Script Author: Katja Borchert, Ph.D. (katjab@millisecond.com), Millisecond
Created: January 22, 2016
Last Modified: January 30, 2023 by K. Borchert (katjab@millisecond.com), Millisecond
Script Copyright © Millisecond Software, LLC
This script implements a computerized version of the Verbal Restrictive Reminding Task, a list learning and free verbal recall test that allows the simultaneous analysis of long term and short term storage.
The Verbal Restrictive Reminding Task presents a list of items and asks participant to freely recall as many of the items as possible. List items that were not recalled at least once, get a reminder. The Restrictive Reminding Task is similar to the Selective Reminding Task. The Selective Reminding Task, however, repeats a word anytime it wasn't recalled during the previous trial whereas the Restrictive Reminding Task only repeats a word if it has not been recalled at least once.
This script presents the word list visually; participants recall them by typing the words into the keyboard.
Buschke, H. (1973). Selective reminding for analysis of memory and learning. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 12, 543-550.
Buschke, H., & Fuld, P. A (1974). Evaluating storage, retention, and retrieval in disordered memory and learning. Neurology, 24, 1019-1025.
12 repetitions
Participants see a list of 12 words, presented to them one by one, and have to recall as many words as they can by typing all words into the keyboard. For those items that have not been recalled at least once, the words are repeated and participants are again asked to recall as many of the original list words as they can. This procedure is repeated for 12 trials.
The script automatically calculates per trial: - number of items with Long Term Storage (LTS) status - number of items retrieved from LTS (Long Term Retrieval, LTR), both consistent LTR and random LTR - number of items retrieved from Short term storage (Short Term Retrieval, STR)
(1) RRT: Restrictive Reminding Task
- A word list of 12 items is used and tested across 12 trials. The words are always presented in the same order.
- Participants are asked to recall as many words as they can from the original list by
typing each word into a textbox.
- Only those items that have never been recalled are presented on subsequent trials
This procedure is used to establish
- number of items with Long Term Storage (LTS) status
- number of items retrieved from LTS (=>LTR), both consistent LTR and random LTR
- number of items retrieved from Short term storage (STR)
per trial
Algorithm implemented:
Sum Recalled Items: total number of items recalled on a given trial.
LTS:
an item receives positive LTS status if it is recalled without a reminder. For trial 1,
an item receives positive LTS status if it is recalled on trial 1 and trial 2 (the second trial being unreminded of this item).
Once an item is assigned positive LTS status, it keeps that status for all remaining trials whether or not it is actively retrieved.
Script counts the number of items that have positive LTS status for each trial.
number of items with LTS status either increases or stays the same from trial to trial; the number cannot decrease.
The number of items with LTS status, however, can surpass the number of actively recalled items.
LTR: if an item has positive LTS status for the current trial AND is recalled, then the item is considered
to be retrieved from LTR (=positive LTR status) for the purpose of the current trial.
Script counts the number of items with positive LTR status per trial.
the number of items with LTR status in a given trial can vary from trial to trial. However, the number
cannot surpass the number of actively recalled items.
CLTR (consistent LTR): once an item is recalled consistently (that is without fail), it gets assigned
positive CLTR status for the first trial that started the consistent recall.
Script counts the number of items with positive CLTR status per trial.
the number of items with CLTR can only increase or stay the same from trial to trial.
It cannot surpass the number of items with LTR status.
Positive CLTR status has to be reached before the last trial
randLTR (random LTR): all items with positive LTR status in a given trial that have not reached CLTR status yet
are considered to be retrieved randomly from LTS.
the number of items with positive randLTR status in a given trial can vary from trial to trial.
It cannot surpass the number of items with LTR status.
STR: items that are recalled without LTS status are considered to be retrieved from short term storage.
Number of items with STR = (Sum of all Recalled Items) - (number of items with positive LTR status).
(2) MCR: Multiple Choice Recognition Task (optional)
- presents the 12 targets and 12 distractor items in a 4x6 matrix (screen positions are randomly assigned)
- participants can click on as many items as they want (once clicked the items turn blue; a second click unselects the items)
until they click 'Submit'
(3) DR: Delayed Recall Task (optional)
- after a predetermined time frame, participants are asked to do a delayed recall task.
