Script Author: Katja Borchert, Ph.D. (katjab@millisecond.com), Millisecond
Created: April 26, 2022
Last Modified: September 02, 2026 by K. Borchert (katjab@millisecond.com), Millisecond
Script Copyright © Millisecond Software, LLC
This script implements a simple reaction time task inspired by the 'Detection Task' of the CogState Brief Battery described by Maruff et al (2009). The DET is a computerized measure of psychomotor function and information processing speed. The task uses playing cards as targets and is developed for touchscreens but the Inquisit implementation will adapt to mouse use on non-touchscreens.
Note: the Inquisit script runs with proportional sizing by default. Researchers can select to run the task with an absolute screen size to ensure that distances stay the same across devices. See section Defaults for more info.
Maruff P, Thomas E, Cysique L, Brew B, Collie A, Snyder P, Pietrzak RH. Validity of the CogState brief battery: relationship to standardized tests and sensitivity to cognitive impairment in mild traumatic brain injury, schizophrenia, and AIDS dementia complex. Arch Clin Neuropsychol. 2009 Mar;24(2):165-78. doi: 10.1093/arclin/acp010. Epub 2009 Mar 25. PMID: 19395350.
3 minutes
Participants get presented with a deck of joker cards and the cards will be turned over one by one with randomly selected delays. Once a joker card is turned over, participants are instructed to press a YES response button as quickly as possible. Once the response is made, an animation is started that 'returns' the card back to the stack. The next trial is initiated once participants press a 'Home Button'. The 'Home Button' is implemented to ensure that response fingers are roughly equally distanced from the YES response button for each trial.
see section Editable Stimuli
provided by Millisecond - can be edited under section Editable Instructions
in script 'detectiontask_instructions_inc.iqjs'
File Name: detectiontask_raw*.iqdat
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| startDate | Date the session was run |
| startTime | Time the session was run |
| subjectId | Participant ID |
| groupId | Group number |
| sessionId | Session number |
| 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 |
| elapsedTime | Session duration in ms |
| completed | 0 = Test was not completed 1 = Test was completed |
| distanceHomeButtonResponseButtonMM | The calculated distance (in mm) between center of homeButton and center of one of the response buttons |
Parameter Settings |
|
| blocksPerTest | Number of test blocks run |
| trialsPerBlock | Number of trials per block to run |
Accuracy |
|
| trialCounter | Number of test trials run |
| prCounter | Number of premature lift-offs (results in trial repeat) |
| nrCounter | Number of no responses (response is timed out, counted as error response) |
| propCorrect | Proportion of yes-responses relative to trialCount |
Reaction Time Performance Metrics (Response Time Measured Relative To Target Onset; Excludes No Responses) |
|
| meanRT | Mean response time (in ms) |
| sdRT | Standard deviation of response times (in ms) |
| meanRTLog10 | Log10 transformed mean response time |
| sdRTLog10 | Log10 transformed sd of response times |
| medianRT | Median response time (in ms) |
| minRT | Minimum response time (in ms) |
| maxRT | Maximum response time (in ms) |
Delay Performance Metrics |
|
| meanDelay | Mean delay time (in ms) |
| sdDelay | Standard deviation of delay times (in ms) |
| medianDelay | Median delay time (in ms) |
| minDelay | Minimum delay time (in ms) |
| maxDelay | Maximum delay time (in ms) |
File Name: detectiontask_raw*.iqdat
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| date | Date the session was run |
| time | Time the session was run |
| subject | Participant ID |
| group | Group number |
| session | Session number |
| 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 |
| distanceHomeButtonResponseButtonMM | The calculated distance (in mm) between center of homeButton and center of one of the response buttons |
| 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. |
| blockCounter | The total number of experimental blocks run |
| trialCounter | Counts the target and nontarget trials per block ( start trials are excluded from count) |
Dvs |
|
| response | The Response of the participant |
| correct | The correctness of the response (1 = correct; 0 = otherwise) |
| latency | How fast a participant responded within the given timeframe, if at all (in ms) no responses = the entire trialduration |
The procedure can be adjusted by setting the following parameters.
| Name | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|
Design Parameters |
||
| blocksPerTest | Number of blocks per test | 1 |
| trialsPerBlock | Number of n-back trials per block (excluding starttrials) | 35 |
Color Parameter |
||
| canvasColor | Display color of the actively used portion of the screen (the 'canvas') if set to a color other than the screenColor, you can distinguish the active canvas from the inactive portion of the screen | black |
| screenColor | Color of the screen not used by the canvas ('inactive screen') | black |
| defaultTextColor | Default color of text items | white |
Sizing Parameters |
||
| cardSizePct | The height of the cards in canvas height percentage | 40% |
Timing Parameters |
||
| minDelayMs | The minimum delay (in ms) with which the joker can be be uncovered | 500 |
| maxDelayMs | The maximum delay (in ms) with which the joker can be be uncovered | 5000 |
| homeButtonBufferDurationMs | The max. time (in ms) that participants can stray from the home button before joker appears (otherwise trial gets repeated) | 250 |
| maxResponseTimeoutMs | The maximum time (in ms) that test waits for a response before timing out | 2000 |