Pursuit Rotor Task

Technical Manual

Last Modified: January 11, 2023 by K. Borchert (katjab@millisecond.com), Millisecond

Script Copyright © Millisecond Software, LLC

Background

This script implements the Pursuit Rotor Task; a task to measure manual dexterity and visual-motor tracking abilities.

References

-The Multivariate Study of Pursuit Rotor Skill Development, 11 Aug. 2011, https://www.science.smith.edu/departments/EXER_SCI/Faculty/DS/PR.html -Measuring Hand/Eye Coordination, 11 Aug. 2011, https://www.psywww.com/intropsych/ch07_cognition/measuring_hand_eye_coordination.html -Pursuit Rotor, 11 Aug. 2011, https://sourceforge.net/apps/mediawiki/pebl/index.php?title=Pursuit_Rotor

Duration

1.5 minutes

Description

Participant tracks a yellow target with a mouse cursor/finger, as the target moves steadily in a circular path.

Procedure

- task runs 4 trials (default; can be edited under section Editable Parameters)
- each trial takes 10s (default; can be edited under section Editable Parameters)
- the script records the position of cursor and disc every 16.7ms on a 60Hz monitor (vertical refresh rate of monitor)
in the datastream data file

the default active canvas is set to be 120mm x 120mm. All stimuli are defined in proportion to the
height of the active canvas.
If the script is run on a screen that does not support these dimensions, the script
alerts participants and then aborts.

Instructions

can be edited under section Editable Instructions

Summary Data

File Name: pursuitrotor_summary*.iqdat

Data Fields

NameDescription
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
(Parameter) Settings
usedCanvasMM Data file variable that stores the dimension of the active canvas (in mm) used for the task
usedCanvasPX Data file variable that stores the dimension of the active canvas (in pixels) used for the task
trackRadiusMM The radius of the track in mm
discRadiusMM The radius of the disc in mm
discRadiusPX The radius of the target disc in pixels
trialDuration The duration of one trial/one rotation in ms (default: 10000ms)
Data
rotationCount The number of rotations run
meanTimeOffTarget The average time (in ms) a participant spent OFF disc during a rotation trial
sumOffDurationsTotal The sum of the durations spent OFF the target disk across all trials (in ms)
timeOnTargetTotal The duration spent ON the target disk across trials (in ms)
meanDistanceFromCenterDiscTotal The mean distance (in pixels) of recorded cursor positions from the center of the target disc across trials
meanOffDistanceFromDiscEdgeTotal The mean distance (in pixels) of recorded mouse positions from the target disc (to edges of disc; not the center) across trials (= OFF target distances)
(3) Mouse Cursor Position data file: 'pursuitrotor_stream*.iqdat'
This data file records mouse positions and relevant data after each stimulusframe
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
(Parameter) Settings
usedCanvasMM Data file variable that stores the dimension of the active canvas (in mm) used for the task
usedCanvasPX Data file variable that stores the dimension of the active canvas (in pixels) used for the task
trackRadiusMM The radius of the track in mm
discRadiusMM The radius of the disc in mm
discRadiusPX The radius of the target disc in pixels
trialDuration The duration of one trial/one rotation in ms (default: 10000ms)
rotationCount The count of the current rotation trial (1-4)
mouse.x The recorded horizontal coordinate of the cursor at the end of a vertical frame refresh (in screen pixels)
mouse.y The recorded vertical coordinate of the cursor at the end of a vertical frame refresh (in screen pixels)
shape.animatedCircle.x The recorded horizontal coordinate of the target disc at the end of a vertical frame refresh (in screen pixels)
shape.animatedCircle.y The recorded vertical coordinate of the target disc at the end of a vertical frame refresh (in screen pixels)
distancePX The pixel distance from the mouse cursor to the center of the target disc
offTTarget "ON" or "OFF": compares distance to radius of disc
elapsedTime Session duration in ms
offDuration Stores the last calculated duration (in ms) participant spent off the disc

Raw Data

File Name: pursuitrotor_raw*.iqdat

Data Fields

NameDescription
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
(Parameter) Settings
usedCanvasMM Data file variable that stores the dimension of the active canvas (in mm) used for the task
usedCanvasPX Data file variable that stores the dimension of the active canvas (in pixels) used for the task
trackRadiusMM The radius of the track in mm
discRadiusMM The radius of the disc in mm
discRadiusPX The radius of the target disc in pixels
trialDuration The duration of one trial/one rotation in ms (default: 10000ms)
Data
rotationCount Tracks the number of rotations started
response Recorded response
latency Response latency (in ms)
distancePX The pixel difference btw. response coordinates and target (disk) center
offTarget 0 = response coordinates were on the target (disk)
1 = response coordinates were not on the target (disk)
sumOffDurationsTrial The sum of the durations spent OFF the target disk per trial (in ms)
timeOnTargetTrial The duration spent ON the target disk per trial (in ms)
meanDistanceFromCenterDiscTrial The mean distance (in pixels) of recorded cursor positions from the center of the target disc per trial
meanOffDistanceFromDiscEdgeTrial The mean distance (in pixels) from of the current cursor position from the perimeter of the target circle per trial for OFF target response coordinates

Parameters

The procedure can be adjusted by setting the following parameters.

NameDescriptionDefault
canvasHeightMM The default height of the active canvas is 120mm
trackRadiusPropCanvasHeight The radius of the track as a proportion of the canvas height 0.4 => 0.4*120 = 48mm
discRadiusPropCanvasHeight The radius of the disc as a proportion of the canvas height 0.065 => 7.8mm
trialDuration The duration of one trial/one rotation in ms 10000ms
numTrials The number of trials to run 4
presentSummaryFeedback True (1) = presents performance feedback at the end of the script (default)
false (0) = does not present performance feedback