- the computer plays a sound (that should be stopped with a spacebar press) to indicate that the delay time is up.
see section Editable Stimuli
(provided stimuli are from Buschke, 1973 and serve as demonstration stimuli only)
see section Editable Instructions
File Name: verbalrestrictiveremindingtask_visual_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 |
| recallTrial12 | Store the number of Recalled items for trial 1 - trial 12 ltsTrial1- |
| ltsTrial12 | Store the number of items with positive LTS (long term storage) status for trial 1 - trial 12 ltrTrial1- |
| ltrTrial12 | Store the number of items with positive LTR (long term retrieval) status for trial 1 - trial 12 cltrTrial1- |
| cltrTrial12 | Store the number of items with positive CLTR (consistent long term retrieval) status for trial 1 - trial 12 CLTR status has to be reached before the last trial randLtrTrial1- |
| randLtrTrial12 | Store the number of items with positive randLTR (random long term retrieval) status for trial 1 - trial 12 strTrial1- |
| strTrial12 | Store the number of items with positive STR (short term retrieval) status for trial 1 - trial 12 |
| rrtCountOthers | Counts all 'Recalls' of words that were not on the list (sums them up across RRT trials) |
| drCountRecalledWords | Counts the number of words correctly Recalled during the Delayed Recall Task |
| drCountOthers | Counts all delayed 'Recalls' of words that were not on the list |
| mcrHits | Counts the number of words correctly selected during the Multiple Choice SelectionRecognition Task |
| mcrFAs | Counts the number of words incorrectly selected during the Multiple Choice SelectionRecognition Task Stimulus Info rrtPresentedWords1- |
| rrtPresentedWords12 | Store the words that have been presented for each trial (in the order presented) rrtRecalledWords1- |
| rrtRecalledWords12 | Store all the Recalled list items for each trial (in the order Recalled) word1RecallPositions- |
| word12RecallPositions | Store the positions in which each word was Recalled across the 12 trials Example: word 1 was Recalled in the following positions in the first 3 trials "0(=not Recalled in trial1), 7 (=the 7th item Recalled in trial2), 4 (=the 4th item Recalled in trial3), etc" |
| drRecalledWords | Stores the words entered during the Delayed Recall Task (in the order Recalled) |
| mcrWords | Stores all the words selected during the Multiple Choice SelectionRecognition Task (NOT in selection order) |
File Name: verbalrestrictiveremindingtask_visual_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 |
| response | The participant's response |
| correct | The correctness of the response (1 = correct; 0 = incorrect) |
| latency | The response latency (in ms) |
| rrtPresentedWords | Stores the words (reminders) that have been presented for the current trial |
| rrtCountPresented | Counts the number of words presented for the current trial |
| rrtRecalledWords | Stores all the list items that have been successfully recalled (as selected by test administrator) in the current trial |
| rrtCountRecalled | Counts the number of recalled items per RRT trial |
| drRecalledWords | Stores the words entered during the Delayed Recall Task |
| drCountRecalledWords | Counts the number of recalled items during the delayed recall trialestimatedWordCount estimates the number of words presented based on number of spaces in response (autocorrects up if last input was a letter) |
| estimatedWordCount | Computer estimated count of the recalled words |
| countOthers | Counts all 'recalls' of words that were not on the list counts all 'recalls' of words that were not on the list (sums them up across SRT trials and resets for DR task) |
| mcrWords | Stores all the words selected during the Multiple Choice SelectionRecognition Task (NOT in selection order) |
| mcrHits | Counts the number of words correctly selected during the Multiple Choice SelectionRecognition Task |
| mcrFAs | Counts the number of words incorrectly selected during the Multiple Choice SelectionRecognition Task skip1- |
| skip12 | True = the corresponding word (itemnumber) does not need to presented again false = the corresponding word needs to be presented again during the next trial |
The procedure can be adjusted by setting the following parameters.
| Name | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|
| stimFontSize | The size of the presented item in canvas hight percentages | 5% |
| stimPresentation | The duration (in ms) the stim words stay on screen | 2000ms |
| isi | The interstimulus interval (in ms) | 0ms |
| skipDelayedRecall | False: runs a delayed Recall session; true: skips the delayed Recall session | |
| timeToRecall | Intervall between last response and start of delayed recall trial (in ms) | 1800000ms = 30min |
| skipRecognitionTest | False: runs a multiple-choice Recognition Test; true: skips a multiple-choice Recognition Test |