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Running Span Task

angellam59 — Fri, 31 Mar 2017 07:18:50 GMT

Hi,

I am currently doing a research study that uses Running Span Task. However, I realized that every participant completed different amount of trials. Besides, every person does not have consistent block.

E.g.
Participant 1 will encounter with 4 targets, 5 targets, 3 targets, and then lastly 6 targets.
Participant 2 will encounter with 4 targets, 5 targets, 3 targets, and lastly 6 targets.

May I know why is there these difference?

Besides, the data also stated that the script was not completed = prematurely aborted. However, my participants actually completed the test. So, I do not know whether the test itself prematurely aborted as participants make mistake. As I always see "Congratulations, you have completed the experiment".

I would really appreciate your replies. Thank you so much.

RE: Running Span Task

Dave — Fri, 31 Mar 2017 07:18:50 GMT

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[b]angellam59 - Friday, March 31, 2017[/b]

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[b]Dave - Wednesday, November 30, 2016[/b]

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[b]angellam59 - Wednesday, November 30, 2016[/b]

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[b]Dave - Monday, November 28, 2016[/b]

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[b]angellam59 - Monday, November 28, 2016[/b]

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[b]Dave - Wednesday, November 23, 2016[/b]

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[b]angellam59 - Wednesday, November 23, 2016[/b]

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[b]Dave - Wednesday, November 23, 2016[/b]

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[b]angellam59 - Wednesday, November 23, 2016[/b]

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[b]Dave - Tuesday, November 22, 2016[/b]

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[b]angellam59 - Tuesday, November 22, 2016[/b]

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I don't quite understand what you mean by "every person does not have consistent block." Please explain.

> data also stated that the script was not completed = prematurely aborted.

If values.completed is 0 the script was not fully completed. It indicates the respective participant terminated it early, e.g. by pressing CTRL+Q.

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Hi Dave,

Thank you for your reply.
So, what I mean was the values.nTargets. Some participants will get 4 targets, 5 targets, 3 targets, and then lastly 6 targets. While the other participant get 5 targets, 3 targets, 4 targets, and then lastly 6 targets. May I know if the test itself is trying to accommodate the participant's memory span?

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The order of nTargets is randomized and is supposed to be. I.e., "Some participants will get 4 targets, 5 targets, 3 targets, and then lastly 6 targets. While the other participant get 5 targets, 3 targets, 4 targets, and then lastly 6 targets" is exactly what should happen. The order of number target items to recall is not dependent on participant performance. Every participant receives blocks where s/he is supposed to remember the last 3 items, the last 4 items, the last 5 items and the last 6 items. The order of those blocks is random.

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Okay, I got what you mean.
So when randomizing the blocks, does it means that the trials difficulty for each participants remain the same? As in the number of distractors letters are different in some of the trials.

Besides, I also found that the instructions trial code in the raw data are not the same for some participants.
E.g. Participant A got 7 instructions trial code, while participants B got 9 instructions trial code.
May I know why does this happen?

Also, I've read the user manual guide for this test, but I still do not get how to interpret the values.runspantotal from my raw data. Is there any other clearer guides on how to interpret the data?
Thank you.

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> So when randomizing the blocks, does it means that the trials difficulty for each participants remain the same? As in the number of distractors letters are
> different in some of the trials.

Yes, it remains the same.

> Besides, I also found that the instructions trial code in the raw data are not the same for some participants.
> E.g. Participant A got 7 instructions trial code, while participants B got 9 instructions trial code.
> May I know why does this happen?

The instructions allow for navigating back and forth, i.e. you can go back to previous instruction "screens". Each "screen" is an instance of the instructions <trial>. If participant B did that, you'll see more instances of the instructions trial in participant B's data than in participant A's, who did not need to go back and forth or did so less often than participant B.

> Also, I've read the user manual guide for this test, but I still do not get how to interpret the values.runspantotal from my raw data. Is there any other clearer
> guides on how to interpret the data?

