___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ DIGIT SPAN (VISUAL) - Backward Assessment Only ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Script Author: Katja Borchert, Ph.D. (katjab@millisecond.com) for Millisecond Software, LLC last updated: 06-06-2023 by K. Borchert (katjab@millisecond.com) for Millisecond Software, LLC Script Copyright © 06-06-2023 Millisecond Software ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ BACKGROUND INFO ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ This script implements the Digit Span procedure, a measure of working memory, with two main measures the Two Error Maximal Lenght (teML), which is the traditional digit span measure, and a new measure MeanSpan (MS), the digit span that a participant is supposed to get correct 50% of the time. The implemented procedure is based on: Woods, D.L. et al (2011). Improving digit span assessment of short-term verbal memory. Journal of Clinicial and Experimental Neuropsychology, 33, 101-111 ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ TASK DESCRIPTION ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Participants see digit sequences and have to recall them in the reversed order by selecting the digits from a circle of digits with the mouse. Depending on performance, participants move up a level or down a level. Assessment is over after 14 trials. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ DURATION ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ the default set-up of the script takes appr. 8 minutes to complete ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ DATA OUTPUT DICTIONARY ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ The fields in the data files are: (1) Raw data file: 'digitspanvisual_backward_raw*.iqdat' (a separate file for each participant) build: The specific Inquisit version used (the 'build') that was run computer.platform: the platform the script was run on (win/mac/ios/android) date, time: date and time script was run subject, group: with the current subject/groupnumber session: with the current session id 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) Note: trialNum is a built-in Inquisit variable; it counts all trials run; even those that do not store data to the data file. list.digitSequences.currentValue: the selected sequence list.digitSequences.currentIndex: the index of the current sequence n: the number of digits presented in a trial countTrials: counts the trials run in the current assessment sequence: the digit sequence presented correctSolution: the correct digit sequence proposedSolution: the entered digit sequence acc: 1 = proposed solution is correct; 0 = otherwise conErrorCount: consecutive error count on the current level teML: the teML, it's -1 until it's set (and once it's set it it should not change anymore) teTT: the teTT, it's -1 until it's set (and once it's set it should not change anymore) ml: the ML, it's 0 until participant recalls digit sequences correctly. The ML is subject to change throughout all 14 trials. The last ML recorded represents the participant's actual ML. ms: the MS, it's 0 until it's calculated at the end of a block. A value < 3 only happens if participant repeatedly failed on level 3. (2) Summary data file: 'digitSpanvisual_backward_summary*.iqdat' (a separate file for each participant) inquisit.version: Inquisit version run computer.platform: the platform the script was run on (win/mac/ios/android) startDate: date script was run startTime: time script was started subjectId: assigned subject id number groupId: assigned group id number sessionId: assigned session id number elapsedTime: time it took to run script (in ms); measured from onset to offset of script completed: 0 = script was not completed (prematurely aborted); 1 = script was completed (all conditions run) bTEML: Two-error maximum length, the traditional measure of a participant's BACKWARDS digit span. It is the last digitspan a participant gets correct before making two consecutive errors. bTETT: Two-error total trials, the number of trials before BACKWARD teML is reached (measure of consistency) bML: Maximal BACKWARD digit span that a participant recalled correctly during all 14 trials. It is set to 0 before the start of the assessment. bMS: The BACKWARD digit span that a participant is expected to get correct 50% of all times based on overall performance during all 14 trials. bCountPracticeTrials: the number of backward practice trials presented until a correct response (or task was aborted prematurely) ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ EXPERIMENTAL SET-UP ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Overview of procedure implemented: (1) Practice: by default, participants have to go through at least 2 practice trials and at most 8 practice trials until a correct response terminates the practice session and advances to the test session. If no correct response is given within the maximum number of practice trials, the task terminates. (2) Test For the duration of 14 trials (based on Experiment 1, Woods et al, 2011), a participant sees a sequence of visual digits (starting level 2), where each digit is presented for 1 s. A visual signal is presented for the duration of 1s, after which the participant is asked to recall the digit sequence and type the answer into a presented textbox. If the response is correct (in digits and presentation order), the participant moves up to the next level (e.g. level 3). If the response is incorrect, the same level is presented a second time. If a consecutive error occurs the participant moves back down to a lower level, starting over. The first time a participant makes a consecutive error, the traditional measure teML is set to the last correctly recalled number of digits (e.g. if participant reaches level 8, but answers incorrectly both times, the teML is set to 7). Because the digit span assessment does not exit when teML is set - as is done in traditional digit span assessments- but goes on for the remainder of the 14 trials, it is possible for participants to superpass levels they previously failed (e.g participant with teML = 7 may successfully recall 8 digits on a later try). The new digit span assessment measure, ML, is set to the maximal length of digits correctly recalled during 14 trials. Assessment is done for BACKWARD assessment (= recall the digits in reversed order). Note: Backward assessment starts at level 2 ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ STIMULI ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ see section Editable Stimuli/Editable Lists ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ INSTRUCTIONS ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Instructions are not original to the task. They are provided by Millisecond Software as htm/html pages and can be edited by changing the provided htm/html files. To edit htm/html-files: open the respective documents in simple Text Editors such as TextEdit (Mac) or Notepad (Windows). ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ EDITABLE CODE ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ check below for (relatively) easily editable parameters, stimuli, instructions etc. Keep in mind that you can use this script as a template and therefore always "mess" with the entire code to further customize your experiment. The parameters you can change are: /circleProportion: proportion of canvas height used for the circle radius of response buttons (default: 0.3) /minPracticeTrials: minimum number of practice trials before a participant can move towards test with a correct response /maxPracticeTrials: maximum number of practice trials run until either a correct responses is given or the task is aborted (default: 8) /debugmode: 1 = script presents the correct solutions (debugmode); 0 = no correct solutions are presented (default)