Auditory Verbal Learning Task with Delayed Verbal Recall - AVLT - Form 2

Technical Manual

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

Created: January 17, 2022

Last Modified: January 26, 2025 by K. Borchert (katjab@millisecond.com), Millisecond

Script Copyright © Millisecond Software, LLC

Background

This script implements an Inquisit version of the Modified Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (ModRey) by Hale et al (2019). The ModRey is a test of episodic memory performance in non-clinical and pre-clinical populations. It differs from the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT) by increasing its difficulty. Specifically the authors a) increased the number of items for the target and distractor lists from from 15 to 20 b) decreased the number of learning trials from 5 to 3 c) added an additional free recall trial of distractor list d) added a source memory task

The original ModRey presents the words orally and collects oral responses. This Inquisit implementation presents the words orally and collects soundcaptures of the spoken recall responses. These soundcaptures have to be manually scored for accuracy. Recognition and Source Responses (part2) are collected via keyboard input.

!Note: Millisecond also offers an alternative implementation of the Modrey with written recall input and the option of oral and/or visual word presentation. Written recall in those scripts is captured via textboxes that are scored by the script automatically.

References

Hale C, Last BS, Meier IB, Yeung LK, Budge M, Sloan RP, Small SA, Brickman AM. The ModRey: An Episodic Memory Test for Nonclinical and Preclinical Populations. Assessment. 2019 Sep;26(6):1154-1161. doi: 10.1177/1073191117723113. Epub 2017 Aug 11. PMID: 28799411; PMCID: PMC5829025.

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)

Duration

5 minutes

Description

Script Modrey_Part1.Iqjs:

(1) Learning Phase with Immediate Recall: Participants are presented a list of 20 verbal words (fixed sequence, list A), one at a time at a speed of 1 word per second. Once the list has finished, participants are asked to recall as many of the list words as they remember, in any order. The list learning/immediate recall task is repeated 2 more times.

(2) Introduction of Distractor List: Then participants are distracted with distractor list B (one time).

(3) Free Recall of List A: After listB, participants are asked to recall all words from list A (list A is not presented anymore)

------------------End of part1----------------------------------------

(4) Delay: 1.5h//

Script Modrey_Part2.Iqjs:

(5) Delayed recall of List A - participants work through through a delayed recall test of list A

(6) Delayed recall of List B - participants work through through a delayed recall test of list B

(7) Recognition Test (List A) - 66 trials -target words are list A words; -distractors are phonetically similar and list B words

(8) Source Test: List A and List B words are presented in fixed order and participant has to decide the words' source list (A or B)

Procedure

(I) 1 block: Free Recall Task of list A (LDFR)
- recall words from list A (self-paced, soundcaptures)

(II) 1 block: Free Recall Task of list B (LDFR_listB)
- recall words from list B (self-paced, soundcaptures)

(III) Recognition Task:
20 words from list A, 20 words from list B, and 26 non-list words are presented in fixed order.
For each word, participant has to decide whether the word is a list A word (=signal) or not
(=noise); responses via keyboard input

(IV) Source Task:
20 words from list A, 20 words from list B; presented in fixed order.
Participant is asked to categorize each word as listA or listB word.
responses via keyboard input

Stimuli

uses the words of the ModRey (Hale et al, 2019)
(words were pronounced with Google Translate and saved as .wav files)

can be run with version1 stimuli (see modrey_items_form1.iqjs)
can be run with version2 stimuli (see modrey_items_form2.iqjs)

Instructions

are provided by Millisecond - see script "modrey_oralrecall_part2_instructions_inc.iqjs"

Summary Data

File Name: modrey_oralrecall_part2_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 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
list Target/main list (A)
form Form 1
recallScoreIR Needs to be computed manually
recallScoreIRListB Needs to be computed manually
recallScoreSDFR Needs to be computed manually
recallScoreLDFR Needs to be computed manually
recallScoreFR Needs to be computed manually
recallScoreLDFRListB Needs to be computed manually
recogScore The number of correctly identified recognition items (Max: 66)
rHitsRecog Hitrate of correctly identifying list A words (list A words = signal)
rMissRecog Missrate of identifying list A words (list A words = signal)
rFAsRecog Commission rate of incorrectly identifying non-list A words as A words (list B + new words = noise)
rCRRecog Correct rejection rate of non-list A words
zHrRecog Calculates the z-score for the hitrate. Adjustments are made if the hitrate = 0 (increased to 0.005) or 1 (decreased to 0.995), see Gregg & Sedikides (2010)
zFrRecog Calculates the z-score for the commission rate. Adjustments are made if the commission rate = 0 (increased to 0.005) or 1 (decreased to 0.995), see Gregg & Sedikides (2010)
Adjustments to z-scores as recommended by Gregg & Sedikides (2010)
dPrimeRecog 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 (list A words) were overall distinguished from noise
(list B words and new words)
(d' = 0: chance performance
negative d-primes: participant treated noise as signals and signals as noise)
cRecog 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 (non-alcoholic stimuli) is present (liberal response style)
may favor faster responding in speed-accuracy trade-off response paradigms
positive: favoring caution (conservative response style)
sourceScore The number of correctly identified source items (Max: 40)
sourceCorrectA The number of correctly identified list A source items (Max: 20)
sourceCorrectB The number of correctly identified list B source items (Max: 20)

Raw Data

File Name: modrey_oralrecall_part2_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.
list Target/main list (A)
form Form 1
listCategory "A", "B" or "N"
stimulusItem The presented stimuli in order of trial presentation
stimulusNumber The itemnumber of the presented stimuli in order of trial presentation
response The participant's response
responseText The letter of the response key pressed (if applicable for Recog and Source)
correct The correctness of the response (1 = correct; 0 = incorrect)
latency The response latency (in ms)

Parameters

The procedure can be adjusted by setting the following parameters.

NameDescriptionDefault
Stimuli Parameters
runAudioWords True = run audio stimuli; false = does not run audio stimulitrue
runVisualWords True = run verbal stimuli; false = does not run audio stimuli
if both are set to 'true' they both appear
false
Timing Parameters
iti Duration (in ms) of a blank screen separating each word1000
Responsekey Assignment
signalKey Key used for 'signal' (e.g. old word)"Q"
noiseKey Key used for 'noise' (e.g. new word)"P"