Battery guide
Social Cognition Battery guide
Four tasks of emotion recognition, intent attribution, understanding indirect requests and giving, for social cognition research.
- Guide version
- 1.2.0
- Battery version
- 1.0.0
What it measures
Who it is for: Social cognition research.
It measures Emotion recognition from faces, Hostile attribution of intent, Understanding indirect requests and Giving to others.
Social cognition: Reading and responding to social information.
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. Emoji Emotion Recognition. Measures how accurately people name the emotion a face shows. The faces are emoji from one freely licensed set, shown one at a time, and participants choose happy, sad, angry, afraid, surprised, disgusted or neutral.
2. Everyday Intent Task. Measures how often people choose a hostile explanation for an ambiguous act. Participants read short scenes about everyday mishaps and choose the explanation that seems more likely. The score describes choices on these scenes.
3. Indirect Hints Task. Measures how well people understand a hint: what someone means when they ask for something without saying it. Participants read short scenes that end with a hint and choose what the speaker means from four choices. After a miss, the scene goes on with a plainer hint and the question is asked again. The main score is hint points as a percent of the most possible. The scenes are in English.
4. Dictator Game. Measures giving: the participant splits an amount between themselves and an anonymous person who has no say in the split.
| Order | Test | Domain | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Emoji Emotion Recognition | Social cognition | 4 to 6 minutes |
| 2 | Everyday Intent Task | Social cognition | 4 to 6 minutes |
| 3 | Indirect Hints Task | Social cognition | 8 minutes |
| 4 | Dictator Game | Social cognition | 1 to 3 minutes |
Time and devices
Allow about 23 minutes for the whole battery. The table gives each test's time.
Participants can use a desktop or laptop, tablet or phone.
On a desktop or laptop the screen must be at least 1024 by 700 pixels.
A tablet or phone needs a screen of at least 360 by 640 pixels.
On phones and tablets, each test is compared only with sessions on the same kind of device. A test shows a percentile there once that reference group holds 50 valid sessions in the participant's age band; until then the report shows raw scores and says so.
Participants need Chrome, Edge, Firefox or Safari.
| Test | Timing | Devices |
|---|---|---|
| Emoji Emotion Recognition | Untimed | Desktop or laptop, tablet or phone |
| Everyday Intent Task | Untimed | Desktop or laptop, tablet or phone |
| Indirect Hints Task | Untimed | Desktop or laptop, tablet or phone |
| Dictator Game | Untimed | Desktop or laptop, tablet or phone |
Languages
Runs in English only: Indirect Hints Task keeps its words and sentences in English.
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:
Emoji Emotion Recognition: Each face is an emoji. Choose the emotion it shows from the same seven words each time. There is no time limit.
Everyday Intent Task: Read each scene. Choose the explanation that seems more likely. There is no right or wrong answer and no time limit.
Indirect Hints Task: Read each short scene and choose what the person means. If your first choice is not the best one, the scene goes on with one more line. Then choose again.
Dictator Game: Split an amount between yourself and another person you will not meet. The other person gets what you give and has no say. The amounts are hypothetical unless your study pays.
| Step | Before you invite participants |
|---|---|
| 1 | Recruit participants who read English well. |
| 2 | Tell participants that the amounts in the sharing task are not paid out, unless your protocol pays them. |
| 3 | Ask participants to take the battery in one quiet sitting, without help. |
| 4 | Pilot the battery yourself on the kind of device your participants will use. |
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 Emoji Emotion Recognition 1.0.0, Everyday Intent Task 1.0.0, Indirect Hints Task 1.0.0 and Dictator Game 1.0.0.
