The main variables are the proportion correct for each condition (Go/No-Go), the average reaction time for Go trials, and the number of both kinds of trials (Go/No-Go).
Go/no-go task (GNGT)
How impulsive are people?
The Go/No Go task is an experimental paradigm that measures people’s capacity not to respond (response inhibition), and can be used as a proxy to measure behaviors like impulsiveness. Response inhibition refers to ‘the suppression of actions that are inappropriate in a given context and that interferes with goal-driven behavior (Mostofsky et. al, 2008).’ Similar to the Sternberg and Visual Search Tasks, this task measures people’s reaction times as a way to quantify the speed of one’s mental processing of certain parts of a task. Inhibitory control and more generally, cognitive control refers to the process that allows information processing and behavior to vary from moment to moment. The prefrontal cortex is believed to play a key role in supporting this process.
Resources:- Mostofsky SH, Simmonds DJ. Response inhibition and response selection: two sides of the same coin. J Cogn Neurosci. 2008 May;20(5):751-61. doi: 10.1162/jocn.2008.20500. PMID: 18201122. link
- Background on Go/No Go task https://www.neurobs.com/manager/content/docs/psychlab101_experiments/Go-NoGo%20Task/description.html
Parameters
The following features can be tweaked (default values in parentheses):- Task instructions
- Number of main trials (79 Go trials, 21 No-go trials)
- Number of practice trials (8 Go trials, 4 No-go trials)
- Number of correct hits necessary to pass training phase (4)
- Number of correct rejections necessary to pass training phase (2)
- Message after successful/unsuccessful completion of training phase
- Duration of feedback during training phase (1000 ms)
- Color of stimuli
- Shape of NoGo stimulus (circle)
- Duration of stimulus presentation (500 ms)
- Participant response window (500 ms)
- Mean value of random time-interval between trials
- Standard deviation of random time-interval between trials
- Whether trials should be randomized (yes)
- Whether or not to skip the training phase (no)
What data is collected? How is it scored?
The following variables are recorded:
- GNGT_proportionCorrectGo
- GNGT_proportionCorrectNoGo
- GNGT_meanRTGo
- GNGT_numberGoTrials
- GNGT_numberNoGoTrials
The main variables are the proportion correct for each condition (Go/No-Go), the average reaction time for Go trials, and the number of both kinds of trials (Go/No-Go)
Parameters
The following features of this task can be tweaked:
* Default values are shown (can clone task and modify these)
_instruction
In this task you will be shown figures in different shapes.
After the shape appears, press spacebar as soon as possible. Please use the index finger of your dominant hand. ATTENTION: If a circle appears, do not press!
Press the spacebar when you are ready.
_colorNegativeFeedback
red
_colorPositiveFeedback
brown
_positiveFeedbackHit
Right! Correctly pressed.
_positiveFeedbackCorrectMiss
Right! Good job not pressing the key.
_negativeFeedbackFalseAlarm
Wrong! You should not have pressed the key.
_negativeFeedbackWrongMiss
Wrong! You should have pressed the key.
_correctMissTestThreshold
2
_stimulusColor
blue
_practiceSuccessMessage
Well done! Ready for the main task? Press the space bar to start.
_practiceFailureMessage
Your reactions were too slow or wrong. Press the spacebar as soon as possible after the form appears. ATTENTION: If a circle appears, do not press! Please press the space bar to repeat the exercise attempts.
_endMessage
Thanks a lot! You will be automatically forwarded to the next page.
_timeFeedbackPractice
1000
_stimulusDuration
500
_timeToResponse_test
500
_meanBetweenStimuliInterval_practice
500
_sdBetweenStimuliInterval_practice
0
_numberNoGoTrials_practice
4
_numberGoTrials_practice
8
_meanBetweenStimuliInterval
500
_sdBetweenStimuliInterval
0
_numberNoGoTrials
9
_numberGoTrials
11
_noGoStimulus
circle
_hitTestThreshold
4
_skipPractice
false
What participants see before taking the task
In this task, you are asked to press a key as figures of different shapes appear.
What participants see after taking the task
The Go/No Go task measures the commission error rate (making a “go” response on “no-go” trials) and can be used as a test of cognitive control. Fewer errors signify better response inhibition (the capacity not to respond).
Aggregate Variables
These data are automatically written to a csv file upon completion of the task
more info
- GNGT_proportionCorrectGo
- GNGT_proportionCorrectNoGo
- GNGT_meanRTGo
- GNGT_numberGoTrials
- GNGT_numberNoGoTrials
Duration
7-8 mins
Resources
- Mostofsky SH, Simmonds DJ. Response inhibition and response selection: two sides of the same coin. J Cogn Neurosci. 2008 May;20(5):751-61. doi: 10.1162/jocn.2008.20500. PMID: 18201122. (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18201122/#:~:text=Response%20inhibition%20refers%20to%20the,interfere%20with%20goal%2Ddriven%20behavior.)
- Background on Go/No Go task https://www.neurobs.com/manager/content/docs/psychlab101_experiments/Go-NoGo%20Task/description.html