Pseudo tasks: rest, fixation and self-report blocks

Block-level activities that establish or hold a brain state, or collect a self-report, rather than eliciting a process through trials; the participant rests, fixates or answers a questionnaire, and the block’s onset, offset and instruction are what is recorded. Pseudo tasks carry no process links by design.

This family contains 3 tasks.

Fixate

Participant holds gaze on a fixation target for a block with nothing else to process or do; used as a baseline or control block and to limit eye movement. Engages no process links (pseudo task).

Rest

Participant stays awake, still and unoccupied for a block of several minutes while spontaneous activity is recorded; the block is a baseline for task blocks or a resting-state recording in its own right. Engages no process links (pseudo task).

Take Questionnaire

Participant reads or hears a series of questionnaire items and records a response to each; the instrument administered is a parameter of the block, not a variation. Engages no process links (pseudo task).