PASAT

[David Moore]

Dear all,

I am trying to program a Paced Auditory Serial Addition Task (PASAT) and am
wondering if anybody has programmed one of these before and can help. The
task essentially involves presenting numbers to participant and asking them
to indicate what the sum of the previous two numbers is.

I have a few problems programming this which people may be able to
independently help with if no one has a PASAT task. First how would I allow
participants to indicate that the answer is a two digit number. Second how
would I indicate to eprime that the correct answer is the sum of the
previous two answers?

Best
David

[liwenna]

Hello David,

No PASAT ready made here but I can give some idea's on your questions.

For the correct answer I see two different options. Either you don't
randomize the trials but keep a fixed order in which case you can
simply create a attribute to each level (trial) that holds the sum of
that trial's number and the previous... non-randomized PASAT's are
pretty common I think? (also see below). Alternatively you can create
a 'user tab defined variable' that carries information over to the
next trial. On the script window in the lower left corner open the
user-tab and type "dim prevnumber as integer". Now at the end of the
trialproc insert an inline that assigns that trial's number the value
of prevnumber: "prevnumber = c.getattrib ("number") " wherein "number"
is the name of an attribute in your triallist that holds the value of
the number given in that trial (assuming that numbers will be
presented auditory?). At the begin of the trialproc insert an inline
that calculates the correct answer based on the current trial's number
and the previous trial's number: " c.setattrib "correct", prevnumber +
c.getattrib ("number") ". This attribute "correct" should also be
created in your triallist and it's cells simply left empty, they will
be filled as the program runs.

Then the indication of two-digit answers... I am affraid I have no
really good ideas regarding that. Hopefully others will. But do I
understand it right that you want your participants to type in their
answer? I've never seen a pasat 'in action' but isn't it more common
(and more 'paced' ) to have them answer verbally? Which would require
answers to be recorded and scored 'by hand' which then also would
render non-randomized trials a more attractive option?


I hope the above is somewhat helpful to you,

Best,

liw

[David McFarlane]

David,

First, my standard reminders: 1) I do not work for PST. 2) PST's
trained staff really does like to take any and all questions at
http://support.pstnet.com/e%2Dprime/support/login.asp , and they
strive to respond to all requests in 24-48 hours. So don't be shy
there. 3) If you do get an answer from PST Web Support, please
extend the courtesy of posting their reply back here for the sake of others.

That said, here is my take ...

1a) Just repeating liwenna's fine answer, if you have a fixed set of
problems (addenda) then you could just add the answer as another
attribute as in any other List; but just as with any other List, you
would not then have to present these in fixed order, you could still
randomize the trial order, unless I'm missing something.

1b) Expanding on liwenna's script approach, you could compute the
correct answers in script. In general, for an introduction to
E-Basic script, please work through Chapter 4 of the User's Guide
that came with E-Prime.

2) You may do this with the Advanced input mask features, please
search the E-Prime Google Group or the PST Forum using terms like
"MaxCount" or "TerminationResponse", or look at these topics under
InputMask in the online E-Basic Help.

-- David McFarlane, Professional Faultfinder
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over
public relations, for nature cannot be fooled." (Richard Feynman,
Nobel prize-winning physicist)

[Daniel Zajdel]

Why do you want to implement PASAT on a computer? What is wrong with the good old fashioned pencil, paper and audio recording? Because I can guarentee you that given noob coding skills you could quite possibly collect all your data before you figure this out in any stimulus presentation package. Not only that, but if you are entertaining an idea that is anything other a vocal response, like typing on a keypad, changes the task significantly and that data is no longer comparable to any legacy data or data in the literature. The whole reason PASAT was developed in the first place was for study populations like Multiple Sclerosis, where you want to remove the motor component and get at just the cognitive aspect.
So from the programming perspective, you will have to get clever like David and Ilwenna. But from a scientific perspective, and isn't that the more important part, I'm not so sure an eprime PASAT is a very hot idea.

________________________________________
From: e-p...@googlegroups.com [e-p...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of David Moore [D.M...@bath.ac.uk]
Sent: Tuesday, November 10, 2009 1:53 AM
To: e-p...@googlegroups.com
Subject: PASAT

[Edward Justin Modestino, Ph.D.]

My boss wants us to have a PASAT for use in e-prime.  It is for those who are handicapped and cannot do other processing tasks.  If anyone has created such thing, please contact me to let me know.  I am a complete novice with e-prime.
Thanks,
Dr. Modestino

[Tara Gruenewald]

Hello! Our lab is looking to use a PASAT-C in EPrime for a study we are trying to start up. I know you posted a year ago, but I am wondering if you succeeded in finding or developing a program?

Thanks so much!

[Tara Gruenewald]

Hello David,

I am looking to start a study that uses the PASAT, and are trying to develop it in EPrime.  I understand that you tried to develop this a while ago.  I am wondering if you ended up finding one or developing a script?

Thanks so much!