You may want to read the actual article describing the procedure in addition:

Broadway, J. M., & Engle, R. W. (2010). Validating Running Memory Span: Measurement of working memory capacity and links with fluid intelligence. Behavior Research Methods, 42 (2), 563-570.

values.runspantotal is the sum of all correctly recalled targets. It is updated in your raw data files on a trial-by-trial basis. The final score is in the raw data file's final row for the given participant. The summary data file contains just the final score (that's the whole purpose of summary data files: Provide a single line of relevant summary statistics for each participant).

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Hi Dave,

Thank you very much for your explanations above. It really helped me a lot. I tried to go through the data again these few days.
However, there are other questions that I would like to ask:
--> I found that in the trialcode, there are "getTargets" and "getDistractors". May I know "getDistractors" refer to which "screen" in the test? It appears between each of the trial but I was unable to figure out which one was it.
--> Besides, to double confirm, does "getTargets" means on the "screen" showing "In this block of trials you will need to remember the LAST FIVE letters from each list in the order presented. Ready?"
--> Furthermore, in the column of "correct", while my participants got that trial correct, it still shows "0" which means incorrect as written in the user manual. May I know what is the reason? or it has different meaning?

Thank you once again for your patience in answering my doubts.

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What <trial getTargets> and <trial getDistractors> do is detailed in the script's comments:

    Get Number Of Targets
**************************************************************************************************************
**************************************************************************************************************
    Determine number of target items and display reminder message
**************************************************************************************************************
**************************************************************************************************************
<trial getTargets>
...
</trial>

    Get Number Of Distractors
**************************************************************************************************************
**************************************************************************************************************
    Determine number of distractor items and display fixation cross
**************************************************************************************************************
**************************************************************************************************************
<trial getDistractors>
...
</trial>

> --> Besides, to double confirm, does "getTargets" means on the "screen" showing "In this block of trials you will need to remember the LAST FIVE letters from each list in the
> order presented. Ready?"

Yes.

> --> Furthermore, in the column of "correct", while my participants got that trial correct, it still shows "0" which means incorrect as written in the user manual. May I know what
> is the reason? or it has different meaning?

There is no "correct" response for <trial getTargets>. It allows only one response -- a click on the left mouse button to start the letter presentation. It is completely irrelevant to scoring.

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Hi Dave,

I have read the article you posted for me. But I am still having doubts. As I am measuring working memory capacity, I should take the values.runspantotal or values.runspanscore?
In the article, it mentioned only the whole recall trials and partial recall trials. Hence, I got confused, which data should I use to measure working memory capacity.

Thank you and have a nice day.

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Both are measures of working memory capacity. values.runspanscore only considers the partial recall trials (at least one distractor or -- in the article's parlance -- m > 0), and is the stricter measure. That's what you'll want to use in all likelihood.

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Hi Dave, just to double confirm, does higher values.runspanscore represents higher working memory capacity?

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Yes.

angellam59 — Fri, 31 Mar 2017 00:54:36 GMT

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[b]Dave - Wednesday, November 30, 2016[/b]

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[b]angellam59 - Wednesday, November 30, 2016[/b]

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[b]Dave - Monday, November 28, 2016[/b]

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[b]angellam59 - Monday, November 28, 2016[/b]

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[b]Dave - Wednesday, November 23, 2016[/b]

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[b]angellam59 - Wednesday, November 23, 2016[/b]

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[b]Dave - Wednesday, November 23, 2016[/b]

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[b]angellam59 - Wednesday, November 23, 2016[/b]

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[b]Dave - Tuesday, November 22, 2016[/b]

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[b]angellam59 - Tuesday, November 22, 2016[/b]

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Hi Dave, just to double confirm, does higher values.runspanscore represents higher working memory capacity?

