original Script Author: Evgeny A. Levin
Millisecond thanks Andrej Bocharov (bocharov@physiol.ru) and Evgeny A. Levin for
sharing the original children's Inquisit Stop Signal Task!
The script was updated from Inquisit 4 to Inquisit 7 by K. Borchert, Millisecond.
Last Modified: February 27, 2025 by K. Borchert (katjab@millisecond.com), Millisecond
Script Copyright © Millisecond Software, LLC
This script implements a children's version of the 'Stop Signal Task' (Bocharov et al, 2021). The Stop Signal Task is a choice go/nogo reaction time task that provides a measure to estimate the time it takes to stop executing a response that might already be underway but needs to be halted (called the stop signal reaction time). This script adapts the stop signal procedure for children ages 7-10.
Verbruggen, F., Logan, G. D., & Stevens, M. A. (2008). STOP-IT: Windows executable software for the stop-signal paradigm. Behavior Research Methods, 40(2), 479-483.
Additional References: Logan, G. D. (1994). On the ability to inhibit thought and action: A user’s guide to the stop signal paradigm. In D. Dagenbach & T. H. Carr, Inhibitory processes in attention, memory, and language (pp. 189-239). San Diego: Academic Press
5 minutes
In this game, images of animals (a rabbit or a tiger) are the Go stimuli, and the response keys correspond to the food (carrot or meat) the participant are asked to feed to the animal UNLESS a "stop" sign (red rectangle containing the word “STOP”) indicates that the animal should not be fed at this point.
(1) Practice: 30 Go trials
- the mean response time (based on correct and incorrect responses) is used for SSD calculations
for the test trials (see below)
- correct responses are rewarded with a point
- incorrect responses result in the loss of a point
No break btw. practice and test trials: from the child's perspective the game just keeps going,
except now the Stop trials are presented occasionally
(2) Test: 130 trials
- roughly 65% of trials run Go trials and roughly 35% run Nogo trials
- the order of the trials is randomly determined
Go-Trial sequence:
- focus screen (no targets yet): random duration 4000-6000ms (in 500ms steps)*
- target presentation for 750ms or until response (whichever comes first)
- response times are collected from onset of targets
Nogo-Trial ("stop") sequence:
- focus screen (no targets yet): random duration 4000-6000ms (in 500ms steps)*
- target presentation for max. 750ms or until response (whichever comes first)
- stop signal is presented at randomly selected SSD values (see below)
- response times are collected from onset of targets
• the duration of the focus screen presented after a successful nogo trial is
slighlty shortened to compensate for the slightly longer, successful
nogo trial duration
provided by original authors - can be edited under section Editable Stimuli
animals: tiger (eats meat) vs. bunny (eats carrots)
provided by original authors - can be edited under section Editable Instructions.
File Name: xxx_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 | Assigned subject id number |
| groupid | Assigned group id number |
| sessionid | Assigned session id number |
| elapsedTime | Session duration in ms |
| completed | 0 = Test was not completed 1 = Test was completed |
| parameters.crttTimeoutMS | The duration (in ms) that participants have to respond to a target (default: 750ms) |
| averageRTPractice | The baseline (aka practice) go-RT (here: based on correct and incorrect responses) - used to determine default SSD in test block- |
Go Trials |
|
| goTrials | Number of go trials run |
| hitRate | Hit rate in go trials (pressing the correct response button in time) |
| missRate | Miss rate in go trials (pressing the incorrect response button + no responses) |
| nrRate | Proportion of noresponses for go trials |
| corrGoRT | Correct mean go response time (in ms) |
Nogo Trials |
|
| nogoTrials | Number of nogo (stop) trials run |
| faRate | False alarm rate in nogo trials (pressing one of the response buttons) |
| crRate | Correct rejection rate in nogo trials (correctly waiting out the trial with a noresponse) |
| nogoRT | Mean (error) response time in nogo trials (in ms) |
| meanSsd | Mean SSD run in nogo trials |
| meanCorrSsd | Mean SSD at which participants correctly stopped from responding |
File Name: xxx*.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, blocknum | The name and number of the current block (built-in Inquisit variable) |
| trialcode, trialnum | The name and 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 such as feedback trials. Thus, trialnum may not reflect the number of main trials run per block. |
| parameters.crttTimeoutMS | The duration (in ms) that participants have to respond to a target (default: 750ms) |
| averageRTPractice | The baseline (aka practice) go-RT (here: based on correct and incorrect responses) - used to determine default SSD in test block- |
| trialCounterPerBlock | Tracks the number of trials per block |
| stimInterval | The duration (in ms) of the wait period before targets appear |
| picture.target.currentItem | The current target presented |
| doStop | 0 = the trial is a go trial 1 = the trial is a nogo trial |
| ssdCoeffitient | The last randomly selected reduction coefficient to calculate values.ssd (reduction of averageRTPractice) |
| ssd | The last run stop signal delay (in ms) |
| response | Scancode of response button 32=D; 37=K |
| responseText | Store the actual label of response buttons pressed D: feed tiger K: feed bunny |
| correct | 1 = trial response was correct; 0 = error |
| latency | The response latency measured from onset of targets |
| score | Tracks the total score |
| trial.crtt.meanLatency | Tracks the mean response time (in ms) of the crtt go-trials |
The procedure can be adjusted by setting the following parameters.
| Name | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|
Design |
||
| maxTrialNumber | Number of test trials to run | 130 |
| practiceTrialNumber | Number of practice trials to run | 30 |
Timing Parameters |
||
| getReadyDurationMS | The duration (in ms) of the get Ready instructions | 3000 |
| crttTimeoutMS | The response timeout (in ms) for targets | 750 |
Responsekeys |
||
| responseKeyLeft | "D" //left response key is assigned to "meat" eating animal (here: tiger) | |
| responseKeyRight | Right response key is assigned to "carrot" eating animal (here: bunny) | "K" |