Script Author: Katja Borchert, Ph.D. (katjab@millisecond.com), Millisecond
Credits:
This script has been made available to the Millisecond Test Library by the ABCD Research Consortium.
Created: January 12, 2018
Last Modified: January 16, 2026 by K. Borchert (katjab@millisecond.com), Millisecond
Script Copyright © Millisecond Software, LLC
The ABCD Emotional Stroop Task (ABCD EST), under the supervision of Mary Banich, is used as part of the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study (ABCD Study®), a decade long longitudinal study on brain development and child health supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
The ABCD EST task is run on tablets (in-person testing) and on smartphones (remote testing - which became necessary during the 2020 Pandemic).
This Inquisit script implements the Emotional Stroop Script based on an existing e-prime script by Dr. Marie Banich.
This script can be run on its own or in conjunction with script 'remotetesting_instructions.iqjs'. 'remotetesting_instructions.iqjs': script that tests that the screen sizing roughly fits a smart phone. The combined sequence is run by script 'batch.iqjs'. The batch script also controls the assignment to Stroop version one (lp = left position) and Stroop version two (ln = left negative).
This script (originally used on ipads) was updated/optimized for ABCD to be run on smart phones for remote testing.
Smolker HR, Wang K, Luciana M, Bjork JM, Gonzalez R, Barch DM, McGlade EC, Kaiser RH, Friedman NP, Hewitt JK, Banich MT. The Emotional Word-Emotional Face Stroop task in the ABCD study: Psychometric validation and associations with measures of cognition and psychopathology. Dev Cogn Neurosci. 2022 Feb;53:101054. doi: 10.1016/j.dcn.2021.101054. Epub 2021 Dec 21. PMID: 34954668; PMCID: PMC8717459.
10 minutes
Participants categorize words as "good feeling" (happy, joyful) or "bad feeling" (angry, upset). The words are presented on the top or bottom of images. The image either show a word congruent face emotion (e.g. "happy" face paired with word "joyful") or an incongruent one (e.g. "happy face" paired with word "angry"). Images depict happy and angry emotions of teens. Participants work through 2 test blocks: one block presents 25% incongruent pairings and 75% congruent pairings, and the other block presents an equal number of congruent and incongruent pairings. Block order is determined randomly.
1. Practice Block: 8 trials selected from 6 possible combinations
=> feedback provided
=> practice block is repeated if proportion correct of the last 8 trials is < 75%
2. Practice Block: 4 trials (good-top-congruent, good-bottom-incongruent, bad-bottom-congruent, bad-top-incongruent)
=> feedback provided
=> practice block is repeated if proportion correct is < 100%
3. 2 Test Blocks: blocks tested in sequence
(1) More Congruent Pairings: 48 trials - order of trials randomly determined
-36 congruent word valence - pic valence pairings (fixed pairs)
-12 incongruent word valence - pic valence pairings (fixed pairs)
- half the words appear on top of image, the other on the bottom
(2) Equal number of congruent and incongruent pairings
-24 congruent word valence - pic valence pairings (fixed pairs)
-24 incongruent word valence - pic valence pairings (fixed pairs)
- half the words appear on top of image, the other on the bottom
Trial Sequence:
Word/image (for: 2000ms) -> ITI: 1500ms (during practice: ITI provides feedback for 2000ms)
provided by ABCD research consortium.
pictures taken from: The NIMH Child Emotional Faces Picture Set (NIMH-ChEFS)
https://devepi.duhs.duke.edu/NIMH_Pictures.html
•position of words on images as well as size of words and images can be edited under section Editable Parameters
•words are presented in cyan with a black shadow
provided by ABCD research consortium - can be edited under section Editable Instructions
instructions are given verbally and visually
File Name: abcdemotionalstroop_ln_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 |
| keyAssignment | "leftnegative" => left response key is negative; right response key is positive |
| accPractice1 | Proportion correct in final practice1 run |
| practice1Runs | Number of practice1 runs needed |
| accPractice2 | Proportion correct in final practice2 run |
| practice2Runs | Number of practice2 runs needed |
| accAll | Proportion correct overall (across all test trials) |
| accMoreCongruent | Proportion correct in "more congruent pairings" block |
| accMoreCongruentCongruent | Proportion correct on congruent trials in "more congruent pairings" block |
| accMoreCongruentIncongruent | Proportion correct on incongruent trials in "more congruent pairings" block |
| accEqual | Proportion correct in "equal numbers of congruentincongruent pairings" block |
| accEqualCongruent | Proportion correct in "equal numbers of congruentincongruent pairings" block |
| accEqualIncongrent | Proportion correct in "equal numbers of congruentincongruent pairings" block |
| accCongruent | Proportion correct in "congruent" pairings trials (across test blocks) |
| accIncongruent | Proportion correct in "incongruent" pairings trials (across test blocks) |
