Script Author: Katja Borchert, Ph.D. (katjab@millisecond.com), Millisecond
Created: January 10, 2015
Last Modified: January 07, 2025 by K. Borchert (katjab@millisecond.com), Millisecond
Script Copyright © Millisecond Software, LLC
This script implements a Mental Rotation Test and Training Module for children. The input device for this script is the mouse OR the touchscreen.
The implemented procedure is based on:
Wiedenbauer, G. & Jansen-Osmann, P. (2008). Manual training of mental rotation in children. Learning and Instruction, 18, 30-41.
7 minutes
For pre-posttest participants are presented 2 pictures of the same animal: on the left, participants see the animal with a 0° rotation (the base stimulus) and on the right, participants see a rotated animal (8 different rotation angles: 20°, 60°, 120°, 160°; clock and counterclockwise). The rotated pic is either derived from the base stimulus or it is derived from the mirror image of the base. Participants are asked to press a green button if the animals are the same and a red button if they are different.
3 phases: 1. Pretest 2. Training Module: Participant are asked to use the mouse/or finger to rotate the comparison images 3. Postte
Explained for the mouse: see script.mentalrotationtraining_children_touch.iqjs for the touch script
Practice:
• trials start with the presentation of a homebutton on the button of the screen that needs to be clicked
(the homebutton ensures that the mouse is returned to a neutral place at the start of each trial).
• 24 trials = 2 animals * 6 rotation angles * 2 presentations (one with same comparison animal, the other with mirror comparison animal)
the animals presented during practice are not used for any test condition
• 2 pictures of the same animal presented for each trial: left is the base (0° rotation); on the right is the rotated comparison stimuli
• 6 rotation angles: 15°, 90°, 165° degrees clockwise and counterclockwise
( Wiedenbauer & Jansen-Osmann, 2008, don't specify the number of animals nor the practice angles used)
• half the base animals look to the left, the other to the right
• half the trials are 'same' trials (the other half present the mirror image as the comparison animal)
• random sampling without replacement
• positive and negative feedback is given by smiley/frowny faces
Pretest
• trials start with the presentation of a homebutton on the button of the screen that needs to be clicked
(the homebutton ensures that the mouse is returned to a neutral place at the start of each trial).
A fixation cross is then presented for 500ms (editable value) followed by:
• 96 trials= 6 animals * 8 angles * 2 presentations (one with same comparison animal, the other with mirror comparison animal)
• 2 pictures of the same animal presented for each trial: left is the base (0° rotation); on the right is the rotated comparison stimuli
• 8 rotation angles: 40°, 80°, 120°, 160° (clock and counterclockwise); change under section Editable Parameters
these degrees are slightly different than the ones by Wiedenbauer & Jansen-Osmann (2008).
• half the bases look to the left, the other to the right
• half the trials are 'same' trials (the other half present the mirror image as the comp animal)
• random sampling without replacement
• no feedback
Training
• one demo trial
• 192 trials = 12 animals (different from pretest) * 8 angles (same as for pretest) * 2 repetitions
• 2 pictures of the same animal presented for each trial: left is the base (0° rotation); on the right is the rotated comparison stimuli
• 8 rotation angles: 40°, 80°, 120°, 160° (clock and counterclockwise); change under section Editable Parameters
these degrees are slightly different than the ones by Wiedenbauer & Jansen-Osmann (2008).
• participants can rotate the comparison stimuli clock and counterclockwise by mouse rotation
=> the script matches the current mouse coordinates to one of 12 rotation degrees. Thus, slight differences in mouse
coordinates may not always lead to a change in rotation
• if comparison stimuli look like the base, participants are asked to press the right mouse key
• feedback is provided
Posttest
• trials start with the presentation of a homebutton on the button of the screen that needs to be clicked
(the homebutton ensures that the mouse is returned to a neutral place at the start of each trial).
• 192 trials= 12 animals * 8 angles * 2 presentations (one with same comparison animal, the other with mirror comparison animal)
• 2 pictures of the same animal presented for each trial: left is the base (0° rotation); on the right is the rotated comparison stimuli
• 8 rotation angles: 40°, 80°, 120°, 160° (clock and counterclockwise); change under section Editable Parameters
these degrees are slightly different than the ones by Wiedenbauer & Jansen-Osmann (2008).
