Last Modified: August 06, 2026 by K. Borchert (katjab@millisecond.com), Millisecond
Script Copyright © Millisecond Software, LLC
This script implements an Aggression Themed Emotional Stroop task. The classic Stroop paradigm demonstrates the interference of word meaning on naming the color in which the words are written as measured by reaction time differences to color-meaning congruent and color-meaning incongruent combinations. The Aggression Stroop takes advantage of this basic Stroop interference effect by comparing reaction times to aggression related words, positive and negative words and neutral words: it is expected that words categories that grab a participant's attention significantly interfere with processing the color of the word and slow down response times.
The implemented procedure is based on Smith & Waterman (2003) and uses keyboard input instead of voice recordings.
Smith, P. & Waterman, M. (2003). Processing bias for aggression words in forensic and nonforensic samples. Cognition and Emotion, 17, 681-701.
5 minutes
Participants are presented words from 5 different categories (aggression, neutral, positive, negative, color word) in four different colors (blue, red, yellow, green) and are asked to press one of four response keys to indicate the color of the words regardless of their meaning.
1. Practice Block: 10 trials (not original; this script uses the words "one" to "ten" as practice stimuli)
2. Test Block: 125 trials (= 5 categories x 25 trials); trials are randomly sampled
without replacement
• error feedback given; to remove follow instructions under section TRIALS
• original stimuli by Smith & Waterman (2003)
(due to a potential typo in the original article one word appeared
under two categories (Appendix2); we replaced it with a word that is similar in length and appearance
=> section Editable STIMULI-> Negative Words)
• each color appears 6 times in each category (the 7th pairing of word-color is random)
• color words "red", "yellow", "blue" and "green" are not used as targets
• 5 color words are repeats (see Smith & Waterman, 2003)
Instructions are not original to the task. They are provided by Millisecond
and can be edited in script "emotionalstroopwithkeyboardinput_instructions_inc.iqjs"
File Name: emotionalstroopwithkeytboardinput_summary*.iqdat
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| 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 |
| 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 |
| completed | 0 = Test was not completed 1 = Test was completed |
Summary Performance Metrics (Test Only) |
|
| errorRate | Overall error rate |
| errorRateNeu | Error rate for Neutral words (Baseline) |
| errorRateAgg | Error rate for Aggression words |
| errorRateNeg | Error rate for Negative words |
| errorRatePos | Error rate for Positive words |
| errorRateCol | Error rate for Color words |
| meanRT | Overall mean response time of correct responses (in ms) |
| meanRTNeu | Mean correct response time to Neutral words (in ms) (Baseline) |
| meanRTAgg | Mean correct response time to Aggression words (in ms) |
| meanRTNeg | Mean correct response time to Negative words (in ms) |
| meanRTPos | Mean correct response time to Positive words (in ms) |
| meanRTCol | Mean correct response time to Color words (in ms) |
Speed-Accuracy Trade Off: Linear Integrated Speed-Accuracy Score, Lisas ("Error-Corrected Processing Speed") |
|
| sdRTPooled | The pooled standard deviation of correct response times across all test trials |
| errorSDPooled | The pooled standard deviation of error rates across all test trials |
| lisasNeu | LISAS score for Neutral trials (Baseline) |
| lisasAgg | LISAS score for Aggression trials |
| lisasNeg | LISAS score for Negative trials |
| lisasPos | LISAS score for Positive trials |
| lisasCol | LISAS score for Color trials |
Error-Based Bias Scores |
|
| biasErrorAgg | Difference in error rates (errorRatesAgg - errorRatesNeu) => positive scores: meaning of aggression words interfered more than meaning of neutral words on color categorization task based on error rates |
| biasErrorNeg | Difference in error rates (errorRatesNeg - errorRatesNeu) |
| biasErrorPos | Difference in error rates (errorRatesPos - errorRatesNeu) |
| biasErrorCol | Difference in error rates (errorRatesCol - errorRatesNeu) |
Responsetime-Based Bias Scores |
|
| biasRTAgg | Bias Score based on response times: Difference in mean correct response times (meanRTAgg - meanRTNeu) => positive scores: meaning of aggression words interfered more than meaning of neutral words on color categorization task based on response times |
| biasRTNeg | Difference in mean correct response times (meanRTNeg - meanRTNeu) |
| biasRTPos | Difference in mean correct response times (meanRTPos - meanRTNeu) |
| biasRTCol | Difference in mean correct response times (meanRTCol - meanRTNeu) |
Lisas-Based Bias Scores |
|
| biasLisasAgg | Bias Score based on LISAS: Difference in LISAS scores ("error-corrected processing speed") from Aggression and Neutral Trials (lisasAgg - lisasNeu) => positive difference, "error-corrected processing speed" was faster for neutral than for Aggression ones => a positive difference supports that processing Aggression trials required more cognitive effort, time, or accuracy sacrifices than processing neutral trials |
| biasLisasNeg | Difference in LISAS scores ("error-corrected processing speed") from Negative and Neutral Trials (lisasNeg - lisasNeu) |
| biasLisasPos | Difference in LISAS scores ("error-corrected processing speed") from Positive and Neutral Trials (lisasPos - lisasNeu) |
| biasLisasCol | Difference in LISAS scores ("error-corrected processing speed") from Negative and Neutral Trials (lisasCol - lisasNeu) |
File Name: emotionalstroopwithkeytboardinput_raw*.iqdat
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| date | Date the session was run |
| time | Time the session was run |
| subject | Participant ID |
| group | Group number |
| session | Session number |
| 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 |
| 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. |
| condition | Practice,neutral,aggression,negative,positive,color |
| target | The currently selected target word |
| color | The currently selected color |
| response | The participant's key response (scancode of response button) scancode/label for the red response button (default: 32 -> d) scancode/label for the green response button (default: 33 -> f) scancode/label for the blue response button (default: 36 -> j) scancode/label for the yellow response button (default: 37 -> k) |
| responseText | The label of the pressed response button |
| responseCategory | The interpreted key response "red" "green" "blue" "yellow" |
| correct | The correctness of the response (1 = correct; 0 = incorrect) |
| latency | The response latency (in ms); measured from onset of word |
The procedure can be adjusted by setting the following parameters.
| Name | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|
Timing Parameters |
||
| fixationCrossPresentationTime | Time (in ms) that fixation cross is presented | 500 |
Response Keys |
||
| keyRed | The red response button | "D" |
| keyGreen | The green response button | "F" |
| keyBlue | The blue response button | "J" |
| keyYellow | The yellow response button | "K" |