5-Choice Continuous Performance Test

The five-choice continuous performance test (5-CCPT) extends the classic five-choice serial reaction time task by introducing non-target stimuli that the subject must withhold from responding to, creating a Go/No-Go discrimination embedded within a sustained attention framework. On Go trials, a brief light stimulus appears in one of five apertures and the subject must nose-poke the illuminated hole for reward. On No-Go trials, all five apertures illuminate simultaneously, and the subject must withhold responding to avoid a timeout penalty. This paradigm engages prefrontal cortex, anterior cingulate, and basal forebrain cholinergic circuits that mediate sustained attention, response selection, and inhibitory control.

Signal detection metrics are the primary analytic framework: hit rate (proportion of correct Go responses), false alarm rate (proportion of incorrect No-Go responses), and d-prime (z-transformed hit rate minus z-transformed false alarm rate) as a bias-free sensitivity index. Response bias (criterion c) separates attentional sensitivity from response strategy. Premature responses during the inter-trial interval index waiting impulsivity, while omissions on Go trials reflect attentional lapses. Correct response latency provides a measure of processing speed, and perseverative responses after correct trials index compulsive checking behavior.

ConductMaze automates 5-CCPT by programming pseudo-random Go and No-Go trial sequences with configurable stimulus durations, limited hold periods, and inter-trial intervals. The system detects nose-poke responses across all five apertures at millisecond resolution and classifies each trial outcome in real time. Signal detection parameters (d-prime, criterion, hit rate, false alarm rate) are computed continuously across session blocks, enabling within-session vigilance decrement analysis. The platform supports parametric manipulation of stimulus duration, Go/No-Go ratio, and event rate to titrate attentional demand.