Anagram Riddle Task - ART

Technical Manual

Script Author: Katja Borchert, Ph.D. (katjab@millisecond.com), Millisecond

Created: January 06, 2024

Last Modified: January 18, 2025 by K. Borchert (katjab@millisecond.com), Millisecond

Script Copyright © Millisecond Software, LLC

Background

This script implements Millisecond's version of the Anagram Riddle Task, a performance based measure of persistence based on Ventura et al (2013).

References

Ventura, M., Shute, V., & Zhao, W. (2013). The relationship between video game use and a performance-based measure of persistence. Computers and Education, 60(1), 52–58. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2012.07.003

Duration

30 minutes

Description

Participants are presented with 4 randomly order of sets that consist of anagrams and riddles. They have 2 minutes for each task and can submit as many solutions as they want to within that timeframe until they get the correct response or are timed out. They also get a 'Skip' button. Once they submit the Skip button, the problem ends and the next one starts.

Procedure

(1) Instruction

(2) Test: 4 problem sets (A,B,C,D) - order randomized ( Ventura et al (2013) counterbalanced the orders)
Each problem set presents:
- 7 anagrams (problem sets A/B present them first)
- 5 riddles (problem sets C/D present them first)
=> across all problem sets
- 28 anagrams (14 easy, 14 hard)
- 20 riddles (10 easy, 10 hard)

Trial Sequence:
- problem presentation (textbox + skip button + guess button) for Max: 2 Min (editable parameters)
- unlimited guesses (with error feedback for 500ms) within the time limit
- skip button can be pressed and submitted (via 'guess' button) at any point

Evaluation:
- Timed-out Responses:
=> if the response is timed out,
whatever answer may still be lingering unsubmitted in the textbox
is still considered for evaluation.
Thus, if a person solved the anagram but ran out of time to press the 'guess' button,
the unsubmitted correct response is counted as correct in this script.
This applies even if the skip button was selected at time of time-out (a skipped trial is only one
that was *explicitly* skipped via 'guess' button submission in this script).
A timed-out response ends the current trial. Any trial that is timed-out and is not evaluated
as correct (see below), receives a 'timed-out' response for 500ms

- Skip Button Submission:
=> Once the skip button is selected and EXPLICITLY submitted via 'guess' button,
the trial will be counted as 'skipped' and the response is automatically evaluated as incorrect.
Any skip-submission ends the current trial.

- Correct Solutions:
=> any correct response that is explicitly submitted via the 'guess' button or is left-over in the
textbox for a timed-out trial receives a 500ms 'correct' feedback and ends the trial

- Incorrect Solutions
=> an incorrect submitted response within the time limit results in a 500ms 'error' feedback
penalty in this script before being returned to the textbox page for another attempt

Stimuli

provided by Ventura et al (2013) - can be edited under section 'Editable Stimuli'

Instructions

provided by Ventura et al (2013) - can be edited under section 'Editable Instructions'

Summary Data

File Name: anagramriddletask_summary*.iqdat

Data Fields

NameDescription
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
problemSetOrder The order in which the problem sets (A,B,C,D) were presented
countAnagramsEasy Number of Easy Anagrams presented across all test blocks
skipAnagramsEasy Number of Easy Anagrams explicitly skipped
propCorrectAnagramsEasy Proportion of correct Easy Anagrams (relative to total number of Easy Anagrams presented)
meanRTAnagramsEasy Mean time (in ms) spent on Easy Anagrams
meanCorrRTAnagramsEasy Mean correct solution time (in ms) for Easy Anagrams
meanSkipRTAnagramsEasy Mean skip time (in ms) for Easy Anagrams (if skipped)
countAnagramsHard Number of Hard Anagrams presented across all test blocks
skipAnagramsHard Number of Hard Anagrams explicitly skipped
propCorrectAnagramsHard Proportion of correct Hard Anagrams (relative to total number of Hard Anagrams presented)
meanRTAnagramsHard Mean time (in ms) spent on Hard Anagrams
meanCorrRTAnagramsHard Mean correct solution time (in ms) for Hard Anagrams
meanSkipRTAnagramsEasy Mean skip time (in ms) for Hard Anagrams (if skipped)
countRiddlesEasy Number of Easy Riddles presented across all test blocks
skipRiddlesEasy Number of Easy Riddles explicitly skipped
propCorrectRiddlesEasy Proportion of correct Easy Riddles (relative to total number of Easy Riddles presented)
meanRTRiddlesEasy Mean time (in ms) spent on Easy Riddles
meanCorrRTRiddlesEasy Mean correct solution time (in ms) for Easy Riddles
meanSkipRTRiddlesEasy Mean skip time (in ms) for Easy Riddles (if skipped)
countRiddlesHard Number of Hard Riddles presented across all test blocks
skipRiddlesHard Number of Hard Riddles explicitly skipped
propCorrectRiddlesHard Proportion of correct Hard Riddles (relative to total number of Hard Riddles presented)
meanRTRiddlesHard Mean time (in ms) spent on Hard Riddles
meanCorrRTRiddlesHard Mean correct solution time (in ms) for Hard Riddles
meanSkipRTRiddlesHard Mean skip time (in ms) for Hard Riddles (if skipped)

Raw Data

File Name: anagramriddletask_raw*.iqdat

Data Fields

NameDescription
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.
problemSetOrder The order in which the problem sets (A,B,C,D) are presented
( decided during runtime)
problemSetName "A", "B", "C" or "D"
problemCountPerSet Tracks number of problems per set
index The index of the currently presented problem
problemType "anagram" vs. "riddle"
problem The actual problem presented
problemSolution The problem's solution
problemDifficulty "easy" vs. "hard"
problemRT Time (in ms) spent on the problem
currentSuggestion The current suggested solution
guesses Number of guesses
acc 1=correct solution; 0 = otherwise
skip 1 = question was explicitly skipped; 0 = otherwise
skipCounterPerSet Tracks the number of explicit skips per set
skipCounterTotal Tracks the number of explicit skips across all sets
to 1 = question was timed out; 0 = otherwise
response The response of participant (scancode of response button)
correct Correctness of response (1 = correct, 0 = error)
latency Response latency (in ms); measured from: onset of trial

Parameters

The procedure can be adjusted by setting the following parameters.

NameDescriptionDefault
Timing Parameters
problemTimeOutMS The time (in ms) allotted for each problem120000
feedbackDurationMS The time (in ms) used up for each problem feedback stim500
Ui
showTimer True: a countdown timer is presented on screen for each problem
false: the countdown timer is not presented on screen
true