Script Author: Katja Borchert, Ph.D. (katjab@millisecond.com), Millisecond
Millisecond thanks Timo Brockmeyer for collaborating on this script!
Created: January 07, 2016
Last Modified: January 09, 2023 by K. Borchert (katjab@millisecond.com), Millisecond
Script Copyright © Millisecond Software, LLC
This script implements a simple computerized Scrambled Sentences Task, a test to measure interpretation bias.
The implemented procedure is based on the following publications:
Hedlund, S., & Rude, S. S. (1995). Evidence of latent depressive schemas in formerly depressed individuals. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 104, 517–525.
Wenzlaff, R. M., & Bates, D. E. (1998). Unmasking a cognitive vulnerability to depression: How lapses in mental control reveal depressive thinking. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 75, 1559–1571
Everaert, J., Duyck, W., & Koster, E. H. W. (2014). Attention, interpretation, and memory biases in subclinical depression: A proof-of-principle test of the combined cognitive biases hypothesis. Emotion, 14(2), 331–340
Sanchez, A. et al (2015). Life is . . . great! Emotional attention during instructed and uninstructed ambiguity resolution in relation to depressive symptoms. Biological Psychology, 109 (2015), 67–72.
12 minutes
Participants are given scrambled sentences (e.g. "born winner am loser a I") with 6 words and are asked to unscramble them using 5 of the 6 given words by entering corresponding numbers (e.g. 1 = 'born', 6 = 'I'). Half the scrambled sentences are "Emotional" ('winner' vs. 'loser') half the scrambled sentence are neutral in regard to emotion. A cognitive load test is run for half the participants (based on groupId).
This script runs
1) 5 practice sentences (neutral)
2) 1 Testblock of 40 statements: 20 Emotional Statements, 20 Neutral Statements (order is randomly determined
with constraint that max.3 of the same trial type can run consecutively)
Each trial starts with a fixation cross presented center left for 2000ms (default) before it appears and
the scrambled sentence (each word in its own box) is presented for max. 10000ms (default).
Participants need to unscramble the sentences and click on the words in the order they should appear.
Digits appear above each word to indicate the selected word order.
Responses cannot be corrected.
Cognitive Load (CL): This script runs a cognitive load task for participants with odd numbered groupids
- presents a 6-digit number of 7000ms (can be edited) at start of test
- digit recall at end of test
5 practice sentences
20 emotional statements (taken from Wentzlaff & Bates, 1998*). * slightly altered to avoid ambiguous sentence
structures as much as possible
constraints on the order of the scrambled words:
• half the scrambled sentences present the positive word before the negative
• target words never start or end a scrambled sentence
• target words do not appear directly next to each other in the scrambled sentences
20 neutral statements (provided by Millisecond as demo sentences only)
(same constraints as for the Emotional sentences)
edit all stimuli under section Editable Stimuli
Instructions are not original to any study- they are based on Wentzlaff & Bates (1998) and
can be edited under section Editable Instructions
File Name: scrambledsentencestask_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 |
| propCorrectSolutions | Proportion correct solutions (correct = either the 'positive'/control1 or the 'negative'/control2 solution) |
| meanRTSolutions | Mean latency (in ms) of entering the 5 digits for a correct solution |
| propCorrectSolutionsE | Proportion correct solutions in condition 1 (Emotional) |
| meanRTE | Mean latency (in ms) of entering the 5 digits for a correct solution in condition 1 (Emotional) |
| propNegSolutions | Proportion negative solutions (based on correct solutions entered) in condition 1 (Emotional) |
| propPosSolutions | Proportion positive solutions (based on correct solutions entered) in condition 1 (Emotional) |
| meanRTNeg | Mean latency (in ms) of entering the 5 digits for negative solutions in condition 1 (Emotional) |
| meanRTPos | Mean latency (in ms) of entering the 5 digits for positive solutions in condition 1 (Emotional) |
| propCorrectSolutionsC | Proportion correct solutions in condition 2 (Control) |
| meanRTC | Mean latency (in ms) of entering the 5 digits for a correct solution in condition 2 (Control) |
| clCondition | Cognitive load condition 1 = runs cognitive load task 2 = does not run cognitive load task |
| clCorrect | 1 = cognitive load task correct 0 = cognitive load task incorrect N/A = if no cognitive load condition was run |
File Name: scrambledsentencestask_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 |
| sentenceCondition | 0 = demo 1 = Emotional 2 = Control |
| clCondition | Cognitive load condition 1 = runs cognitive load task 2 = does not run cognitive load task |
| index | Itemnumber of current sentence |
| scrambledSentence | The currently presented scrambled sentence |
| positiveSolution | Stores the positive (pseudopositive for control) solution for the currently scrambled sentence |
| negativeSolution | Stores the negative solution (pseudonegative for control) for the currently scrambled sentence |
| numericSentence | Stores the cumulative numeric response |
| sentenceResponse | The entered unscrambled sentence (as translated from the numericSentence) |
| responseCategory | The emotional category of the response: "positive", "negative", "neutral" (for correct responses), "other" (for incorrect responses) |
| numericResponse | Helper variable: stores the current numeric response based on scancode of response button |
| correct | Accuracy of response (1 = correct; 0 = otherwise) |
| cumulativeRT | Stores the cumulative latencies (in ms) of selecting the numbers of the current cumulative numeric response |
The procedure can be adjusted by setting the following parameters.
| Name | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|
| wordSize | The size of the word stimuli in canvas height percentages | 1.8% |
| digitSize | The size of the cognitive load digits in canvas height percentages | 5% |
| fixationDuration | Duration (in ms) fixation cross is presented by itself | 2000ms |
| maxAssemblyTime | The max. duration (in ms) allowed to assembly each sentence | 10000ms |
| iti | Intertrial interval (in ms) = blank screen between trials before next fixation cross is presented (default: 7000ms) | |
| clDigitDuration | Cognitive Load digit presentation duration (in ms) | 7000ms |