RE: Running Span Task

Dave — Wed, 30 Nov 2016 19:26:32 GMT

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[b]angellam59 - Wednesday, November 30, 2016[/b]

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[b]Dave - Monday, November 28, 2016[/b]

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[b]angellam59 - Monday, November 28, 2016[/b]

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[b]Dave - Wednesday, November 23, 2016[/b]

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[b]angellam59 - Wednesday, November 23, 2016[/b]

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[b]Dave - Wednesday, November 23, 2016[/b]

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[b]angellam59 - Wednesday, November 23, 2016[/b]

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[b]Dave - Tuesday, November 22, 2016[/b]

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[b]angellam59 - Tuesday, November 22, 2016[/b]

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RE: Running Span Task

angellam59 — Wed, 30 Nov 2016 18:26:02 GMT

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[b]Dave - Monday, November 28, 2016[/b]

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[b]angellam59 - Monday, November 28, 2016[/b]

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[b]Dave - Wednesday, November 23, 2016[/b]

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[b]angellam59 - Wednesday, November 23, 2016[/b]

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[b]Dave - Wednesday, November 23, 2016[/b]

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[b]angellam59 - Wednesday, November 23, 2016[/b]

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[b]Dave - Tuesday, November 22, 2016[/b]

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[b]angellam59 - Tuesday, November 22, 2016[/b]

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RE: Running Span Task

Dave — Mon, 28 Nov 2016 08:31:27 GMT

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[b]angellam59 - Monday, November 28, 2016[/b]

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[b]Dave - Wednesday, November 23, 2016[/b]

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[b]angellam59 - Wednesday, November 23, 2016[/b]

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[b]Dave - Wednesday, November 23, 2016[/b]

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[b]angellam59 - Wednesday, November 23, 2016[/b]

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[b]Dave - Tuesday, November 22, 2016[/b]

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[b]angellam59 - Tuesday, November 22, 2016[/b]

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RE: Running Span Task

angellam59 — Mon, 28 Nov 2016 08:13:58 GMT

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[b]Dave - Wednesday, November 23, 2016[/b]

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[b]angellam59 - Wednesday, November 23, 2016[/b]

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[b]Dave - Wednesday, November 23, 2016[/b]

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[b]angellam59 - Wednesday, November 23, 2016[/b]

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[b]Dave - Tuesday, November 22, 2016[/b]

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[b]angellam59 - Tuesday, November 22, 2016[/b]

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RE: Running Span Task

Dave — Wed, 23 Nov 2016 19:48:37 GMT

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[b]angellam59 - Wednesday, November 23, 2016[/b]

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[b]Dave - Wednesday, November 23, 2016[/b]

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[b]angellam59 - Wednesday, November 23, 2016[/b]

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[b]Dave - Tuesday, November 22, 2016[/b]

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[b]angellam59 - Tuesday, November 22, 2016[/b]

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RE: Running Span Task

angellam59 — Wed, 23 Nov 2016 18:19:52 GMT

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[b]Dave - Wednesday, November 23, 2016[/b]

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[b]angellam59 - Wednesday, November 23, 2016[/b]

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[b]Dave - Tuesday, November 22, 2016[/b]

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[b]angellam59 - Tuesday, November 22, 2016[/b]

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RE: Running Span Task

Dave — Wed, 23 Nov 2016 07:47:38 GMT

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[b]angellam59 - Wednesday, November 23, 2016[/b]

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[b]Dave - Tuesday, November 22, 2016[/b]

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[b]angellam59 - Tuesday, November 22, 2016[/b]

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RE: Running Span Task

angellam59 — Wed, 23 Nov 2016 00:51:06 GMT

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[b]Dave - Tuesday, November 22, 2016[/b]

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[b]angellam59 - Tuesday, November 22, 2016[/b]

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RE: Running Span Task

Dave — Tue, 22 Nov 2016 07:45:48 GMT

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[b]angellam59 - Tuesday, November 22, 2016[/b]

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