• half the bases look to the left, the other to the right
• half the trials are 'same' trials (the other half present the mirror image as the comparison animal)
• random sampling without replacement
• no feedback
• 6 of the animals presented for the posttest are also used during training; the remaining 6 are new
! assignment of 24 animals to pretest, training, posttest
In this script, the 24 animals are randomly assigned to pretest (6), training (12), posttest (12) by default.
Posttest and training share 6 animals. The assignment is therefore different for each participant.
Wiedenbauer & Jansen-Osmann (2008) used the following predetermined assignment
A. pretest: elephant; fox; alligator; cow; leopard; horse.
B. rotation training: bear; donkey; dog; pig; tiger; goat; monkey; bunny; cat; mouse; turtle; sea lion.
C. posttest: bear; donkey; dog; pig; tiger; goat; camel; lion; rhinoceros; deer; sheep; racoon.
To use this predetermined assignment, go to EDITABLE CODE -> Editable Lists -> list.assignanimals
and follow instructions.
Stimuli are animals from the 'Snodgrass and Vanderwart 'Like' Objects' introduced by
Rossion, B., & Pourtois, G. (2004). Revisiting Snodgrass and Vanderwart's object set:
The role of surface detail in basic-level object recognition. Perception, 33, 217-236.
The complete stimuli set can be downloaded at:
https://wiki.cnbc.cmu.edu/Objects
( original link published in Rossion & Pourtois (2004) does not work as of Feb 2015)
2 Practice Stimuli: fish, frog
24 PreTest Stimuli (6 randomly selected for the PreTest)
alligator, bear, bunny, camel, cat, cow, deer, dog, donkey, elephant, fox, goat, horse
leopard, lion, monkey, mouse, pig, racoon, rhino, sealion, sheep, tiger, turtle
Instructions are not original to the task. They are provided by Millisecond
as htm/html pages and can be edited by changing the provided htm/html files.
To edit htm/html-files: open the respective documents in simple Text Editors such as TextEdit (Mac)
or Notepad (Windows).
The instructions used in this script are not original to Wiedenbauer & Jansen-Osmann (2008)
Instructions are presented htm files.
Instructions are not original to the task. They are provided by Millisecond
as htm/html pages and can be edited by changing the provided htm/html files.
To edit htm/html-files: open the respective documents in simple Text Editors such as TextEdit (Mac)
or Notepad (Windows).
File Name: mentalrotationtraining_children_mouse_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 |
| propCorrectOverall | Overall proportion correct (across all pretest/posttest trials) |
| meanCorrRTOverall | Overall mean response time of correct responses (across all pretest/posttest trials) Main Effect: Sameness |
| propCorrectSame | Proportion correct for all Same trials (across all angles) |
| meanCorrRTSame | Mean response time of correct responses to Same trials (across all angles) |
| propCorrectMirror | Proportion correct for all Mirror trials (across all angles) |
| meanCorrRTMirror | Mean response time of correct responses to Mirror trials (across all angles) Main Effect: Angle |
| propCorrectAngle1 | Proportion correct for all angle1 (here: 22.5deg) (across same/mirror trials) |
| meanCorrRTAngle1 | Mean response time of correct responses to all angle1 (here: 22.5deg) trials (across same/mirror trials) |
| propCorrectAngle2 | Proportion correct for all angle2 (here: 67.5deg) (across same/mirror trials) |
| meanCorrRTAngle2 | Mean response time of correct responses to all angle2 (here: 67.5deg) trials (across same/mirror trials) |
| propCorrectAngle3 | Proportion correct for all angle3 (here: 112.5deg) (across same/mirror trials) |
| meanCorrRTAngle3 | Mean response time of correct responses to all angle3 (here: 112.5deg) trials (across same/mirror trials) |
| propCorrectAngle4 | Proportion correct for all angle1 (here: 157.5.5deg) (across same/mirror trials) |
| meanCorrRTAngle4 | Mean response time of correct responses to all angle1 (here: 157.5deg) trials (across same/mirror trials) interaction: Sameness x Angle |
