000ms)->isi:blank(0ms)->iti:blank(1000ms) (end of word list presentation)
(2) Recall Timing:
recall delay: blank screen (500ms) -> recall question (up until response) -> isi: blank screen (500ms)
-> Feedback (up until response) -> iti: blank (500ms) (end of recall procedure)
(3) Comparison Procedure Timing:
comp delay: blank (500ms) -> get Ready (4000ms) ->procedure start:
isi1: blank (1000ms) -> Fixation (500ms) -> isi2: blank (750ms) -> Comparison Words (until response) ->
isi1: blank (1000ms) -> Fixation (500ms) -> isi2: blank (750ms) -> Comparison Words (until response) ->
...last comparison ->
feedback delay: blank (1000ms) -> feedback (until response) -> iti: blank (2000ms) (end of comparison procedure)
English stimuli provided by Dr. Christopher Was -
all practice and test sets are listed in script altm_instructions_inc.iqjs.
English instructions provided by Dr. Christopher Was -
all instructions are listed are listed in script altm_instructions_inc.iqjs.
you can also adjust the response keys used by this script in script altm_instructions_inc.iqjs.
For example, the English script uses D and L for 'Different' and 'Like', respectively.
File Name: altm_summary*.iqdat
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| inquisit.version | Inquisit version number |
| computer.platform | Device platform: win | mac |ios | android |
| computer.touch | 0 = device has no touchscreen capabilities; 1 = device has touchscreen capabilities |
| computer.hasKeyboard | 0 = no external keyboard detected; 1 = external keyboard detected |
| startdate | Date script was run |
| starttime | Time script was started |
| subjectid | Assigned subject id number |
| groupid | Assigned group id number |
| sessionid | Assigned session id number |
| elapsedtime | Time it took to run script (in ms); measured from onset to offset of script |
| completed | 0 = Test was not completed 1 = Test was completed |
| propCorrectRecall | Proportion correct recall performance |
| meanRTRecall | Mean latency (in ms) of correct recall responses |
| propCorrectCompPrimed | Proportion correct of answering comparison test questions of primed items (across FA, FM, IA, IM items) |
| meanRTCompPrimed | Mean latency (in ms) of making correct comparisons of primed test items (across FA, FM, IA, IM items) |
| uncorrMeanRTCompPrimed | Mean latency (in ms) of making comparisons of primed test items for both correct and incorrect responses (across FA, FM, IA, IM items) |
| speedCompPrimed | Relationship btw. proportion correct of answering comparison test questions of primed items to the mean response time (in min) of comparison trials of primed items (using the mean response time across correct and incorrect responses) => number of correct responses per minute for primed items |
| propCorrectCompUnprimed | Proportion correct of answering comparison test questions of unprimed items |
| meanRTCompUnprimed | Mean latency (in ms) of making correct comparisons of unprimed test items |
| uncorrMeanRTCompUnprimed | Mean latency (in ms) of making comparisons of unprimed test items for both correct and incorrect responses |
| speedCompUnprimed | Relationship btw. proportion correct of answering comparison test questions of unprimed items to the mean response time (in min) of comparison trials of unprimed items (using the mean response time across correct and incorrect responses) => number of correct responses per minute for unprimed items |
| responseSpeedChange | Difference in response speed btw. unprimed and primed word comparisons => positive: unprimed word comparisons take longer (Priming Effect) => negative: primed word comparisons take longer Was & Woltz (2007) use residual change scores (from regression analysis) rather than difference scores to measure the Priming Effect (see discussion on p.93) |
File Name: altm_raw*.iqdat
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| build | Inquisit version number |
| computer.platform | Device platform: win | mac |ios | android |
| computer.touch | 0 = device has no touchscreen capabilities; 1 = device has touchscreen capabilities |
| computer.hasKeyboard | 0 = no external keyboard detected; 1 = external keyboard detected |
| date | Date the session was run |
| time | Time the session was run |
| subject | Participant ID |
| group | Group number |
| session | Session number |
| blockcode | The name the current block (built-in Inquisit variable) |
| blocknum | The number of the current block (built-in Inquisit variable) |
| trialcode | The name of the currently recorded trial (built-in Inquisit variable) |
