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!
Russian translations generously provided by Evgeny A. Levin
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.
The instruction presented to the participants was the following: “During the game, a rabbit or a tiger will appear on the screen. You need to choose the appropriate food—carrot for the rabbit (button K) or meat for the tiger (button D) and press the button before the animal disappears. If a “STOP” signal appears after the animal, nothing should be pressed. If you correctly feed the animal, you will receive a point, and in case of a wrong response (incorrect choice of food or if action was carried out after the “STOP” signal), the point will be deducted.”
The participants were also instructed to use left and right index fingers for pressing left (D) and right (K) keys, respectively, and to respond as fast and as accurately as possible.
(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" |