Battery guide
Medication Studies Battery guide
Five tests of reaction speed, vigilance, response inhibition and visual memory, for medication and drug study research.
- Guide version
- 1.2.0
- Battery version
- 1.0.0
What it measures
Who it is for: Medication and drug study research.
It measures Psychomotor speed, Decision speed, Vigilance and lapses of attention, Response inhibition and Visual episodic memory.
Processing speed: How quickly people take in information and respond.
Attention: Keeping attention on a task and picking out what matters.
Response inhibition: Stopping or holding back a response.
Episodic memory: Learning material and later recalling or recognizing it.
Scores describe how a person performs on these tasks. Research use only.
Tests in order
The tests run in this order. A study started from the battery keeps the order and the settings.
1. Simple Reaction Time. Measures basic processing speed by asking participants to respond as quickly as possible when a stimulus appears on screen.
2. Choice Reaction Time. Measures attention and decision speed by requiring participants to select the correct response based on which stimulus appears.
3. Psychomotor Vigilance Task. Measures sustained attention by requiring rapid responses to infrequent visual targets over variable waiting intervals.
4. Go/No-Go Task. Measures response inhibition by requiring participants to respond to 'go' stimuli and withhold responses to 'no-go' stimuli.
5. Paired Associate Learning. Measures visuospatial episodic memory by asking participants to learn and recall the locations of patterns hidden in boxes on a grid.
| Order | Test | Domain | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Simple Reaction Time | Processing speed | 2 to 3 minutes |
| 2 | Choice Reaction Time | Attention | 3 to 4 minutes |
| 3 | Psychomotor Vigilance Task | Attention | 4 to 6 minutes |
| 4 | Go/No-Go Task | Response inhibition | 4 to 5 minutes |
| 5 | Paired Associate Learning | Episodic memory | 6 to 8 minutes |
Time and devices
Allow about 26 minutes for the whole battery. The table gives each test's time.
The battery has timed tests. Participants need a desktop or laptop with a mouse or trackpad, and the timed tests run in full screen. Tablets and phones cannot run it.
On a desktop or laptop the screen must be at least 1024 by 700 pixels.
Participants need Chrome, Edge, Firefox or Safari.
| Test | Timing | Devices |
|---|---|---|
| Simple Reaction Time | Timed | Desktop or laptop |
| Choice Reaction Time | Timed | Desktop or laptop |
| Psychomotor Vigilance Task | Timed | Desktop or laptop |
| Go/No-Go Task | Timed | Desktop or laptop |
| Paired Associate Learning | Untimed | Desktop or laptop, tablet or phone |
Languages
Runs in all eight participant languages.
How to give it
Start a study from the battery in the app. The tests, their order and their settings are already set and stay fixed. If you change, reorder or customize a test, the study becomes a custom study and no longer carries the battery.
Each test opens with its instructions. Participants see these:
Simple Reaction Time: Press the spacebar as quickly as you can when you see the target appear on screen.
Choice Reaction Time: Press the LEFT arrow key if the stimulus appears on the left, or the RIGHT arrow key if it appears on the right. Respond as quickly and accurately as you can.
Psychomotor Vigilance Task: Keep your eyes on the screen and press the SPACEBAR as soon as the stimulus appears. Respond quickly but avoid anticipatory presses.
Go/No-Go Task: Press the spacebar when you see a GREEN circle (Go). Do NOT press anything when you see a RED circle (No-Go). Respond as quickly and accurately as you can.
Paired Associate Learning: Boxes will open one at a time to reveal patterns. Remember which pattern is in which box. When a pattern appears in the center, click the box where you saw it.
| Step | Before you invite participants |
|---|---|
| 1 | Add visits to the study if participants take the battery more than once. |
| 2 | Schedule each session at the same time relative to the dose. |
| 3 | Plan a practice or baseline session: scores improve with practice. |
| 4 | Review quality flags before comparing sessions. |
How each test is scored
The server scores each test when the participant finishes it. The primary score is the one the app compares with a norm. The other scores are reported with it.
Every result records its scoring version. For this battery they are Simple Reaction Time 1.0.0, Choice Reaction Time 1.0.0, Psychomotor Vigilance Task 1.0.1, Go/No-Go Task 1.0.0 and Paired Associate Learning 1.1.0.
