A mobile approach-avoidance task

Abstract

When the original approach-avoidance task (AAT; Solarz, 1960) that measures these tendencies was redesigned to run on regular desktop computers, it made the task much more flexible but also sacrificed some important behavioral properties of the original task-most notably its reliance on physical distance change (Chen & Bargh, 1999). Here, we present a new, mobile version of the AAT that runs entirely on smartphones and combines the flexibility of modern tasks with the behavioral properties of the original AAT. In addition, it can easily be deployed in the field and, next to traditional reaction time measurements, includes the novel measurement of response force. In two studies, we demonstrate that the mobile AAT can reliably measure known approach-avoidance tendencies toward happy and angry faces both in the laboratory and in the field.

Measuring approach–avoidance tendencies towards food with touchscreen-based arm movements

“…The authors found what they termed a "directtouch effect" such that participants who performed the task on a touchscreen made more hedonic food choices than those who performed the task with a non-touch interface. Finally, Zech and colleagues implemented an approach-avoidance task (AAT) on a smartphone that could be moved closer or further away to simulate naturalistic grasping or rejection movements (Cring, 2017;Zech, 2015).…”

Measuring Implicit Approach–Avoidance Tendencies towards Food Using a Mobile Phone outside the Lab

“…If one pulls a joystick to oneself, it is ambiguous whether that motion reflects the self (i.e., ‘moving myself away from the stimulus’, indicating avoidance) or whether the motion reflects the stimulus (i.e., ‘moving the stimulus to me’, indicating approach). Thus, for a more natural experience, reminiscent of the original test, yet easy to run and quantify, Zech et al [ 22 ] developed a mobile version of the AAT (mAAT), in which images are presented on a smartphone screen that participants have to push away or pull toward themselves. Indeed, it was found that participants were faster when they had to approach positive stimuli (happy faces) or avoid negative stimuli (angry faces), compared to when these instructions were reversed [ 22 ].…”

“…Thus, for a more natural experience, reminiscent of the original test, yet easy to run and quantify, Zech et al [ 22 ] developed a mobile version of the AAT (mAAT), in which images are presented on a smartphone screen that participants have to push away or pull toward themselves. Indeed, it was found that participants were faster when they had to approach positive stimuli (happy faces) or avoid negative stimuli (angry faces), compared to when these instructions were reversed [ 22 ]. The mAAT seems a particularly suitable tool to measure approach–avoidance in the domain of food, given that food has a very natural, unambiguous relation to approach and avoidance (bringing food to the mouth, or pushing it away).…”

“…The mAAT seems a particularly suitable tool to measure approach–avoidance in the domain of food, given that food has a very natural, unambiguous relation to approach and avoidance (bringing food to the mouth, or pushing it away). The fact that the mAAT runs on a mobile phone enables the collection of data outside the lab, which is useful for testing in specific contexts of interest [ 22 ] or when coming to the laboratory is impossible or inconvenient for other reasons, such as the COVID-19 pandemic.…”

“…As noted by Zech et al [ 22 ], reaction time (RT) may not be the only variable of interest that can be extracted from the mAAT. Participants may not only respond quicker when moving a stimulus in the direction that is congruent to their (approach or avoidance) motivation but may also move these stimuli over a larger distance.…”