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
This script implements the Auditory Attention Network Test (ANT-A) as suggested by Wu et al (2021). The ANT-A is an approximate auditory analog of the visual ANT-R (Fan et al, 2009). As part of the ANT tasks, the ANT-A is a behavioral measure of alerting, orienting and executive attention.
The original ANT-R (e-prime, version 1) can be downloaded at: https://people.qc.cuny.edu/Faculty/Jin.Fan/Pages/Downloads.aspx
30 minutes
Participants are presented two binaurally sounds sequentially. The first sound is the TARGET sound. It can either be long or short (and of a high or low frequency). The second sound is the 'flanker'. It can either be long or short (it always has the same frequency as the target).
If both sounds are of the same length, the sounds are congruent. If they are not, they are incongruent. Participants have to press one key when the TARGET sound is short, and another when the target sound is long (all irrespective of the length of the flanker sound.)
The two sounds may be preceded by a binaurally cue sound. This cue sound falls into four different categories: 1. no cue => no cue sound is actually played 2. double cue => one high frequency and one low frequency tone is played through each ear 3. valid cue => the binaurally cues are of the same frequency as the following target 4. invalid cue => the binaurally cues are of the opposite frequency as the following target
Differences in mean reaction times in the different cue/flanker conditions can be used to calculate several Attentional Network Effects.
A) Practice
Practice is run by script ant_auditory_practice.iqx
B) 4 Blocks of 72 trial sequences each - no feedback
(2 blocks use the same predetermined sequence, then they get repeated)
- 12 nocue; 12 doubleCue; 12 invalid frequency cue; 36 valid frequency cues trials per block
- conditions are counterbalanced across 2 blocks (144 trials)
TRIAL SEQUENCE - order of cueCondition is predetermined
-> (frequency) cue (115ms), presented in left and right ear
-> fixation: cue-target ISI (675ms)
-> target (30ms OR 150ms), binaurally presented ( a temporal buffer btw. target and flanker has been added by Millisecond, see editable parameters.targetFlankerIsi)
-> flanker (30ms OR 150ms), binaurally presented
-> fixation after target for a minimum of 500ms (depends on response time. If longer than 500ms
the duration of this fixation cross will be longer but the surplus time will then be subtracted from
the following target-cue ISI)
-> fixation during target-cue ISI (2000-12000ms, Mean = 4000) - same as visual ANT-R
1) Response Window: not specified by Wu et al (2021). This script uses the settings from the visual ANT-R
of max.1700ms.
! this script uses the predetermined trialsequences used in the original e-prime program
of the visual ANT-R (https://people.qc.cuny.edu/Faculty/Jin.Fan/Pages/Downloads.aspx)
provided by Millisecond.
The soundfiles were created with Audacity.
They can easily be replaced under section Editable Stimuli.
provided by Millisecond.
They can easily be replaced/modified. See script ant_auditory_test_instructions.iqjs
File Name: ant_auditory_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 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 |
| minValidlatency | Minimum response latency (in ms) that is considered valid and not anticipatory (default: 0) (Parameter) |
| trialCount | Counts the number of trials run, across testblocks |
| overallPropCorrect | Total percent correct; across testblocks |
| meanRT | Mean response latency (in ms) of correct and valid responses across testblocks |
| stdR | Standard deviation of latencies of correct and valid responses across testblocks |
| alertingRT | RTnoCue - RTdoubleCue |
| orientingRT | RTdoubleCue - RTvalidCue |
| validityRT | RTinvalidCue - RTvalidCue |
| disengagingRT | RTinvalidCue - RTdoubleCue |
| flankerConflictRT | RTflanker incongruent - RTflanker congruent |
| alertingByFlankerConflictRT | (RTnoCue, flanker incongruent - RTnoCue, flanker congruent) - (RTdoubleCue, flanker incongruent - RTdoubleCue, flanker congruent) |
| orientingByFlankerConflictRT | (RTdoubleCue, flanker incongruent - RTdoubleCue, flanker congruent) - (RTvalidCue, flanker incongruent - RTvalidCue, flanker congruent) |
| validityByFlankerConflictRT | (RTinvalidCue, flanker incongruent - RTinvalidCue, flanker congruent) - (RTvalidCue, flanker incongruent - RTvalidCue, flanker congruent) |