| Test | Score | What it is | Better |
|---|---|---|---|
| Simple Reaction Time | Mean Reaction Time (ms, primary) | Average reaction time across valid trials, excluding anticipatory responses (<100ms). | Lower is better |
| Simple Reaction Time | Median Reaction Time (ms) | Median reaction time, more robust to outliers than the mean. Preferred when the RT distribution is skewed. | Lower is better |
| Simple Reaction Time | RT Standard Deviation (ms) | Standard deviation of reaction times. Reflects response consistency (intraindividual variability). Elevated IIV is a biomarker for cognitive decline. | Lower is better |
| Simple Reaction Time | Minimum RT (ms) | Informational | |
| Simple Reaction Time | Maximum RT (ms) | Slowest response recorded. May indicate lapses in attention. | Informational |
| Simple Reaction Time | Accuracy (proportion) | Proportion of trials with a valid response. Expected near ceiling for healthy participants. | Higher is better |
| Choice Reaction Time | Mean Reaction Time (ms, primary) | Average RT on correct trials only. Primary measure of decision speed. | Lower is better |
| Choice Reaction Time | Median Reaction Time (ms) | Median RT on correct trials, robust to outliers. | Lower is better |
| Choice Reaction Time | RT Standard Deviation (ms) | Variability in reaction times across correct trials. | Lower is better |
| Choice Reaction Time | Accuracy (proportion) | Proportion of correct responses (correct key pressed). | Higher is better |
| Choice Reaction Time | Correct Trials | Number of trials with a correct response. | Higher is better |
| Choice Reaction Time | Error Trials | Number of trials with an incorrect key press. | Lower is better |
| Psychomotor Vigilance Task | Mean Reaction Time (ms, primary) | Average valid response latency across scored trials. | Lower is better |
| Psychomotor Vigilance Task | Median Reaction Time (ms) | Median response latency, less influenced by outlier lapses. | Lower is better |
| Psychomotor Vigilance Task | RT Standard Deviation (ms) | Intraindividual variability of response speed. | Lower is better |
| Psychomotor Vigilance Task | Lapses | Missed responses or responses slower than the lapse threshold set for the study (500 ms standard). | Lower is better |
| Psychomotor Vigilance Task | False Starts | Anticipatory responses under 100ms. | Lower is better |
| Psychomotor Vigilance Task | Response Rate (proportion) | Proportion of trials with any response before timeout. | Higher is better |
| Go/No-Go Task | Mean Go RT (ms) | Average reaction time on correct Go trials. Reflects processing speed for respond conditions. | Lower is better |
| Go/No-Go Task | Go Accuracy (proportion) | Proportion of Go trials with a correct response. Low values suggest inattention. | Higher is better |
| Go/No-Go Task | No-Go Accuracy (proportion) | Proportion of No-Go trials correctly withheld. Directly measures inhibitory success. | Higher is better |
| Go/No-Go Task | d-Prime (primary) | Signal detection sensitivity: Z(hit rate) - Z(false alarm rate). Separates discriminability from response bias. | Higher is better |
| Go/No-Go Task | Commission Errors | Responses on No-Go trials (false alarms). Primary index of inhibitory failure. | Lower is better |
| Go/No-Go Task | Omission Errors | Missed responses on Go trials. Indicates lapses in sustained attention. | Lower is better |
| Paired Associate Learning | Total Errors (primary) | Patterns not placed correctly across all stages and attempts: a click on the wrong box, or no click within 30 seconds. Primary measure of learning efficiency. | Lower is better |
| Paired Associate Learning | Total Trials | Total number of pattern placement attempts across all stages. | Lower is better |
| Paired Associate Learning | First Trial Memory Score | Number of stages where all patterns were correctly placed on the first attempt. Measures immediate memory strength. | Higher is better |
| Paired Associate Learning | Stages Completed | Number of stages passed in order, each by an attempt that placed every pattern correctly within the maximum attempts. | Higher is better |
| Paired Associate Learning | Time-outs | Patterns with no box chosen within 30 seconds. Each also counts as an error. | Lower is better |
| Paired Associate Learning | Mean Response Latency (ms) | Average time to select a box location after pattern presentation. | Informational |
Session quality rules
The app checks every session when it scores it and records one of four states.
An Invalid session stays in the study's results, labelled with its reason, and does not count toward norms.
A session can carry warnings and still be valid. The results list the warnings next to the scores.
| State | What it means |
|---|---|
| Norm-ready | The session passed every check and a norm exists for it, so the app can show a percentile. |
| Raw-only | The scores are usable, but the app shows no percentile. Typical reasons are no norm for the test, changed settings, or a warning that makes a comparison unfair, such as a restart or a screen too short for the display. |
| Invalid technical | The setup broke the timing or the task. Examples are leaving full screen, a browser tab that lost focus during a timed test, and long pauses. |
| Invalid behavioral | The responses suggest the task was not done as asked. Examples are a failed attention check, repeated switching away from the task, and accuracy at or below chance on a choice task. |
Published norms used
No published norm is used for any test in this battery.
ConductCognition also builds norms from its own participants. An age band of a test uses them once it holds at least 50 valid sessions on the same device and input type, run with standard settings and scored with the current scoring version. Sessions from paying customers' studies and from clinical or patient samples do not count.
A report shows a percentile only when the app has stored one for that session. Otherwise it shows the raw scores.
Every reference group covers ages 18 and over. No reference group covers a participant under 18, so their report shows raw scores only, and their sessions do not count toward norms.
How to cite
ConductScience, Inc. Medication Studies Battery guide, version 1.2.0. ConductCognition. https://conductcognition.com/batteries/medication-studies/guide
Cite the guide version you used. Name the battery version (1.0.0) and the scoring versions listed in this guide.