| strConHapfEqualAcc | Proportion correct of congruent 'happy face' trials in "equal numbers of congruentincongruent pairings" block |
| strConAngfEqualAcc | Proportion correct of congruent 'angry face' trials in "equal numbers of congruentincongruent pairings" block |
| strIncHapfEqualAcc | Proportion correct of incongruent 'happy face' trials in "equal numbers of congruentincongruent pairings" block |
| strIncAngfEqualAcc | Proportion correct of incongruent 'angry face' trials in "equal numbers of congruentincongruent pairings" block |
| strConHapf75ConAcc | Proportion correct of congruent 'happy face' trials in "more congruent pairings" block |
| strConAngf75ConAcc | Proportion correct of congruent 'angry face' trials in "more congruent pairings" block |
| strIncHapf75ConAcc | Proportion correct of incongruent 'happy face' trials in "more congruent pairings" block |
| strIncAngf75ConAcc | Proportion correct of incongruent 'angry face' trials in "more congruent pairings" block |
| meanRTAll | Mean correct latency (in ms) overall |
| meanRTMoreCongruent | Mean correct latency (in ms) in "more congruent pairings" block |
| meanRTMoreCongruentCongruent | Mean correct latency (in ms) on congruent trials in "more congruent pairings" block |
| meanRTMoreCongruentIncongruent | Mean correct latency (in ms) on incongruent trials in "more congruent pairings" block |
| meanRTEqual | Mean correct latency (in ms) in "equal numbers of congruentincongruent pairings" block |
| meanRTEqualCongruent | Mean correct latency (in ms) in "equal numbers of congruentincongruent pairings" block |
| meanRTEqualIncongruent | Mean correct latency (in ms) in "equal numbers of congruentincongruent pairings" block |
| meanRTCongruent | Mean correct latency (in ms) in "congruent" pairings trials (across test blocks) |
| meanRTIncongruent | Mean correct latency (in ms) in "incongruent" pairings trials (across test blocks) |
| strConHapfEqualRT | Mean correct response times (in ms) in congruent 'happy face' trials in "equal numbers of congruentincongruent pairings" block |
| strConAngfEqualRT | Mean correct response times (in ms) in congruent 'angry face' trials in "equal numbers of congruentincongruent pairings" block |
| strIncHapfEqualRT | Mean correct response times (in ms) in incongruent 'happy face' trials in "equal numbers of congruentincongruent pairings" block |
| strIncAngfEqualRT | Mean correct response times (in ms) in incongruent 'angry face' trials in "equal numbers of congruentincongruent pairings" block |
| strConHapf75ConRT | Mean correct response times (in ms) in congruent 'happy face' trials in "more congruent pairings" block |
| strConAngf75ConRT | Mean correct response times (in ms) in congruent 'angry face' trials in "more congruent pairings" block |
| strIncHapf75ConRT | Mean correct response times (in ms) in incongruent 'happy face' trials in "more congruent pairings" block |
| strIncAngf75ConRT | Mean correct response times (in ms) in incongruent 'angry face' trials in "more congruent pairings" block |
File Name: abcdemotionalstroop_ln_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 |
| keyAssignment | "leftnegative" => left response key is negative; right response key is positive |
| 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. |
| wordPosition | 1 = word appears on top; 2 = word appears on bottom |
| wordY | Stores the vertical coordinate of the current word (in % of canvas height) |
| congruence | 1 = congruent; 2 = incongruent (emotion word and emotion image depict opposite emotions) |
| faceEmotion | "happy" vs. "angry" |
| selectStim | Itemnumber of selected stimulus |
| stimulusItem | The presented stimuli in order of trial presentation 1) an empty stimulus (clearScreen) 2) presented image 3) presented word |
| correctButton | Stores the correct response button for the current trial |
| response | The participant's response (selected response button) |
| correct | Accuracy of response: 1 = correct response; 0 = otherwise |
| latency | The response latency (in ms); measured from: onset of imageword pair |
| list.accuracy.mean | Proportion correct of current block |
The procedure can be adjusted by setting the following parameters.
| Name | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|
Design |
||
| testSetting | Don't change | "remote" |
Duration Parameters |
||
| wordPresentationTimePractice | Word duration (in ms) during practice trials | 2000 |
| feedbackDuration | Feedback duration (in ms) during practice | 2000 |
| wordPresentationTimeTest | Word duration (in ms) during test trials | 2000 |
| iti | Intertrial interval (in ms) between test trials | 1500 |
| readyDuration | Duration (in ms) of ready trial | 3000 |
Interface |
||
| wordSize | Sizing of words proportional to canvas height | 7% |
| picSize | Sizing of images proportional to canvas height | 45% |
| topY | Vertical coordinate of top word in relation to canvas | 30% |
| bottomY | Vertical coordinate of bottom word in relation to canvas top of canvas = 0%; bottom of canvas = 100% | 50% |
| responseButtonSize | Proportional sizing of response buttons | 12% |