Prospective Memory Task - Color Matching

Script Author: Katja Borchert, Ph.D. (katjab@millisecond.com), Millisecond

Created: January 06, 2016

Last Modified: January 03, 2023 by K. Borchert (katjab@millisecond.com), Millisecond

Script Copyright © Millisecond Software, LLC

Background

This script implements a computerized Event-based Prospective Memory (PM) Task based on Smith & Bayen (2006). Prospective Memory (event based) = Remembering to do something in the case a certain event happens.

References

Smith, R.E, & Ute J. Bayen, U.J. (2006). The Source of Adult Age Differences in Event-Based Prospective Memory: A Multinomial Modeling Approach. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition , 32, 623–635.

For stimuli selection: Smith, R. E., & Bayen, U. J. (2004). A multinomial model of event-based prospective memory. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 30, 756–777.

Battig, W. F., & Montague, W. E. (1969). Category norms of verbal items in 56 categories: A replication and extension of the Connecticut category norms. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 80, 1–46.

Duration

25 minutes

Description

Participants run a color-matching task. During a baseline phase they see a sequence of 4 colored squares followed by a word probe that either repeats one of the square colors (then press 'y') or doesn't (then press 'n'). During the prospective memory task phase, the basic task stays the same but every 10th word is a target word (previously introduced and studied) that requires a different (or additional) response: press key 'z'.

! due to the nature of the task, the task is not supported on touchscreen devices (the touchscreen devices would present a z-responsekey throughout the baseline/PM task, thus potentially serving as an additional PM reminder)

Procedure

Phase 'Task Practice':
- 6 trials running filler match and filler nomatch trials in random order
(if block A is run first, the stimuli are selected randomly from list A, otherwise from list B)
- errorfeedback is presented for 500ms

Phase 'Baseline':
- samples stimuli from list A (targetsA, fillerA) or list B (targetsB, fillerB) => order of A/B is counterbalanced by groupnumber
(odd groupnumbers run:AB; even groupnumbers run:BA)
- 62 test trials (6 target trials: 3 match/3 nomatch; 56 filler trials: 28 match/28 nomatch)
- target trials: 10th, 20th, 30th, 40th, 50th, 60th trial
(!!!BUT: targets are indistinguishable from fillers and don't require any specific response)
- it is randomly determined which of the 6 targets to present
- it is randomly determined whether the trial is a match or a nomatch trial
- the order of the remaining 56 filler trials (match vs. nomatch) is randomly determined as are the presented stimuli

Trial Sequence:
square1(500ms)->blank(250ms)->square2(500ms)->blank(250ms)->square3(500ms)->blank(250ms)->square5(500ms)->blank(250ms)
->Probe until response -> ITI: 1000ms (Note; during phase 'PM task' filler and target trials collect possible additional responses
during the intertrial interval also)


Phase 'PM training':
- all 6 targets presented on screen for study (self-paced)
- recall test: 6 textboxes (targets need to be entered in any order - will get converted to lowercase letters automatically)
- recall is repeated as long as it takes for all 6 targets to be recalled correctly
- a break follows the 'PM training' phase

Phase 'PM task':
- samples stimuli from the list not run during baseline
- 62 test trials (6 target trials: 3 match/3 nomatch; 56 filler trials: 28 match/28 nomatch)
- target trials: 10th, 20th, 30th, 40th, 50th, 60th trial (!target trials require a PM response)
- it is randomly determined which of the 6 targets to present
- it is randomly determined whether the trial is a match or a nomatch trial
- the order of the remaining 56 filler trials (match vs. nomatch) is randomly determined as are the presented stimuli

Stimuli

2 lists: A vs. B with 62 stimuli each (6 targets and 56 fillers)
- Each target comes from from a different category (= 6 target categories per list)
- Filler items come from the same target categories as the targets from their respective lists.

Millisecond attempted to recreate the original lists using the procedure outlined in Smith & Bayen (2006), p. 626.
More info under section Editable Stimuli. The selected words can easily be exchanged for others.

colors:
- blue, green, red, yellow, white
- probe color is selected randomly without replacement for each trial with the constraint that:
- each of the 5 colors is used equally often in match trials (65 = 62 test trials + 3 task practice trials)
and nomatch trials (65 = 62 test trials + 3 task practice trials)
- color of squares is randomly determined with the constraint that no color is repeated within the same trial
(=> in match trials: one color has to be the probe color but its position is randomly determined)
- all stimuli are presented on a black background

size:
- size can be edited under section "Editable Parameters"

Instructions

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).

Summary Data

File Name: prospectivememorytask_colormatchingmask_summary*.iqdat

Data Fields

Raw Data

File Name: prospectivememorytask_colormatchingmask_raw*.iqdat

Data Fields

Parameters

The procedure can be adjusted by setting the following parameters.