| propCorrectSameAngle1 | Proportion correct for all same Angle1 (here: 22.5deg) trials |
| meanCorrRTSameAngle1 | Mean response time of correct responses to all same Angle1 (here: 22.5deg) trials |
| propCorrectSameAngle2 | Proportion correct for all same Angle2 (here: 67.5deg) trials |
| meanCorrRTSameAngle2 | Mean response time of correct responses to all same Angle2 (here: 67.5deg) trials |
| propCorrectSameAngle3 | Proportion correct for all same Angle3 (here: 112.5deg) trials |
| meanCorrRTSameAngle3 | Mean response time of correct responses to all same Angle3 (here: 112.5deg) trials |
| propCorrectSameAngle4 | Proportion correct for all same Angle4 (here: 157.5deg) trials |
| meanCorrRTSameAngle4 | Mean response time of correct responses to all same Angle4 (here: 157.5deg) trials |
| propCorrectMirrorAngle1 | Proportion correct for all Mirror Angle1 (here: 22.5deg) trials |
| meanCorrRTMirrorAngle1 | Mean response time of correct responses to all Mirror Angle1 (here: 22.5deg) trials |
| propCorrectMirrorAngle2 | Proportion correct for all Mirror Angle2 (here: 67.5deg) trials |
| meanCorrRTMirrorAngle2 | Mean response time of correct responses to all Mirror Angle2 (here: 67.5deg) trials |
| propCorrectMirrorAngle3 | Proportion correct for all Mirror Angle3 (here: 112.5deg) trials |
| meanCorrRTMirrorAngle3 | Mean response time of correct responses to all Mirror Angle3 (here: 112.5deg) trials |
| propCorrectMirrorAngle4 | Proportion correct for all Mirror Angle4 (here: 157.5deg) trials |
| meanCorrRTMirrorAngle4 | Mean response time of correct responses to all Mirror Angle4 (here: 157.5deg) trials training |
| propCorrectTraining | Proportion correct Training performance (correct in Training: pressing spacebar when Rotation Angle = 0) |
File Name: mentalrotationtraining_children_mouse_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 | Participant ID |
| group | Group number |
| 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 |
| baseItemNumber | Stores the current base animal item number being tested (1 = bear....24 = turtle, in alphabetical order) |
| compItemNumber | Stores the current comp animal item number Note if Sameness = 1 then the comp item number should equal the base itemnumber if Sameness = 2 then the comp item number be different from the base itemnumber |
| direction | 1 = base looks left 2 = base looks right |
| angle | Stores the current rotation angle being tested |
| sameness | 1 = comp is the same as base 2 = comp is mirror image of base(looks in opposite direction) |
| stimulusItem.1 | The image presented as the base |
| stimulusItem.2 | The image presented as the comp rotation is done on the comp image during runtime; no need for a different image file |
| response | The participant's key response (selected response button) pre/posttest greenbutton_mouse (identical) |
| redButtonMouse | (mirror) training mousemove, lButtonDown, rButtonDown (indicates being done with rotation) |
| responseCategory | Pretest/posttest 1 = same 2 = mirror training "rotate" "end rotation" |
| correct | The accuracy of the response (1 = correct; 0 = incorrect) |
| latency | The response latency (in ms); measured from onset of stimuli |
| preTest1-preTest6 | The itemnumbers of the 6 pretest animals |
| training1-training12 | The itemnumbers of the 12 training animals |
| posttest1-posttest12 | The itemnumbers of the 12 posttest animals |
The procedure can be adjusted by setting the following parameters.
| Name | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|
| fontSizeFixation | Fontsize of the fixation mark in screen height percentages | 15% |
| readyDuration | Duration (in ms) of the get-ready-trial | 5000ms |
| fixationDuration | Presentation duration (in ms) of the fixation stimulus Image Angles (used clock and counterclockwise) | 500ms |
| rotationAngle1 | The smallest rotation angle (here: 22.5deg) | |
| rotationAngle2 | The second smallest rotation angle (here: 67.5deg) | |
| rotationAngle3 | The second largest rotation angle (here: 112.5deg) | |
| rotationAngle4 | The largest rotation angle (here: 157.5deg) |