Tutorial: Covert Attention Task

Download script for this tutorial.

This tutorial builds a covert attention task. The task measures the effect of an unattended cue on spatial position judgments. Subjects perform the task by indicating whether a critical stimulus is presented on the left or right side of the screen by pressing the 'a' or 's' key on the keyboard respectively. Subjects are instructed to fixate their gaze on the center of the screen while performing the task, where an arrow is presented on each trial. On 80% of the trials, the arrow points in the direction where the critical stimulus is presented (compatible). On the remaining 20% of the trials, the arrow points in the opposite direction (incompatible). Covert attention to the arrow is measured by comparing the average response latency of the compatible and incompatible trials. Shorter mean latencies on compatible as compared to incompatible trials indicates that subjects are influenced by the unattended arrow stimulus.

Before you Begin

  1. Download and install Inquisit Lab

Steps

  1. Creating Text Stimuli
  2. Creating Instructions
  3. Creating Trials
  4. Creating Blocks
  5. Creating an Experiment

Creating Text Stimuli