Task Details

 

The rotation span task is the complex span partner to the arrow span task. Participants are shown a sequence of arrows that are at different orientations (0-315 in 45 degree jumps) and that are either long/short (also big/small as long arrows are also thicker). Participants are required to recall which arrows they were shown in the correct serial position. After each arrow is presented a processing task is presented that shows participants a letter (either F,G, or R) that is either in its normal representation or a mirror image. In addition it may be rotated at one of the 45 degree marks. Therefore the task is to judge if the letter is normal/mirror and to reach this judgement participants must mentally rotate the image.

Screenshots

 

Presentation Phase

Image shows a screenshot of what the program looks like while delivering the presentation phase of the task - Arrow
Image shows a screenshot of what the program looks like while delivering the presentation phase of the task - Rotation

Recall Phase

Image shows a screenshot of what the program looks like while delivering the recall phase of the task, asking for the first arrow they recall seeing
Image shows a screenshot of what the program looks like while delivering the recall phase of the task after receiving some input

The XML

Quick links:
number of trials
randomised trials
 

You can download the default XML on the downloads page. In this section I will point out the customisation options at your disposal by modifying values in the XML.

Under task settings there is a section of code where we tell the application where to find the executable that handles the digit span task. The property name/value keys here are where we can set task-specific properties.

Number of trials

You can select how many trials of each span size you want. The properties to edit here are:

  • 'spanTwoTrials'
  • 'spanThreeTrials'
  • 'spanFourTrials'
  • 'spanFiveTrials'
  • 'spanSixTrials'
  • 'spanSevenTrials'
  • 'spanEightTrials'
  • 'spanNineTrials'
The default values for these properties are "3" for spans 2 through 7 and "0" for spans 8/9. Therefore as it stands the module will administer 3 trials at each list length up to 7 and none at list length 8 or 9. Simply change the integer values within the quotes for each span*Trials property to get the desired number of trials.

Sequential/Randomised trial order

This property decides if the trials are administered in sequential order or not with regards to the list lengths. If sequential then all list length 2 trials are given, followed by all list length 3 trials, and so forth. However, it is often the case that a researcher may wish to administer these trials in a random order so that the participant is not aware on any given trial how many digits they will have to store/recall. The property to edit is:

  • 'randomisedTrials'
The default value is "0" which is the code for sequential order. The alternative is "1" which is the code for random order.

Data Analysis

 

After running the rotation span processing script (download from here) you will get a data frame with the following variables. Information on running the script and obtaining the processed data is here

Variable Name Description
fta.score This is the score the participant achieved when the full-trial accuracy scoring method is used.
prop.score The score obtained by the participant when the proportion correct method of scoring is used.
number.successes The score obtained by the participant when the number of correctly recalled elements method of scoring is used.
processing.accuracy The proportion of the rotation judgements that were successfully answered.
processing.median.rt The median response time for answering during the processing phase.
max.span Maximum list length at which the participant successfully recalled all the elements in the trial.
span.2.corr Number of trials successfully answered (all arrows recalled) at list length 2 - "NA" value if there were no trials at this list length administered
span.3.corr Number of trials successfully answered (all arrows recalled) at list length 3 - "NA" value if there were no trials at this list length administered
span.4.corr Number of trials successfully answered (all arrows recalled) at list length 4 - "NA" value if there were no trials at this list length administered
span.5.corr Number of trials successfully answered (all arrows recalled) at list length 5 - "NA" value if there were no trials at this list length administered
span.6.corr Number of trials successfully answered (all arrows recalled) at list length 6 - "NA" value if there were no trials at this list length administered
span.7.corr Number of trials successfully answered (all arrows recalled) at list length 7 - "NA" value if there were no trials at this list length administered
span.8. corr Number of trials successfully answered (all arrows recalled) at list length 8 - "NA" value if there were no trials at this list length administered
span.9.corr Number of trials successfully answered (all arrows recalled) at list length 9 - "NA" value if there were no trials at this list length administered
user The value of the username of the account which produced the data