Versions of a Balloon Analogue Risk Task created by Agatha Anet. There are two 'blocks' of this task, each with 30 trials. The 'low-cost' block is the standard BART task - participants pump the balloon up (by pressing the 'air' button) or can choose to collect the points they have obtained so far. If they collect points without pressing the 'air' button at all, they are warned that the aim is to gain points. However, the balloon will burst after a certain number of pumps (selected from a 'burst-number' array without replacement), and if the balloon bursts, any points they had gained by pressing the 'air' button will be lost. The 'high-cost' block introduces a higher penalty - if a balloon bursts, participants lose the points they had been obtaining for that balloon and also lose 200 additional points. In this block there are also more 'early bursts' - some elements in the 'burst-number' array are substantially lower than the average (i.e. 1,2 or 3 rather than ~12, which we anticipate may induce fewer balloon pumps on subsequent trials.
The second versions of this task are based on a second study we did using this task. The key differences are a) responses are by keyboard rather than on-screen button press, b) both blocks have 'early bursts', and the burst-number array is thus the same for each task, c) the penalty is 1000 additional points rather than 200.
Built with Task Builder 1
Balloon Analogue Risk Task (low-cost block): the balloon is pumped up by pressing the 'air' button, which accumulates points, but each pump increases the risk of it bursting, at which time the points associated with that balloon are lost. There are 30 balloons (trials) in this block.
The balloon appears to grow according to every pump. The “Collect Points” button is on the left of the screen, and the “Air” button is at the bottom of the screen. Participants are allowed to collect their points at any time. However, once the balloon has burst, they will lose all their points. Each block will have 30 trials, each trial with a number of pumps designated as the point at which the balloon bursts: which will be randomly drawn without replacement from the following 'burst-number' array: '6, 7, 7, 8, 8, 9, 9, 9, 10, 10, 11, 11, 12, 12, 13, 13, 13, 13, 14, 14, 15, 15, 15, 15, 16, 16, 17, 17, 18, 18'.
Instructions: “Your aim in this task is to win points by pumping the balloon up. You may pump the balloon up as many times as you wish by pressing the ‘Air’ button: every pump will give you more points, but it also increases the risk of the balloon bursting. The speed at which you pump does not affect the likelihood of the balloon bursting. If you burst the balloon you lose all the points from that balloon. You can stop pumping the balloon up at any point and collect the points you have earnt, by pressing the ‘Collect Points’ button. There are 30 balloons in this block.”
Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY)
Built with Task Builder 1
This block is the same as the low-cost block with two exceptions. In this block, when the balloon bursts, participants will not only lose all their points but will also receive -200 points. There are also some 'early burst' balloons, where the number of pumps required to burst the balloon is significantly lower than usual. We anticipate that participants will press the 'air' button fewer times on the trial after an 'early burst' trial. The 'burst number' array, from which balloons are drawn without replacement, is as follows: "1, 2, 3, 8, 8, 9, 9, 10, 10, 11, 11, 11, 12, 12, 12, 13, 13, 14, 14, 14, 15, 15, 16, 16, 17, 17, 18, 18, 19, 19"
Instructions: “Your aim in this task is to win points by pumping the balloon up. You may pump the balloon up as many times as you wish by pressing the ‘Air’ button: every pump will give you more points, but it also increases the risk of the balloon bursting. The speed at which you pump does not affect the likelihood of the balloon bursting. If you burst the balloon you lose the points from that balloon, and this time you also get -200 points. As before, you can stop pumping the balloon up at any point and collect the points you have earnt, by pressing the ‘Collect Points’ button. There are 30 balloons in this block.”
Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY)
Built with Task Builder 1
This task is the same as the other low cost block, with two exceptions: responses are given by keyboard press rather than on-screen click responses, and there are a number of 'early burst' balloons (in which the balloon bursts after only 2 or 3 pumps, rather than ~12) as in the 'high-cost' block above. As in the previous low cost block, the only penalty for a balloon bursting is the loss of the points that had been accumulated for that balloon.
The instructions are as follows: 'Your aim in this task is to win points by pumping the balloon up. You may pump the balloon up as many times as you wish by pressing the 'a' button on your keyboard: every pump will give you more points, but it also increases the risk of the balloon bursting. Holding down the 'a' button will burst the balloon immediately. The speed at which you pump does not affect the likelihood of the balloon bursting . In this block, if you burst the balloon you lose the points from that balloon. You can stop pumping the balloon up at any point and collect the points you have earnt, by pressing the space bar. There are 30 balloons in this block.'
Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY)
Built with Task Builder 1
The same as the first version of the high cost block, with two exceptions: responses are made by keyboard press rather than on-screen click responses, and the penalty for bursting a balloon is both the points that were obtained by pumping that balloon up, and also another 1000 points.
Instructions are as follows: 'Your aim in this task is to win points by pumping the balloon up. You may pump the balloon up as many times as you wish by pressing the ‘a’ button on your keyboard: every pump will give you more points, but it also increases the risk of the balloon bursting. Holding down the 'a' button will burst the balloon immediately. The speed at which you pump does not affect the likelihood of the balloon bursting. In this block, if you burst the balloon you lose the points from that balloon, and another 1000 points as a penalty. You can stop pumping the balloon up at any point and collect the points you have earnt, by pressing the spacebar on your keyboard. There are 30 balloons in this block. '
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