| disengagingByFlankerConflictRT | (RTinvalidCue, flanker incongruent - RTinvalidCue, flanker congruent) - (RTdoubleCue, flanker incongruent - RTdoubleCue, flanker congruent) All effects are calculated based on the means of correct and valid responses (for interpretation, see Fan et al, 2009, p.212-213) |
File Name: ant_auditory_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 |
| blockCount | Counts the number of experimental blocks run |
| blockCode | Name of the current block |
| trialCount | Counts the number of trials run (resets for each block) |
| trialCode | Name of the current trial |
| cueCondition | The current cue condition 1 = no cue 2 = double cue 3 = valid frequency cue1 4 = invalid frequency cue |
| cueValidity | The (frequency) validity of the current cue |
| flankerCongruence | The current flanker congruence condition 1 = congruent => flanker and target sound are of the same length 2 = incongruent |
| targetFrequency | Current frequency of target 1 = low (here: 1000Hz) 2 = high (here: 1500Hz) |
| targetLength | The current length of the target sound 1 = short (->left key) 2 = long (->right key) this setting determines correct response |
| targetDurationMS | The assigned target duration (in ms) |
| flankerDurationMS | The assigned flanker duration (in ms) |
| ctISI | Stores the current interstimulus interval between offset of cue and onset of target in ms |
| tcISI | Stores the current interstimulus interval between offset of target and onset of next cue in ms |
| corrResp | The currently correct response key |
| response | The response of participant (scancode of response button: 18 = left E; 23 = right I; 57 = space) |
| responseText | Label of response button |
| latency | Response latency (in ms); measured from onset of target |
| valid | 1 = valid latency (latency >= (parameter) minValidlatency); 0 = anticipatory latency |
| correct | Correct of response regardless of validity (1 = correct; 0 = error) |
| validCorrect | Correctness of responses taking latency into account (1 = correct AND valid; 0 = otherwise) |
| sound.cueL.currentItem | Store the sound file used for the left-panned cue |
| sound.cueR.currentItem | Store the sound file used for the right-panned cue |
| sound.aTarget.currentItem | Store the sound file used for the target |
| sound.aflanker.currentItem | Store the sound file used for the flanker |
Parameters |
|
| targetDuration | The maximal duration of the target/flanker presentation in ms (default: 500ms) |
| responsewindow | Maximum amount of time (in ms) participant can respond after target onset (default: 1700ms) |
| minValidlatency | Minimum response latency (in ms) that is considered valid and not anticipatory (default: 0) |
The procedure can be adjusted by setting the following parameters.
| Name | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|
| fontSizeFixation | Regulates the size of the fixation cross, in canvas height percentage | 5% |
| volumeSignal | Controls the volume reduction for the signal beep ( range -10000 to 0) | 0 |
| volumeTarget | Controls the volume reduction for the target/flanker beeps ( range -10000 to 0) | 0 |
Timing Parameters |
||
| fixationBlockStart | The duration (in ms) of the fixation cross at the start of each block | 3000 |
| cueDuration | The cue duration (in ms) | 115 |
| targetDuration1 | The duration (in ms) for the short target duration | 30 |
| targetDuration2 | The duration (in ms) for the long target duration if you change these durations, you need to change the respective sound files under section Editable Stimuli | 150 |
| targetDurationV | This is the duration (in ms) of the visual target in the visual ANT In this script, it is used as the minimum time after target onset that the main trial ends and the target-cue interval trial starts. | 500 |
| targetFlankerIsi | The interstimulus interval (inms) btw. target and flanker this termporal 'buffer' was not specified in Wu et al (2023) but deemed advantageous by Millisecond to have the beeps presented as a beep sequence of discrete beeps | 200 |
| responseWindow | The time (in ms) allowed for response making | 1700 |
| mInvalidLatency | Minimum response latency (in ms) that is considered valid and not anticipatory | 0 |
Response Key Parameters |
||
| responseKeyLeft | The left response key | "E" |
| responseKeyRight | The right response key | "I" |
| responseKeyShort | Assignment of left response key to be the 'short' key | parameters.responseKeyLeft |
| responseKeyLong | Assignment of right response key to be the 'long' key | parameters.responseKeyRight |
Debugging |
||
| tCIsiMonkey | Use '-999' to run the regularly scheduled targetCueISI otherwise set the duration here to speed up monkey testing | -999 |