| trialnum | The number of the currently recorded trial (built-in Inquisit variable) trialnum is a built-in Inquisit variable; it counts all trials run even those that do not store data to the data file. |
| practice | 1 = practice round; 0 = test round |
| round | Counts the rounds run (1 round = 1 set); resets after practice |
| setNr | Stores the itemnumber of the currently presented set |
| setType | Stores the set type of the current set ("primed" vs. "unprimed") |
| setTypeNr | Stores the set type and number of the current set(UnprimedSet1, PrimedSet1....UnprimedSet12, PrimedSet12) |
| fConcept | Stores the Focused concept of the currently selected set ( Focused on during recall) |
| iConcept | Stores the Ignored concept of the currently selected set (Ignored during recall) |
| nConcept | Stores the Not used concept of the currently selected set (concept that is not used during the word list) |
| presentationOrder | Stores the selected presentation order of the Focused concept and Ignored Concept words for the current set |
| presentedStim | Stores the words in the order they were presented during the list presentation |
| recallQuestion | Helper variable to assign the left/right response buttons to F/I concept 1 = F concept is on the left (I oncept on the right) 2 = F concept is on the right (I concept on the left) |
| leftCategory | Stores the concept that is represented by the left response button during recall |
| rightCategory | Stores the concept that is represented by the right response button during recall |
| compStem | Stores the word presented on top (word 1 of each pair) for the current word comparison |
| compAlt | Stores the word presented on bottom (word 2 of each pair) for the current word comparison |
| primeType | Stores the primeType of the currently presented word comparison pair primed Sets FA - associated with focused concept IA - associated with ignored concept FM - presented (memorized) focused concept item IM - presented (memorized) ignored concept item unprimed Sets NA1 - dedicated comparison item for FA primes NA2 - dedicated comparison item for IA primes NM1 - dedicated comparison item for FM primes NM2 - dedicated comparison item for IM primes practice FAssocPos - associated with focused concept (positive match) FAssocNeg - associated with focused concept (negative match) IAssocPos - associated with ignored concept (positive match) IAssocNeg - associated with ignored concept (negative match) FAttnPos - associated with presented (memorized) focused concept (positive match) FAttnNeg - associated with presented (memorized) focused concept (negative match) IAttnPos - associated with presented (memorized) ignored concept (positive match) IAttnNeg - associated with presented (memorized) ignored concept (negative match) N1AssocPoc- dedicated comparisons for FAssocPos N1AssocNeg- dedicated comparisons for FAssocNeg N2AssocPoc- dedicated comparisons for IAssocPos N2AssocNeg- dedicated comparisons for IAssocNeg N1AttnPos- dedicated comparisons for FAttnPos N1AttnNeg- dedicated comparisons for FAttncNeg N2AttnPos- dedicated comparisons for IAttnPos N2AttnNeg- dedicated comparisons for IAttncNeg |
| response | The scancode of response button pressed |
| responseText | The label of the pressed response key |
| responseCategory | Recall: the participant selected concept ('Fconcept' vs. 'Iconcept') comparison: the participant selected likeness ('l' (like ~ same) vs. 'd' (different)) |
| correctResponse | Recall: the Fconcept category comparison: the correct likeness for the current word pair ('l' vs. 'd') |
| correct | Accuracy of participant's response: 1 = correct response; 0 = otherwise |
| latency | The response latency (in ms) recall: measured from: onset of question comparison: measured from: onset of the 2 comparison words |
| fmem1 | F words for the first set (F = Focused) |
| fmem2 | F words for the second set |
| fmem3 | F words for the second set |
| imem1 | I words for the first set (I = Ignored) |
| imem2 | I words for the second set |
| imem3 | I words for the third set |
| nmem1 | N words for the first set (N = Not used) |
| nmem2 | N words for the second set |
| nmem3 | N words for the third set |
| wrmL1Wrd1 | Word1 for first 'Like' trial during warmUp (for comparison trials) |
| wrmL1Wrd2 | Word2 for first 'Like' trial during warmUp (for comparison trials) |
| wrmL2Wrd1 | Word1 for second 'Like' trial during warmUp (for comparison trials) |
| wrmL2Wrd2 | Word2 for second 'Like' trial during warmUp (for comparison trials) |
| wrmD1Wrd1 | Word1 for first Different trial during warmUp (for comparison trials) |
| wrmD1Wrd2 | Word2 for first Different trial during warmUp (for comparison trials) |
| wrmD2Wrd1 | Word1 for second Different trial during warmUp (for comparison trials) |
