Script Author: Katja Borchert, Ph.D. (katjab@millisecond.com), Millisecond
Created: October 23, 2012
Last Modified: April 13, 2026 by K. Borchert (katjab@millisecond.com), Millisecond
Script Copyright © Millisecond Software, LLC
This script implements the Response Game, a social economic decision game about allocating monetary resources under the pretense that a response to a previously made IN* decision by either the the participant (variant1) or the opponent-player/computer (variant 2) might decide the final allocation outcome. (IN decision: first player decides to leave the final decision up to the second player)
The implemented procedure is based on Brockelbank et al (2011).
Brocklebank, S., Lewis, G.J, & Bates, T.C. (2011). Personality accounts for stable preferences and expectations across a range of simple games. Personality and Individual Differences, 51, 881-886.
3 minutes
2 game variants can be played:
A) Participant (Player A) gets to allocate money to herself and player B (aka computer) in either a more or less prosocial manner. The trials/games are presented in a decision tree format. In game variant A, participants can choose to allocate the money themselves (= "out" choice) or have player B decide the amounts to allocate (="in" choice).
B) Participant (Player B) gets to allocate money to herself and player A (aka computer) in either a a more or less prosocial manner. In game variant B, the participant's choice is made under the assumption that player A (aka computer) chooses the "in" choice.
(1) Game Variant played:
The game can be either played from the perspective of Player A (variant A) or Player B (variant B). By default
it is run as Player A. This can be easily edited under VALUES-> EDITABLE VALUES -> parameters.responseGameType.
(2) Games played:
This script runs 6 response game trials (default).
to change the number of games played, edit
a) LISTS: list.A_out, list.B_out, list.Aleft, list.Bleft, list.Aright, list.Bright to reflect the desired number of trials/amounts
b) BLOCK: adjust the number of trials run under block.dictator
(3) Within-participant control of response keys:
Presentation of designated 'out'/'left' amounts randomized without replacement within participants.
Of the 6 games (default), 3 randomly determined trials will display the designated 'out'/'left' choices on the left branch,
the remaining 3 will display them on the 'in'/right branch.
!!!
=> values.responsebranch reflects the actual branch chosen by the participant.
=> 'Response' reflects if participant chose the designated 'out'/'left or 'in'/'right' amounts
(4) Calculation of Win amounts:
Total win amounts are calculated based on the state of parameters.coplayercondition.
By default the coplayer (aka computer) is set to always have chosen the 'out'/'left' choice.
Other options are
b) always the 'in'/'right' choice and
c) random choices. list.randomchoice controls the selection. It is set so that it selects out/left choices
in 50% of the cases. Go to list.randomchoice for further information.
see section Editable Stimuli
Instructions are not original to the task. They are provided by Millisecond.
They can be edited in file responsegame_instructions_inc.iqjs
File Name: responsegame_summary*.iqdat
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| inquisit.version | Inquisit version number |
| computer.platform | Device platform: win | mac |ios | android |
| computer.touch | 0 = device has no touchscreen capabilities; 1 = device has touchscreen capabilities |
| computer.hasKeyboard | 0 = no external keyboard detected; 1 = external keyboard detected |
| 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 |
| responseGameType | 1 = Participant is Player A 2 = Participant is Player B |
| countOut | Sums up all Out choices |
| countIn | Sums up all In choices |
| countLeft | Sums up all Left choices |
| countRight | Sums up all Right choices |
| totalA | The total amount Player A owns |
| totalB | The total amount Player B owns |
| showOpponentPic | 1 = a picture of an opponent is displayed on decision tree screen (fine tune picture under STIMULUS -> picture.opponentA or picture.opponentB] 0 = no opponent picture is displayed (default) |
| showPlayerAwins | 1 = show win status of Player A 0 = do not show win status of player A (default) |
| showPlayerBwins | 1 = show win status of Player B 0 = do not show win status of player B (default) |
| coplayercondition | 1 = coplayer (aka computer) always makes designated 'out'/'left' choice (default) 2 = coplayer always makes designated 'in'/'right' choice 3 = coplayer makes a random choice, dictated by list.randomchoice |
| posttrialpause | Sets the posttrialpause for the trials in ms |
File Name: responsegame_raw*.iqdat
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| build | Inquisit version number |
| computer.platform | Device platform: win | mac |ios | android |
| computer.touch | 0 = device has no touchscreen capabilities; 1 = device has touchscreen capabilities |
| computer.hasKeyboard | 0 = no external keyboard detected; 1 = external keyboard detected |
| 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 |
| responseGameType | 1 = Participant is Player A 2 = Participant is Player B |
| branch | 1 = designated "left" and "out" amounts displayed on left 2 = designated "left" and "out" amounts displayed on right |
| aValueOut - bValueRight | Contain the out/in, left/right amounts |
| responsebranch | The actually selected response branch A1 or A2, B1 or B2 if the participant selected a designated 'left' amount but the amount was presented on the right, responsebranch = B2 (shown on the right) but response = left (designated left) If a participant always selects the designated 'left' values, response = left for all trials, but responsebranch will reflect the actual branch chosen. |
| response | The participant's response: the designated out/in, left/right amount |
| latency | The response latency (in ms) |
| countOut | Sums up all Out choices |
| countIn | Sums up all In choices |
| countLeft | Sums up all Left choices |
| countRight | Sums up all Right choices |
| totalA | The total amount Player A owns |
| totalB | The total amount Player B owns |
| showOpponentPic | 1 = a picture of an opponent is displayed on decision tree screen (fine tune picture under STIMULUS -> picture.opponentA or picture.opponentB] 0 = no opponent picture is displayed (default) |
| showPlayerAwins | 1 = show win status of Player A 0 = do not show win status of player A (default) |
| showPlayerBwins | 1 = show win status of Player B 0 = do not show win status of player B (default) |
| coplayercondition | 1 = coplayer (aka computer) always makes designated 'out'/'left' choice (default) 2 = coplayer always makes designated 'in'/'right' choice 3 = coplayer makes a random choice, dictated by list.randomchoice |
| posttrialpause | Sets the posttrialpause for the trials in ms |
| coplayerChoice | Helper variable that determines whether the computer makes an out-left (= 1) /in-right (=0)choice (only relevant to determine the total) |
The procedure can be adjusted by setting the following parameters.
| Name | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|
Design |
||
| pictureintro | 1 = a separate picture introduction of the co-player is displayed before decision tree screens come up (fine tune picture under STIMULUS -> picture.opponentpic] 0 = no separate picture introduction of the co-player | 0 |
| showOpponentpic | 1 = a picture of an opponent is displayed on decision tree screen (fine tune picture under STIMULUS -> picture.opponentA or picture.opponentB] 0 = no opponent picture is displayed | 0 |
| showPlayerAwins | 1 = show win status of Player A 0 = do not show win status of player A | 0 |
| showPlayerBwins | 1 = show win status of Player B 0 = do not show win status of player B | 0 |
| coplayerCondition | 1 = coplayer (aka computer) always makes designated 'out'/'left' choice 2 = coplayer always makes designated 'in'/'right' choice 3 = coplayer makes a random choice, dictated by list.randomchoice | 1 |
| responseGameType | 1 = Participant is Player A 2 = Participant is Player B | 1 |
Timing Parameters |
||
| posttrialPause | Sets the posttrialpause for the trials in ms | 1000 |