A highly replicable implicit measure of attitudes:

✨ The Visual Approach and Avoidance by the Self Task ✨

Find out about the experiment, try it out and learn how to set it up for yourself!
You can even choose the background, the stimuli and different features to make the experiment correspond to your needs.
Expend the knowledge in this research field by using a quality experiment producing large and replicable effects!!
Read about the experiment here, or scroll down.

Example image of the vaast - Welcome page

Example image of the vaast - Consent page

Example image of the vaast - Fullscreen page

Example image of the vaast - Starting page

Example image of the vaast - Preview of the background

Example image of the vaast - Preview of the useful keys

Example image of the vaast - Instructions with answer keys

Example image of the vaast - Attention check

Example image of the vaast - Instructions for the first section

Example image of the vaast - Instructions to be fast and correct

Example image of the vaast - Error while training

Example image of the vaast - End of training section

Example image of the vaast - fixation trial

Example image of the vaast - Avoidance trial

Example image of the vaast - Approach trial

Example image of the vaast - Instructions for the second section

Example image of the vaast - Demographic questions

Example image of the vaast - Age question

Example image of the vaast - Sex question

Example image of the vaast - English fluency question

Example image of the vaast - Education question

Example image of the vaast - Socio-economic status question

Example image of the vaast - Any remarks

Example image of the vaast - Saving data page

The two versions of the experiment

The experiment instructions ask the participant to approach or avoid a stimulus appearing on the screen, by using one key or another on their keyboard. The movement they have to produce depends on a caracteristic the researcher chooses. The participant also does the task with the opposite instructions so that the difference between the two conditions can be measured. The researchers are interested in whether the participant is faster in the compatible condition compared to the incompatible condition (cf. approach/avoidance compatibility effects, see above article).

Explicit VAAST

In this version, the participant responds to the caracteristic of the stimulus the researchers are interested about.
For example, we could ask the participant to approach positive words and avoid negative words. We'd also have them do the opposite, to measure the difference between the two conditions. We expect the participant to be faster at approaching positive words than negative ones and faster at avoiding negative words than positive ones.

Incidental VAAST

In this version, the participant is asked not to pay particular attention to the element that the researchers are interested about (e.g., the valence of the word).
For example, we could ask the participant to approach squares and to avoid diamonds, but before each shape, a positive or a negative word would be presented. The researchers would not be interested in whether the participant is faster to approach and avoid different shapes but in whether they're faster to make the movement that is compatible with the word previoulsy presented (the prime).

A little note about the different backgrounds we provide

The pictures were taken in a Blender environment, every element being a 3D object. The images are divided into 2 folders. The notion that surrounds all this how ecological the environment is. One picture is taken as the middle image and then the camera is moved to the other positions, so the visual flow is the same as one would experience when making the movement in real life. However, the changes that exist between the middle image and the approach and avoid images, are the changes one experiences when making a movement towards or away from something. One picture is taken as the middle image and then the camera is moved to the other positions, so the visual flow is the same as one would experience when making the movement in real life.

background image with ecological environment and visual flow

In the eco_env images,

The environment is ecological.
One could have walked through a similar street in real life.

In the non_eco_env images,

In these images, the environment is not ecological. The environment was created so it didn't resemble anything we've encountered in real life or even in video games or media. It was supposed to be an environment we'd never made approach and avoidance movements in.