The main task runs for a total of three minutes, and participants will complete as many trials in the permitted three minutes as possible. The main test consists of 181 trials, which may not all be completed due to the time constraint. Iteaåms are presented in item number order, from 1 to 181, without any branching or discontinuing rules. The task is completed in one sitting of 3 minutes, for this reason there are no options for rest breaks during the trial. In addition, there is no option to skip a trial.
This test is designed to test participants’ ability to mentally rotate images. Participants are shown two possible answer images to which they are required to match the correct one with the target image provided.
Every item is presented in the same format as shown above: the target image shown centrally at the top of screen, to which participants decide upon which image is correct (in this case, the image on the right hand side of the screen is the correct answer).
To respond, participants must press the ‘Q’ key to indicate the left hand side image is the match to the target image, or press the ‘P’ key to indicate the right hand side image is the match to the target image. After participants press the key to respond, the next trial is presented after a delay of one second. Participants are instructed to answer the tasks as quickly and as accurately as possible.
In the test introduction, participants are given 7 practice trials before they proceed to the main test. Participants are given feedback on their answers in the practice trial, but not in the main trial. Participants will be shown ‘Wrong! Try again!’ if they answer incorrectly or ‘Correct! Can you go faster?’ if they answer correctly. Participants are able to repeat the practice trails as many times they wish before progressing to the main task.
Test Rules
· Scoring – One point is awarded for a correct answer and zero points for a wrong answer. The total score is the total number of correct responses in three minutes time allocation.
· Timeout Rules- No timeout rules apply to the trials.
· Responses- Only theP and Q keys will register an answer response. If any other keys are pressed, a warning message will appear on the screen stating ‘Press Q or P using your left or right index finger’. In the raw data, responses are recorded in numeric form as 0 or 1.