Script Author: Katja Borchert, Ph.D. (katjab@millisecond.com), Millisecond
Credit: This script was programmed for and made available by the ABCD Research Consortium.
Created: January 24, 2017
Last Modified: January 02, 2024 by K. Borchert (katjab@millisecond.com), Millisecond
Script Copyright © Millisecond Software, LLC
The Little Man task, a cognitive assessment tool to measure spatial reasoning in children, is used as part of the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study (ABCD Study®), a decade long longitudinal study on brain development and child health supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
Originally the task was programmed for ipads for inperson testing. This version was updated/optimized for ABCD for running on smart phones to use for remote testing.
It can be run on its own or in conjunction with script 'remotetesting_instructions.iqjs'. 'remotetesting_instructions.iqjs': script that tests that the screen sizing roughly fits a smart phone. The combined sequence is run by script 'batch.iqjs'
A tablet version optimized for inperson testing is also available in the Millisecond library.
Moore, A., Lewis, B., & Nixon, S. J. (2025). Mental Rotational Skills From Pre to Mid-Adolescence: What a Novel Test Tells Us About Skill Development. Neuropsychology, 39(4), 321–331. https://doi.org/10.1037/neu0001004
5 minutes
Participants are presented figures that carry a suitcase in either the left or right hand. Figures can show their front or back and can be right side up or up side down. Participants work through 4 practice problems with the test administrator before working on 32 problems on their own.
- 1 demo problem (if incorrect, it can be repeated as often as necessary); no response deadline
- 3 additional practice problems
- demo and practice problems are presented in a fixed order
- 32 test problems (presented in fixed order)
Trial Sequence:
homebutton needs to be pressed (changes color from white to gray) -> ITI: 1500ms -> stim (until response or timeout at 5s) ->
practice trials
The error feedback is presented for at least 1000ms regardless of whether the home button is pressed beforehand or not.
ITI is started only if the home button was pressed.
provided by ABCD Consortium, see section Editable Stimuli
provided by ABCD Consortium, see section Editable Instructions
File Name: littlemantest_smartphone_summary*.iqdat
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| inquisit.version | Inquisit version number |
| computer.platform | Device platform: win | mac |ios | android |
Information About The Current Screen Size |
|
| expressions.screenWidthMM | Mm screen width expressions.screenHeightMM: mm screen height |
| 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 |
| lmtScrAssessDate | Currently simply stores the script.startDate (the local time is stored under script.startTime) |
| lmtScrPropCorrect | Proportion of correct responses |
| lmtScrNumCorrect | Absolute number of correct responses |
| lmtScrNumWrong | Absolute number of (active) error responses |
| lmtScrNumTimedOut | Absolute number of timeout (passive) errors. |
| lmtScrAvgRT | Average response time of correct and incorrect selections timeouts latencies are excluded from this variable |
| lmtScrRTCorrect | Average only correct RT; calculation (Mean latency for correct =1) |
| lmtScrRTWrong | Average only wrong RT (= latencies of incorrect selections) Note (KB): timeout errors are excluded |
| lmtScrEfficiency | Accuracy/ Reaction Time; calculation (lmt_src_prop_correct/lmtScr_rt_correct) |
| lmtStimType1CorrectRT-lmtStimType8CorrectRT | Latency of correct selections by stimulus type (1-8) |
| lmtStimType1NumCorrect-lmtStimType8NumCorrect | Number of correct selections by stimulus type (1-8) |
| lmtStimType1WrongRT-lmtStimType8WrongRT | Latency of error selections by stimulus type (1-8) |
| lmtStimType1NumWrong-lmtStimType8NumWrong | Number of error selections by stimulus type (1-8) |
| lmtStimType1NumTimedOut-lmtStimType8NumTimedOut | Number of timed-out selection trials by stimulus type (1-8) |
File Name: littlemantest_smartphone_raw*.iqdat
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| build | Inquisit version number |
| computer.platform | Device platform: win | mac |ios | android |
Information About The Current Screen Size |
|
| expressions.screenWidthMM | Mm screen width expressions.screenHeightMM: mm screen height |
| 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. |
| lmtStimulusXx | Stores the currently presented image file |
| lmtStimulusTypeXx | 1 Backward Down Left 2 Backward Down Right 3 Backward Up Left 4 Backward Up Right 5 Forward Down Left 6 Forward Down Right 7 Forward Up Left 8 Forward Up Right |
| lmtCorrectButtonXx | Stores the correct location of the suitcase: 0 = left; 1 = right |
| response | Stores the response button pressed: "leftbutton" vs. "rightbutton" vs. 0 => no response (Inquisit default response variable) |
| lmtButtonPressedXx | Stores the response button pressed: 0 = "left"; 1 = "right"; or "timedout" (custom response variable) |
| lmtCorrectXx | Accuracy of response: 1 = correct response; 0 = otherwise (wrong selection or timeout) |
| lmRTXx | The response latency (in ms); measured from: onset of images until response or timeout timeout latencies are stored as -1 |
| homeButtonRT | The time (in ms) that it took to press the green home Button during trial.iti |
The procedure can be adjusted by setting the following parameters.
| Name | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|
Sizing Parameters |
||
| picSize | The proportional size of the little man images | 60% |
| responseButtonSize | The proportional size of the response buttons | 12% |
Timing Parameters |
||
| iti | The duration (in ms) of the intertrial interval | 1500 |
| readyDuration | The duration (in ms) of the ready trial | 3000 |
| responseDeadline | A response deadline in ms | 5000 |