| wrmD2Wrd2 | Word2 for second Different trial during warmUp (for comparison trials) |
| compWord11 | Stores the first word for comparison 1 |
| compWord12 | Stores the second word for comparison 1 |
| compWord1CompAns | Stores the correct answer ('l' (like) vs. 'd' (different)) for comparison word pair 1 |
| compWord1CompType | Stores the prime Type for comparison word pair 1 |
| compWord21 | Stores the first word for comparison 2 |
| compWord22 | Stores the second word for comparison 2 |
| compWord2CompAns | Stores the correct answer ('l' (like) vs. 'd' (different)) for comparison word pair 2 |
| compWord2CompType | Stores the prime Type for comparison word pair 2 |
| compWord31 | Stores the first word for comparison 3 |
| compWord32 | Stores the second word for comparison 3 |
| compWord3CompAns | Stores the correct answer ('l' (like) vs. 'd' (different)) for comparison word pair 3 |
| compWord3CompType | Stores the prime Type for comparison word pair 3 |
| compWord41 | Stores the first word for comparison 4 |
| compWord42 | Stores the second word for comparison 4 |
| compWord4CompAns | Stores the correct answer ('l' (like) vs. 'd' (different)) for comparison word pair 4 |
| compWord4CompType | Stores the prime Type for comparison word pair 4 |
| compWord51 | Stores the first word for comparison 5 |
| compWord52 | Stores the second word for comparison 5 |
| compWord5CompAns | Stores the correct answer ('l' (like) vs. 'd' (different)) for comparison word pair 5 |
| compWord5CompType | Stores the prime Type for comparison word pair 5 |
| compWord61 | Stores the first word for comparison 6 |
| compWord62 | Stores the second word for comparison 6 |
| compWord6CompAns | Stores the correct answer ('l' (like) vs. 'd' (different)) for comparison word pair 6 |
| compWord6CompType | Stores the prime Type for comparison word pair 6 |
| compWord71 | Stores the first word for comparison 7 |
| compWord72 | Stores the second word for comparison 7 |
| compWord7CompAns | Stores the correct answer ('l' (like) vs. 'd' (different)) for comparison word pair 7 |
| compWord7CompType | Stores the prime Type for comparison word pair 7 |
| compWord81 | Stores the first word for comparison 8 |
| compWord82 | Stores the second word for comparison 8 |
| compWord8CompAns | Stores the correct answer ('l' (like) vs. 'd' (different)) for comparison word pair 8 |
| compWord8CompType | Stores the prime Type for comparison word pair 8 |
The procedure can be adjusted by setting the following parameters.
| Name | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|
Sizing Parameters |
||
| fixationSize | Size of the fixation cross proportional to canvas | 8% |
| listWordSize | Size of the words presented in the word lists proportional to canvas | 8% |
| compWordSize | Size of the words presented for word comparisons | 5% |
Timing Parameters |
||
| getReadyWordList | Duration (in ms) of the 'get Ready for word list' trial | 2500 |
| wordListDelay | Duration (in ms) of the delay of presenting the fixation cross after the 'get ready' warning | 1000 |
| attnDuration | Duration (in ms) of the fixation cross before presening the word list | 750 |
| listWordPresentationDuration | Duration (in ms) of the words during word list presentation | 2000 |
| listPresentationIsi | Duration (in ms) of the interstimulus interval (blank screen) after offset of one stimulus and onset of the next (default: 0ms) => by default, in this script there is no blank screen presented in between stims => 2000ms + 0ms => Stimulus Onset Asynchrony of 2000ms | 0 |
| listPresentationIti | The intertrial interval (in ms) - blank screen- after the last list word presentation isi | 1000 |
| recallDelay | Duration (in ms) of the delay of the recall question | 500 |
| recallIsi | Duration (in ms) of the blank screen presented btw. recall response and recall feedback | 500 |
| recallIti | Duration (in ms) of the blank screen following the recall feedback trial | 500 |
| comparisonDelay | Duration (in ms) of the delay of the comparison procedure | 500 |
| warmUpGetReady | Duration (in ms) of the 'get Ready for first warm up comparison trial | 4000 |
| compAttnIsi1 | Duration (in ms) of blank screen before fixation crosses are presented | 1000 |
| compAttnPriming | Duration (in ms) of fixation crosses | 500 |
| compAttnIsi2 | Duration (in ms) of blank screen before the comparison words appear | 750 |
| comparisonFeedbackDelay | Duration (in ms) of blank screen after last comparison response before feedback is given | 1000 |
| comparisonIti | Duration (in ms) of blank screen after comparison feedback and before the next round starts (default: 2000ms | 2000 |