The human mind tends to wander, shifting focus from external tasks to internal thoughts, in a phenomenon known as mind-wandering (MW). This state has been associated with decreased task performance and reduced processing of external stimuli. While the costs of MW have been explored in previous studies, the potential benefits remain unclear. In this study, we sought to investigate whether MW can actually be beneficial by examining its relationship to statistical learning. Our hypothesis was that MW could enhance the processing of stimulus-outcome relationships in the environment. To test this, we conducted an online study in which participants completed a probabilistic serial reaction time task to measure both general skill learning and implicit statistical learning. Between learning blocks, participants were asked to report their mind wandering status through thought probes.
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The Alternating Serial Reaction Time (ASRT) task created with jsPsych to measure statistical learning and general skill learning. Four circles are presented on the screen. Target stimuli appear in one of the four circles consecutively. The task is to press the response key corresponding to the current target stimulus as fast and as possible.
The task begins with three blocks of practice. After that, 25 blocks of ASRT task follows. Each block contains 10 repetitions of a randomly chosen 8-element alternating sequence (making some trials more probable than others, see Nemeth et al., 2010, Vékony et al., 2020). The 's', 'f', 'j' and 'l' buttons are set as response keys (corresponding to the four positions from left to right). If correct response is given, the next element is presented after a 120 ms response-to-stimulus interval. If the response is wrong, the target stimulus remains on the screen. Performance (accuracy and RT) is presented as a feedback after the end of the block. Statistical learning is measured by the RT and accuracy difference between the more and less probable stimuli, whereas general skill learning is measured by the overall acceleration of response times over the course of the task.
In the current version of the task, participants had to report on their thoughts between each block (thought probes). In the beginning, a short quiz describes how the questions should be answered in different situtations.
If you use the script, please include this citation in your manuscript:
Vékony, T. (2021). Alternating Serial Reaction Time Task created with jsPsych (Version 1.0.0) [Computer software]. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7124730
Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY)
ASRT task on GitHub
https://github.com/vekteo/ASRT_jsPsych
Fully open! Access by URL and searchable from the Open Materials search page
