Installation of the Attention Network Task (ANT) Program

The program needs to be run under e-run, a commercial experiment application, on an

IBM compatible personal computer running Windows 95 or 98 (NOT Windows NT and
2000). Attached please find one zip file ("attention.zip") for the program for the
measurement of three attentional networks. After you have E-prime installed on your
PCs, you can unzip the program to c:\My experiment\AttentionExp1.1.
How to Run the Program
To run the program, just double click on the "attention.ebs" in the directory (for example,
c:\My experiment\AttentionExp1.1). After you have the e-run window, go to "build"
and then select "run".
When you see the prompt Please enter the Subject Number (0-32767), you can enter the
subject number, for example 9001. I use 9 to represent the experiment number and 001
as the subject number. Then, there will be the prompt of Please enter the Session
Number (0-32767). If you run the subject twice, for example pre-test and post-test, with
the same task, at the first time, you can enter 1. Then, at the second time, you can enter
2. The subject number should be the same. After you make sure that the startup
information is correct, you can continue. If you already have the data with the same
subject and session numbers, there will be a WARNING to ask you whether or not you
want to overwrite it. Be careful when you see this message.
Then the instruction page will appear. Just follow the instruction.
After you run each subject, close (kill) the e-run window to release the memory e-run
used. Then, you can double click on the "attention.ebs" again to run next subject.
The distance between subjects eye and the screen should be 53 cm if the monitor is a 15
inch monitor. With a different monitor size, the distance should be adjusted to keep the
visual angle of the stimulus the same. For example, if you run this task on a 17 inch
monitor, the distance should be 53*17/15 = 60 cm.
Instructions for subjects (Please translate it to Chinese)
This is an experiment investigating attention. You will be shown an arrow on the screen
pointing either to the left or to the right (for example -> or <- ). On some trials, the arrow
will be flanked by two arrows to the left and two arrows to the right (for example ->->->>-> or ->-><-->->). Your task is to respond to the direction of the CENTRAL arrow. You
should press the left mouse button with your left thumb if the central arrow points to the
left or press the right mouse button with your right thumb if the central arrow points to
the right.

Please make your response as quickly and accurately as possible. Your reaction time and
accuracy will be recorded.
There will be a cross ("+") in the center of the screen and the arrows will appear either
above or below the cross. You should try to fixate on the cross throughout the experiment.
On some trials there will be asterisk cues indicating when or where the arrow will occur.
If the cue is at the center or both above and below fixation it indicates that the arrow will
appear shortly. If the cue is only above or below fixation it indicates both that the trial
will occur shortly and where it will occur. Try to maintain fixation at all times. However,
you may attend when and where indicated by the cues.
The experiment contains four blocks. The first block is for practice and takes about two
minutes. The other three blocks are experimental blocks and each takes about five
minutes. After each block there will be a message "take a break" and you may take a
short rest. After it, you can press the space bar to begin the next block. The whole
experiment takes about twenty minutes.
If you have any question, please ask the experimenter.
Press SPACE bar to start the practice trials.