plugin-bart

Overview

The Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART) is a widely used behavioral measure of risk-taking propensity. This plugin displays an animated SVG balloon that grows with each pump. Participants can choose to pump the balloon to earn points or collect their current winnings. If the balloon is pumped beyond a predetermined threshold, it pops and all points for that trial are lost.

This plugin runs a single BART trial. The researcher specifies the exact number of pumps that will cause the balloon to pop, allowing for flexible implementation of probabilistic risk strategies outside the plugin.

Loading

In browser

<script src="https://unpkg.com/@jspsych-contrib/plugin-bart"></script>

Via NPM

npm install @jspsych-contrib/plugin-bart

import jsPsychBart from "@jspsych-contrib/plugin-bart";

Compatibility

@jspsych-contrib/plugin-bart requires jsPsych v8.0.0 or later.

Parameters

| Parameter | Type | Default Value | Description | |---------------------------|---------|---------------|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | pop_threshold | INT | undefined | Required. The number of pumps that will cause the balloon to pop. | | show_balloon_value | BOOL | true | Whether to show the current balloon value during the trial. | | show_total_points | BOOL | true | Whether to show the total points accumulated. | | starting_total_points | INT | 0 | The total points accumulated before this trial. This value is displayed but not modified by the plugin. | | points_per_pump | INT | 1 | The number of points earned per pump. | | pump_button_label | STRING | "Pump" | Text label for the pump button. | | collect_button_label | STRING | "Collect" | Text label for the collect button. | | balloon_starting_size | FLOAT | 0.5 | Starting size of the balloon (SVG scale factor). | | balloon_size_increment | FLOAT | 0.05 | Size increment per pump (SVG scale factor). | | pump_animation_duration | INT | 200 | Duration of pump animation in milliseconds. | | pop_animation_duration | INT | 300 | Duration of pop animation in milliseconds. | | balloon_color | STRING | "#ff0000" | Base color of the balloon (CSS color value). |

Data Generated

In addition to the default data collected by all plugins, this plugin collects the following data for each trial:

| Name | Type | Description | |---------------|---------|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | pumps | INT | Number of times the balloon was pumped. | | popped | BOOL | Whether the balloon popped (true) or was collected (false). | | points_earned | INT | Points earned on this trial (0 if balloon popped). | | total_points | INT | Total points after this trial (starting_total_points + points_earned). | | pump_times | ARRAY | Array of reaction times for each pump in milliseconds from trial start. | | collect_time | INT | Reaction time for the collect action in milliseconds from trial start, or null if balloon popped. |

Examples

Basic Example

const trial = {
  type: jsPsychBart,
  pop_threshold: 8,
  points_per_pump: 5
};

Multiple Trials with Random Pop Thresholds

const generatePopThreshold = () => {
  // Pop threshold randomly between 5 and 15 pumps
  return Math.floor(Math.random() * 11) + 5;
};

let total_points = 0;
const trials = [];

for (let i = 0; i < 10; i++) {
  const trial = {
    type: jsPsychBart,
    pop_threshold: generatePopThreshold(),
    starting_total_points: () => total_points,
    on_finish: function(data) {
      total_points = data.total_points;
    }
  };
  trials.push(trial);
}

jsPsych.run(trials);

Customized Appearance

const trial = {
  type: jsPsychBart,
  pop_threshold: 10,
  balloon_color: "#00aaff",
  balloon_starting_size: 0.3,
  balloon_size_increment: 0.08,
  pump_button_label: "Inflate",
  collect_button_label: "Cash Out",
  show_balloon_value: true,
  show_total_points: false
};

Implementing the Standard BART

The original BART uses a probabilistic approach where each pump has a fixed probability of causing the balloon to pop. You can implement this by calculating the pop threshold for each trial:

const generateBARTThreshold = () => {
  // Original BART: 1/128 probability of pop per pump
  // Average pop occurs at 64 pumps (128 / 2)
  // This simulates by drawing from range 1-128
  return Math.floor(Math.random() * 128) + 1;
};

const trials = Array(30).fill(null).map(() => ({
  type: jsPsychBart,
  pop_threshold: generateBARTThreshold(),
  starting_total_points: () => total_points,
  on_finish: (data) => {
    total_points = data.total_points;
  }
}));

Simulation Mode

This plugin does not currently support simulation mode.

Install

Using NPM package manager:

npm install @jspsych-contrib/plugin-bart

Using yarn:

yarn add @jspsych-contrib/plugin-bart

Author / Citation

Created by Josh de Leeuw.

If you use this plugin in your research, please cite:

Lejuez, C. W., Read, J. P., Kahler, C. W., Richards, J. B., Ramsey, S. E., Stuart, G. L., Strong, D. R., & Brown, R. A. (2002). Evaluation of a behavioral measure of risk taking: The Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART). Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, 8(2), 75–84. https://doi.org/10.1037/1076-898X.8.2.75