Experiment 3: Mixed vs Blocked; Dashboard Paradigm

Part of paid clinical trials in Boston, Massachusetts.

Sponsor
Brigham and Women's Hospital
Study ID
NCT06934213
Status
Recruiting
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Conditions

  • Attention
  • Healthy
  • Vision

Eligibility Criteria

Sex
ALL
Age
18 Years - N/A
Healthy Volunteers
Accepted

Interventions

  • Choice — BEHAVIORAL
    The observer gets to make a choice about the sequence of trials they see
  • Mixed trials — BEHAVIORAL
    The search tasks are either intermixed. Otherwise trials are run in blocks

Study Details

The goal is to look for qualitative differences in visual search behavior when one search is performed many times in a row compared to when multiple search tasks are intermixed. Four search tasks are tested. The target is the same in every task but the types of distractors change from task to task. In this version, observers get some degree of choice in what they are searching.

Key Dates

Start date
Jun 1, 2024
Status verified
Apr 2025
Primary completion
Jun 1, 2029
Completion
Jun 30, 2029

Study Design

Enrollment
50 participants (estimated)
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
BASIC_SCIENCE

Arms

  • Experimental: Trial Choice condition
    In this condition, participants are allowed to choose which task to perform on each trial. At the beginning of each trial, the message "Choose your task" appears in the center of the screen. Participants choose one of four tasks by clicking on the corresponding button on the left side of the patch. The button is deactivated when the number of trials completed in a task reached 50. If a deactivated button is clicked, the message "Choose another task" appears at the center again.
  • Experimental: Block Choice condition
    In this condition, participants begin by choosing one of the four tasks. Participants do not need to choose a task before each trial; the current trial is drawn automatically from the most recently chosen task until the participant actively chooses to switch tasks or until the full complement of trials for that task is exhausted. At the start of each trial, a "switch" button appears at the center of the display for 700 msec. If participants click on that button within the 700 msec, they are prompted to select the task. If participants does not click the switch button within the 700 msec window, the button vanished and a trial from the current task will be presented. When the number of trials of one task reaches its limit, participants are asked to select another task.
  • Experimental: Random condition
    In this condition, participants do not choose which task to perform on each trial. The order of the trials is randomized and assigned to the participant before each trial. Before each trial, the target task is highlighted and activated, while the other buttons remain deactivated. The trial begins only when the participant clicks on the correct task button.
  • Experimental: Blocked condition
    In this condition, participants also have no choice. Here, trials of each task type are presented in a blocked fashion. After 50 trials of one type, the task is changed to another task. To keep the motor demands similar to the choice conditions, at the beginning of each trial, participants need to click the highlighted button for the assigned task type. The order of blocks is counterbalanced across participants.
  • Experimental: Yoked condition
    Participants in this condition see trials in the order chosen by a participant in the Trial Choice condition. Again, to keep the motor demands similar to the choice conditions, at the beginning of each trial, participants need to click the highlighted task button for the assigned task type though they have no choice in the matter.

Primary Outcome Measure

Response Time (RT) [ Time Frame: through study completion, an average of one year ]

Central Contacts

Locations (1)

FacilityCityStateZIPSite coordinators
Brigham & Women's HospitalBostonMassachusetts02115
Jeremy M Wolfe, PhD
[email protected]
6178511166
Cailey Tennyson, PhD
[email protected]
617-525-3681
Jeremy M Wolfe, PhD (PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR)

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