| Test | Score | What it is | Better |
|---|---|---|---|
| Emoji Emotion Recognition | Percent Correct (%, primary) | Percent of answered test trials labeled with the emotion the emoji shows. Chance is 14.3% (1 in 7). | Higher is better |
| Emoji Emotion Recognition | Mean Unbiased Hit Rate (proportion) | Mean of the unbiased hit rates of the emotions shown. | Higher is better |
| Emoji Emotion Recognition | Percent Correct, Happy (%) | Percent of happy trials labeled happy. | Higher is better |
| Emoji Emotion Recognition | Percent Correct, Sad (%) | Percent of sad trials labeled sad. | Higher is better |
| Emoji Emotion Recognition | Percent Correct, Angry (%) | Percent of angry trials labeled angry. | Higher is better |
| Emoji Emotion Recognition | Percent Correct, Afraid (%) | Percent of afraid trials labeled afraid. | Higher is better |
| Emoji Emotion Recognition | Percent Correct, Surprised (%) | Percent of surprised trials labeled surprised. | Higher is better |
| Emoji Emotion Recognition | Percent Correct, Disgusted (%) | Percent of disgusted trials labeled disgusted. | Higher is better |
| Emoji Emotion Recognition | Percent Correct, Neutral (%) | Percent of neutral trials labeled neutral. | Higher is better |
| Emoji Emotion Recognition | Unbiased Hit Rate, Happy (proportion) | Wagner's unbiased hit rate for happy: hits squared divided by (happy trials x times happy was chosen). 0 when no happy trial was labeled happy. | Higher is better |
| Emoji Emotion Recognition | Unbiased Hit Rate, Sad (proportion) | Wagner's unbiased hit rate for sad, computed the same way. | Higher is better |
| Emoji Emotion Recognition | Unbiased Hit Rate, Angry (proportion) | Wagner's unbiased hit rate for angry, computed the same way. | Higher is better |
| Emoji Emotion Recognition | Unbiased Hit Rate, Afraid (proportion) | Wagner's unbiased hit rate for afraid, computed the same way. | Higher is better |
| Emoji Emotion Recognition | Unbiased Hit Rate, Surprised (proportion) | Wagner's unbiased hit rate for surprised, computed the same way. | Higher is better |
| Emoji Emotion Recognition | Unbiased Hit Rate, Disgusted (proportion) | Wagner's unbiased hit rate for disgusted, computed the same way. | Higher is better |
| Emoji Emotion Recognition | Unbiased Hit Rate, Neutral (proportion) | Wagner's unbiased hit rate for neutral, computed the same way. | Higher is better |
| Emoji Emotion Recognition | Confusion Matrix | Answers for each emotion shown and word chosen, keyed shown:chosen, for example afraid:surprised. | Informational |
| Emoji Emotion Recognition | Median Correct RT (ms) | Median time from the face to a correct answer, over answers at or after 100 ms. | Context for the scores |
| Emoji Emotion Recognition | Anticipations | Answers under 100 ms. They still count for accuracy. | Context for the scores |
| Emoji Emotion Recognition | Longest Run of One Word (trials) | Most consecutive answers with the same word. | 8 or more is flagged for review |
| Everyday Intent Task | Hostile Explanations (%, primary) | Hostile explanations as a percent of recognized answers. | Higher means more hostile interpretations of these scenes |
| Everyday Intent Task | Benign Explanations (%) | Benign explanations as a percent of recognized answers. | Higher means more benign interpretations of these scenes |
| Everyday Intent Task | Hostile Choices | Number of hostile explanations selected. | Descriptive |
| Everyday Intent Task | Benign Choices | Number of benign explanations selected. | Descriptive |
| Everyday Intent Task | Median Response Time (ms) | Median time to read and choose, excluding answers under 100 ms. | Compare within one device type |
| Everyday Intent Task | Scenes Answered | Scenes with a recognized answer. | Completion |
| Everyday Intent Task | Scenes Set | Scenes planned for the session. | Informational |
| Everyday Intent Task | Answer Rate (%) | Answered scenes as a percent of those planned. | Below 75% invalidates |
| Everyday Intent Task | Anticipations | Answers under 100 ms. | Lower supports interpretation |
| Indirect Hints Task | Hint Score (%, primary) | Points as a percent of the most possible: 2 for the meaning at the first hint, 1 at the second, 0 otherwise. | Higher is better |
| Indirect Hints Task | Hint Points (points) | The points themselves. The 10 scenes of the standard session allow 20. | Higher is better |
| Indirect Hints Task | Understood at First Hint (%) | Percent of scenes where the meaning was chosen at the first hint. | Higher is better |
| Indirect Hints Task | Understood at Second Hint (%) | Of the scenes that went on to the plainer hint, the percent where the meaning was chosen there. | Higher is better |
| Indirect Hints Task | Face-Value Answers (%) | Percent of first answers that took the hint at face value. | Informational |
| Indirect Hints Task | Median Time to a Right First Answer (ms) | Median time from the scene's appearance to a right first answer, reading included. | Informational |
| Indirect Hints Task | Quick First Answers | First answers within 3 seconds of the scene appearing, too soon to have read it. | At least half invalidates |
| Indirect Hints Task | Scenes Shown (items) | Scenes the session reached. | Informational |
| Indirect Hints Task | Scenes Set (items) | Scenes the session set out to show. | Informational |
| Indirect Hints Task | Anticipations | Answers under 100 ms. | Lower supports interpretation |
| Dictator Game | Share Given (proportion, primary) | Amount given as a proportion of the amount to split, averaged over decisions. | Higher means more giving |
| Dictator Game | Amount Given (points) | Amount given, averaged over decisions, in the task's units (points as standard). | Higher means more giving |
| Dictator Game | Gave Nothing (proportion) | Share of decisions that gave nothing. | Informational |
| Dictator Game | Equal Split (proportion) | Share of decisions that gave exactly half. | Informational |
| Dictator Game | Gave Everything (proportion) | Share of decisions that gave the whole amount. | Informational |
| Dictator Game | Comprehension Check | 1 when the question about the example split was answered correctly, 0 when not. | 1 supports interpretation |
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. Social Cognition Battery guide, version 1.2.0. ConductCognition. https://conductcognition.com/batteries/social-cognition/guide
Cite the guide version you used. Name the battery version (1.0.0) and the scoring versions listed in this guide.