Last Modified: November 21, 2025 by K. Borchert (katjab@millisecond.com) for Millisecond Software, LLC
Script Copyright © Millisecond Software, LLC
This script implements the BART (Lejuez et al, 2002), a measure of impulsivity and risk aversion.
Lejuez, C. W., Read, J. P., Kahler, C. W., Richards, J.B., Ramsey, S. E., Stuart, G. L., et al. (2002). Evaluation of a behavioral measure of risk-taking: The Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART). Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, 8, 75–84.
7 minutes
Participants are given 30 (default) balloons. For each balloon they get the choice to pump up the balloon or collect their winnings. For each successful pump, they can earn money. However, if a balloon pops before participants collect their potential winnings, they lose all their potential winnings for the current balloon. The average number of pumps for unexploded balloons is the main Dependent Variable in this paradigm. High numbers indicate increased risk seeking behavior.
• 30 ballons to pump up
• each (successful) pump increases the possible winnings gained from this balloon
Determination of Explosionpoints: random for each balloon
script samples randomly without replacement from a list of numbers 1-128: once the 1 gets sampled, the current balloon pops.
The probability that the 1 gets sampled increases after each successful pump.
• participant can decide whether to "collect" the winnings or keep pumping to increase the
reward further. Participants are told that each balloon will explode at some point and that in the
case of an exploding balloon no money will be won from the popped balloon. Further, participants are alerted to
the fact that some balloons may explode after only 1 pump while others may fill up the entire screen before they explode.
•after 30 balloons have been pumped, the experiment is over, and participants can collect their total winnings
Instructions can be easily edited in bart_instructions_inc.iqjs (or language specific script)
File Name: bart_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 |
| totalEarnings | Sums up the earnings across balloons |
| balloonCount | Running total of number of balloons |
| balloonCount1 | Separate measures for number of balloons for the first third (trials 1-10) |
| balloonCount2 | Separate measures for number of balloons for the second third (trials 11-20) |
| balloonCount3 | Separate measures for number of balloons for the last third (trials 21-30) |
| totalExplosions | The number of exploded balloons |
| totalExplosions1 | Separate measures for the number of totalExplosions for the first third (trials 1-10) |
| totalExplosions2 | Separate measures for the number of totalExplosions for the second third (trials 11-20) |
| totalExplosions3 | Separate measures for the number of totalExplosions for the last third (trials 21-30) |
| nonExplodedBalloons | The number of balloons out of (default) 30 that did NOT explode |
| nonExplodedBalloons1 | Separate measures for the number of nonExplodedBalloons for the first third (trials 1-10) |
| nonExplodedBalloons2 | Separate measures for the number of nonExplodedBalloons for the second third (trials 11-20) |
| nonExplodedBalloons3 | Separate measures for the number of nonExplodedBalloons for the last third (trials 21-30) |
| totalPumpCount | Total number of times the participant presses the pump button across all balloons (includes exploded balloons) |
| totalPumpCount1 | Separate measures for the first third (trials 1-10) |
| totalPumpCount2 | Separate measures for the second third (trials 11-20) |
| totalPumpCount3 | Separate measures for tthe last third (trials 21-30) |
| averagePumpCount | The mean average pump count (includes exploded balloons) |
| averagePumpCount1 | Separate measures for the mean average pump count for the first third (trials 1-10) |
| averagePumpCount2 | Separate measures for the mean average pump count for the second third (trials 11-20) |
| averagePumpCount3 | Separate measures for the mean average pump count for the last third (trials 21-30) |
| adjustedTotalPumpCount | Sums up the pumps of balloons that did not explode |
| adjustedTotalPumpCount1 | Separate measures for the pumps of balloons that did not explode for the first third (trials 1-10) |
| adjustedTotalPumpCount2 | Separate measures for the pumps of balloons that did not explode for the second third (trials 11-20) |
| adjustedTotalPumpCount3 | Separate measures for the pumps of balloons that did not explode for the last third (trials 21-30) |
| adjustedAveragePumpCount | Mean number of pumps only of balloons that did not explode (=Main Dependent Variable) the lower the number the more risk averse the participant |
| adjustedAveragePumpCount1 | Separate measures for pumps only of balloons that did not explode for the first third (trials 1-10) |
| adjustedAveragePumpCount2 | Separate measures for pumps only of balloons that did not explode for the second third (trials 11-20) |
| adjustedAveragePumpCount3 | Separate measures for pumps only of balloons that did not explode for the last third (trials 21-30) |
| postExplosionAdjustmentScore | Measures sensitivity to punishment/loss Difference in the mean number of pumps after successful collection - mean number of pumps after explosions => positive: trials after explosions had on average lower pump counts (sensitive to punishment) => negative: trials after explosions had on average higher pump counts (sensitive to losses) |
| postExplosionAdjustmentScore1 | Separate measures for the first third (trials 1-10) |
| postExplosionAdjustmentScore2 | Separate measures for the second third (trials 11-20) |
| postExplosionAdjustmentScore3 | Separate measures for the last third (trials 21-30) |
File Name: bart_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. |
| balloonCount | Running total of number of balloons |
| response | The participant's response |
| latency | The response latency (in ms) |
| pumpCount | Number of times the participant presses the pump button for each balloon (resets for each balloon) |
| pumpResult | The selected digit from list.pumpResult (1 = balloon explodes) |
| totalEarnings | Currently earned reward up to this point |
| timeBefore1stPump | Time (in ms) before 1.pump |
| timeBeforeCollectWithoutPump | Time (in ms) before collecting without pumping first |
| timeBtwLastPumpAndCollect | Time (in ms) btw. last pump and collect |
| timeBtwPumps | Time (in ms) between pumps (excluding time before first pump) |
| meanTimeBtwPumps | Mean time between pumps for each balloon |
The procedure can be adjusted by setting the following parameters.
| Name | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|
| totalBalloons | Number of balloons: Default is 30 this script includes summary variables that distinguish between the first third (here balloons: 1-10), the second third (here balloons: 11-20), and the third (here balloons: 21-30). | 30 |
| pumpValue | Payoff per pump: Default is $.05 | 0.05 |
| balloonSizeIncrement | Ballon size increment in scale proportion to the original image | 0.01 |
| showPumpCount | Show current pump count true: pump count is shown to participant (default) false: pump count is not shown to participant | true |
| showBalloonCount | Show current balloon count true: ballon count is shown to participant (default) false: ballon count is not shown to participant | true |
| showPotentialEarnings | Show potential earnings for the current balloon (default) true: potential earnings for the current balloon is shown to participant (default) false: potential earnings for the current balloon is not shown to participant | true |