Pattern Comparison (Sequential)

Processing Speed Duration: ~8 minutes
Pattern Comparison (Sequential) screenshot

Description

A sequential pattern comparison task where participants memorize a dot pattern and then judge whether a second pattern is the same or different.

Measures: Visual short-term memory, pattern comparison, processing speed

Memory Processing Speed Perception

About This Test

A dot grid pattern is displayed briefly, then erased. After a delay, a second pattern appears and participants judge whether it is the same as or different from the first. Measures visual short-term memory and pattern discrimination.

Test Details

Test ID:
pattcomp-seq
Main File:
pattcomp-seq.pbl
Parameters:
9 configurable parameters
9 configurable parameters available
Languages:
German English Spanish French Italian Dutch Portuguese

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Scientific Background

Original Task References:

These references describe the original task that this PEBL implementation is based on.

  • Perez, W. A., Masline, P. J., Ramsey, E. G., & Urban, K. E. (1987). Unified tri-services cognitive performance assessment battery: Review and methodology. DTIC/TR-87-007.

PEBL-Specific References:

These studies used the PEBL version of this task.

  • Mueller, S. T. (2011). The PEBL Pattern Comparison Task. Computer software retrieved from http://pebl.sf.net/battery.html

Data Output

Trial-by-trial data with same/different condition, response, and accuracy.

Output File:
patcompseq-{subnum}.csv
Format:
CSV

Data Columns

Column Name Description
subnum Participant ID
trial Trial number
samediff Whether the second pattern was the same as or different from the first (same/diff)
delta Number of dot position differences between patterns (0 for same trials; 1, 2, or 3 for different trials)
mat1 First (study) pattern encoded as a binary string (1=dot present, 0=empty)
mat2 Second (test) pattern encoded as a binary string
abstime Absolute timestamp in milliseconds from the start of the test
rt Response time in milliseconds from when the second pattern appeared
resp Participant response (same or different)
corr Whether the response was correct (1) or incorrect (0)

Example Data

subnumtrialsamediffmat1mat2abstimertrespcorr
example1diff011011111000010001011110010101003415669different1
example2same1010101000010111101010100001011195061316same1
example3diff0011011011000011101111001110000016234989different1
example4same0101101101010001010110110101000122639668same1
example5diff0100110111011000011100001101100128720677different1
example6diff1010101100101010011011100010100134813831different1
example7diff01111000000101111011000100011110410611012different1
example8same0100111110010001010011111001000147483607same1
example9diff0010110011011001011011100101010053504914different1

View full file (61 rows) →

Sample data showing typical output format. Actual values will vary by participant.

About This Test

A sequential pattern comparison task where participants memorize a dot pattern and then judge whether a second pattern is the same or different.

Category: Processing Speed
Estimated Duration: 8 minutes
Available Translations: 7 languages

Documentation Status: Complete