Script Author: Katja Borchert, Ph.D. (katjab@millisecond.com), Millisecond
Created: January 18, 2014
Last Modified: January 08, 2023 by K. Borchert (katjab@millisecond.com), Millisecond
Script Copyright © Millisecond Software, LLC
This script implements a computerized performance-adaptive Math Task as described in:
Girdler, S. S., Turner, J. R., Sherwood, A., & Light, K. C. (1990). Gender differences in blood pressure control during a variety of behavioral stressors. Psychosomatic Medicine, 52, 571- 591.
And
Turner, J. R., Hewitt, J. K., Morgan, R. K., Carroll, D., Sims, J., & Kelly, K. A. (1986). Graded mental arithmetic as an active psychological challenge. International Journal of Psychophysiology, 3, 307-309.
4 minutes
Participants work on 40 (default) subtraction problems. Each problem consists of the presentation of the problem for 2s (default); the presentation of an "=" sign (default) for 1s (default), and the presentation of an answer to the problem for 1s (default).
Participants have to press one key (SPACEBAR) if the presented answer is the correct answer and simply wait if the presented answer is an incorrect answer. The subtraction problems are divided into 5 levels of difficulty (Turner et al, 1986). If participants make the correct choice, they move up a level of difficulty. If participants make an incorrect choice (or don't answer fast enough), they move down a level of difficulty.
- subtraction problems are divided into 5 levels of difficulty (Turner et al, 1986; only subtraction problems):
Level1: 1digit - 1 digit problems (e.g. 7 - 5)
Level2: 2digits - 1 digit problems (e.g. 28 - 4)
Level3: 2digits - 2digits problems (e.g. 56 - 23)
Level4: 3digits - 2digits problem (e.g. 487 - 67)
Level5: 3digits - 3digits problem (e.g. 359 - 128)
- problems are randomly generated for each levels
- participants work on 40 subtraction problems starting with a problem of midlevel difficulty (3).
- depending on performance they move up (correct decision) and down levels (incorrect decision)
- half the presented solutions are correct; the other half are incorrect foils
Trial Sequence:
a) Presentation of Problem for 2s (default) ->
b) presentation of '=' sign for 1s (default) ->
c) presentation of a solution (correct or incorrect) for 1s (Participants have entire time to make the choice whether
the answer is the correct solution to the problem or not)
d) immediate feedback for 500ms (to change feedback duration go to section TRIALS and follow further instructions)
Foil Creation: (Neither Girdler et al nor Turner et al provide an algorithm of how their foils were created)
Because a random generation of foils could potentially ending in very simple problems (mostly one would only have
to be able to pay attention to the last digits), a somewhat more complicated algorithm was used in this script:
- if subtrahend has only 1 digit OR correctsolution has only 1 digit => presented foil = correctsolution +/- 1
- if subtrahend has more than 1 digit AND correctsolution has more than 1 digit => presented foil = correctsolution +/- 10
math problems are randomly generated
Instructions are provided by Millisecond. They are not original to Girdler et al (1990) nor
to Turner et al (1986). Go to section Editable Instructions for more details.
File Name: mathtask_summary*.iqdat
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| inquisit.version | Inquisit version number |
| computer.platform | Device platform: win | mac |ios | android |
| 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.accOverall.itemCount | Tracks the number of math problems run |
| propCorrect | Proportion correct responses (across all levels) |
| propDiff1 | Proportion of level1 problems (relative to all mathproblems) |
| propCorrectDiff1 | Proportion of level1 problems correctly solved (of the number of level 1 problems given) |
| propDiff2 | Proportion of level2 problems (relative to all mathproblems) |
| propCorrectDiff2 | Proportion of level2 problems correctly solved |
| propDiff3 | Proportion of level3 problems (relative to all mathproblems) |
| propCorrectDiff3 | Proportion of level3 problems correctly solved |
| propDiff4 | Proportion of level4 problems (relative to all mathproblems) |
| propCorrectDiff4 | Proportion of level4 problems correctly solved |
| propDiff5 | Proportion of level5 problems (relative to all mathproblems) |
| propCorrectDiff5 | Proportion of level5 problems correctly solved |
File Name: mathtask_raw*.iqdat
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| build | Inquisit version number |
| computer.platform | Device platform: win | mac |ios | android |
| date | Date the session was run |
| time | Time the session was run |
| subject, group, | With the current subject/groupnumber |
| session | Session number |
| blockCode | Name of the current block |
| blockNum | Number of the current block |
| trialCode | Name of the current trial |
| trialNum | Number of the current trial |
| difficulty | Stores the level of difficulty of the current math problem |
| solutionAcc | 1 = presented answer is correct 2 = presented answer is incorrect |
| mathProblem | Stores the math problem in a string without white spaces (for evaluation purposes) |
| correctSolution | Stores the correct solution to the the problem |
| presentedSolution | Stores the presented solution (either correct or foil) |
| response | The participant's response |
| correct | The correctness of the response |
| latency | The response latency (in ms) list.acc1.itemCount- |
| list.acc5.itemCount | Counts the number of problems worked on for each level of difficulty |
The procedure can be adjusted by setting the following parameters.
| Name | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|
| correctResponseKey | The correct response key | " " -> spacebar |
| fontSizeStims | Size of the math problem, equal sign and presented answer in % of canvas height | |
| mathProblemDuration | Presentation duration of the mathproblem in ms | 2000ms |
| equalSignDuration | Presentation duration of the equal sign in ms | 1000ms |
| mathAnswerDuration | Presentation duration of the answer to the mathproblem in ms participants have the entire duration to respond | 1000ms |
| iti | Intertrial duration: pause inbetween problems | |
| runOperation | 1 = runs only addition problems 2 = runs only subtraction problems (default) 3 = runs mixed problems per level | |
| maxnrMathProblems | The number of math problems to run | 40 |