Switcher Task
System Requirements
Minimum: 1024×768
Recommended: 1280×800
May be challenging for colorblind participants
Description
The PEBL Switcher task: A novel task to measure cognitive flexibility and rule switching.
About This Test
A cognitive flexibility task where participants match colored letters displayed in different shapes based on shifting rules. Ten target stimuli appear on screen, each combining one of five colors (orange, skyblue, bluegreen, yellow, red), one of five letters (A-E), and one of five shapes (circle, square, plus, ellipse, star). On each trial, participants must click the target that matches the current stimulus according to the active rule (color, letter, or shape). The task includes practice followed by three test types: (1) consistent 2-rule switching (alternating between two rules), (2) consistent 3-rule switching (cycling through three rules in fixed order), and (3) random 3-rule switching (rules change unpredictably). Measures cognitive flexibility, rule learning, and switching costs.
Test Details
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Data Output
Creates two data files: (1) switch-<subnum>.csv with trial-by-trial data containing columns: gSubNum (participant code), block (block number), type (test type: 0=practice, 1=consistent 2-rule, 2=consistent 3-rule, 3=random 3-rule), try (attempt number within block), successes (cumulative successes in block), rule (current rule: 'color', 'letter', 'shape', or 'NA'), lastrule (previous rule), curid (current stimulus ID), currentval (current value), correct (trial accuracy: 1=correct, 0=incorrect), matchColor (whether clicked color matched current stimulus), matchLetter (whether clicked letter matched current stimulus), matchShape (whether clicked shape matched current stimulus), matchLast (whether error matched previous rule dimension), curcolor (current stimulus color name), curletter (current stimulus letter), curshape (current stimulus shape name), targcolor (target color name), targletter (target letter), targshape (target shape name), clickcolor (clicked color name), clickletter (clicked letter), clickshape (clicked shape name), targx (target x position), targy (target y position), targid (target ID), corsum (cumulative correct count), incsum (cumulative incorrect count), time (absolute time in ms), rt (response time in ms); (2) switch-summary-<subnum>.csv containing block-level summary with columns: subNum (participant code), timestamp (completion time), testtype (0-3 as above), numcues (number of trials in block), numerr (number of errors), matchlast (errors matching previous rule), matchany (errors matching any dimension of current stimulus), tooslow (number of timeouts), waittime (time to first response in ms), perftime (total performance time in ms), medtime (median response time in ms).
About This Test
The PEBL Switcher task: A novel task to measure cognitive flexibility and rule switching.
Category: Executive Function
Estimated Duration: 15 minutes
Available Translations: 3 languages
Documentation Sources:
Test description file, Test implementation, Parameter schema
Documentation Status: Complete