Skip to main content
Journal cover image

Validating a visual version of the metronome response task.

Publication ,  Journal Article
Laflamme, P; Seli, P; Smilek, D
Published in: Behavior research methods
August 2018

The metronome response task (MRT)-a sustained-attention task that requires participants to produce a response in synchrony with an audible metronome-was recently developed to index response variability in the context of studies on mind wandering. In the present studies, we report on the development and validation of a visual version of the MRT (the visual metronome response task; vMRT), which uses the rhythmic presentation of visual, rather than auditory, stimuli. Participants completed the vMRT (Studies 1 and 2) and the original (auditory-based) MRT (Study 2) while also responding to intermittent thought probes asking them to report the depth of their mind wandering. The results showed that (1) individual differences in response variability during the vMRT are highly reliable; (2) prior to thought probes, response variability increases with increasing depth of mind wandering; (3) response variability is highly consistent between the vMRT and the original MRT; and (4) both response variability and depth of mind wandering increase with increasing time on task. Our results indicate that the original MRT findings are consistent across the visual and auditory modalities, and that the response variability measured in both tasks indexes a non-modality-specific tendency toward behavioral variability. The vMRT will be useful in the place of the MRT in experimental contexts in which researchers' designs require a visual-based primary task.

Duke Scholars

Altmetric Attention Stats
Dimensions Citation Stats

Published In

Behavior research methods

DOI

EISSN

1554-3528

ISSN

1554-351X

Publication Date

August 2018

Volume

50

Issue

4

Start / End Page

1503 / 1514

Related Subject Headings

  • Young Adult
  • Thinking
  • Task Performance and Analysis
  • Reaction Time
  • Male
  • Individuality
  • Humans
  • Female
  • Experimental Psychology
  • Attention
 

Citation

APA
Chicago
ICMJE
MLA
NLM
Laflamme, P., Seli, P., & Smilek, D. (2018). Validating a visual version of the metronome response task. Behavior Research Methods, 50(4), 1503–1514. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13428-018-1020-0
Laflamme, Patrick, Paul Seli, and Daniel Smilek. “Validating a visual version of the metronome response task.Behavior Research Methods 50, no. 4 (August 2018): 1503–14. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13428-018-1020-0.
Laflamme P, Seli P, Smilek D. Validating a visual version of the metronome response task. Behavior research methods. 2018 Aug;50(4):1503–14.
Laflamme, Patrick, et al. “Validating a visual version of the metronome response task.Behavior Research Methods, vol. 50, no. 4, Aug. 2018, pp. 1503–14. Epmc, doi:10.3758/s13428-018-1020-0.
Laflamme P, Seli P, Smilek D. Validating a visual version of the metronome response task. Behavior research methods. 2018 Aug;50(4):1503–1514.
Journal cover image

Published In

Behavior research methods

DOI

EISSN

1554-3528

ISSN

1554-351X

Publication Date

August 2018

Volume

50

Issue

4

Start / End Page

1503 / 1514

Related Subject Headings

  • Young Adult
  • Thinking
  • Task Performance and Analysis
  • Reaction Time
  • Male
  • Individuality
  • Humans
  • Female
  • Experimental Psychology
  • Attention