Yantis1 Instructions

Thank you very much for participating in this experiment. Today you will be performing two different tasks. You will see a display of colored letters and/or digits filling the computer screen in front of you. Your task is to find and identify the single red digit amongst the red letters in the display. Sometimes there will also be green digits on the screen (sometimes they will be flashing and sometimes they will just sit there). Whether there are green digits or not, the task is always the same; your focus should be to search for the one red digit. After two seconds, you will be see a keypad display, allowing you to use the mouse to click the “target digit” that you saw. When you report the digit, your goal is accuracy not speed. If you don’t know for sure what the single red digit was, please take your best guess.

On some blocks of trials you will have an additional challenge. The challenge will be a task requiring you to respond to a series of tones starting prior to when the red-digit task commences. You will hear a series of either high or low-pitched tones over the speakers. If the tone is high, you will press the HIGH key (S on the keyboard). If you hear a low tone, you will press the LOW key (X on the keyboard). Please keep the middle and index fingers of your left hand rested on these two keys during blocks of trials where you will be hearing tones. Try to respond as quickly and accurately as possible to the tones.

When you have both tasks to do, please be sure to try and give equal priority to both tasks. You will hear some tones and try to find the single red digit at the same time. At the end of each set of trials, the computer will tell you how quickly and accurately you have been responding, to make things more interesting.

If you have any questions, please ask the experimenter now. Thank you again for your participation. We sincerely appreciate your best effort in this experiment.