SalfordPsych - Coding in R for Psychology

The dot probe task is used to measure attentional bias by:

• In each trial, a fixation cross is first presented on the screen.
• 2 images are then presented on the screen, one that is relevant to a motivation/bias. In this example, those images are of faces, with one of them displaying positive emotion, and the other a neutral face - we may expect people (particularly if happy themselves) to be biased toward the face displaying a positive emotion.
• A dot is then presented on the screen in the location of one of the previous images.
• Participants respond to the location of the dot.
• If the participant is motivated/biased by the variable represented in the differences in the original images, then it would be expected that their responses to the dot would be quicker, when the dot is presented in the place of the motivating/biasing image (i.e. valid trials). This is in comparison to when the dot is presented in the other location to the motivating/biasing image (i.e. invalid trials).

This task was originally developed by Samantha Gregory and can also be found in the 'University of Salford Cog Dot Probe Experiment' page on Gorilla Open Materials. This instance is being used as a tool for teaching the processing and analysis of performance data using R, as part of an optional module available within the University of Salford's Psychology (single honours) course.

Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY)

This visual search task was used to assess the effect of emotional content of images on a letter search task.

In each trial:

• A fixation cross is presented on screen.
• An image is then presented on screen, with either a 'T' or and 'L' located somewhere on the image.
• Participants respond by pressing the key ('T' or 'L') for the letter that was presented on the image.
• Images contain either positive, or neutral, content.
• Maximum time for identification of the letter was 10 seconds.

This instance of the task is being used as part of an assessment invovling the processing and analysis of performance data using R, as part of an optional module available within the University of Salford's Psychology (single honours) course.

Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY)