Cognitive Bias & Motivation2–4 minBurden: LowEMA: Medium

Picture Rating (participant's own photos)

Picture Rating with each participant's own photos from a Personal Cue Photos step: every photo is shown for 10 s, then the participant rates their craving. The difference between cue and control photos is the cue reactivity.

Cue reactivityPersonalised cuesCraving
Category
Cognitive Bias & Motivation
Typical duration
2–4 min
Participant burden
Low
EMA suitability
Medium

Two steps in your study

Picture Rating with the participant's own photos needs a step in which the participant takes the photos first. The photos are taken once and then used by every rating task in the study.

  1. 1
    Personal Cue Photos (capture)Add it once, for example in the baseline survey. Participants take their photos, which stay on their phone.
  2. 2
    Picture Rating (participant's own photos) (this task)Add it wherever you measure cue reactivity, in the same or any later survey, with the same photo set name (default “cues”). Every rating uses the saved photos.
  • Only a finished set is used: the participant completes the capture step with Done. Photos taken before “Finish later” wait on the phone until then.
  • Photos of places take several sittings, because each place is photographed where the participant is: offer the capture survey on several days. Things at hand, such as the participant's usual drink, can be photographed in one sitting.
  • Taking the photos again (the capture step in a later survey) replaces the set; each rating trial records which set it used.
  • The photos are lost with a new phone, a reinstalled app or signing out, and deleted when the participant leaves the study. The rating task can then be skipped, and the data say so.

Read how the two steps work together

Try this task

Configure parameters and run an interactive preview exactly as participants will experience it. No data is recorded.

Configure preview

Adjust parameters below, then start the preview on the right.

Task parameters

The photos of the Personal Cue Photos step with this photo set name, in this or an earlier survey. A participant whose photos are not on the phone can skip the task; the data then say so.

The participant's cue photos against their own control photos, as with personal smoking and nonsmoking places (Conklin et al., 2010).

Default hidden: “Pictorial cues were not present during the post-trial ratings” (Conklin et al., 2022), and on a phone the rating also followed the picture (Warthen & Tiffany, 2009). Visible keeps the picture above the scale, as in the Amsterdam Beverage Picture Set (Pronk et al., 2015).

Leave blank for the default, which the app shows in the participant's language: a single craving item on a 0–100 scale, the outcome recommended for cue-exposure studies (Kirsch et al., 2025), with the labels “Not at all” / “Extremely” usual for craving scales (Sayette et al., 2000). Conklin et al. (2010) used the four-item QSU instead; for that, add questions after the task.

Defaults: each picture 10 s (each photo of a place was shown for 10 s in Conklin et al., 2010, and pictures for 10 s on a phone in Wray, Godleski & Tiffany, 2011); each photo once and no kind of picture more than twice in a row (Conklin et al., 2010); no fixation cross and no pause (no published value). Conklin et al. (2010) also measured craving before the pictures: add a rating question before the task for that.

Outputs: as Picture Rating (mean ratings of A and B, A − B, median response time), on the own photos; with standard pictures also their means, their A − B and own minus standard. Per picture: the rating, whether it was an own photo or a standard picture, the photo set's version and the photo's brightness, contrast and sharpness, so image properties can be controlled for in the analysis (Ekhtiari et al., 2022).

2–4 minBurden: LowEMA: Medium

This is a researcher preview. No participant data is recorded.

Simulated participant view

9:41

Picture Rating (participant's own photos)

Picture Rating with each participant's own photos from a Personal Cue Photos step: every photo is shown for 10 s, then the participant rates their craving. The difference between cue and control photos is the cue reactivity.

No data is recorded

Participant experience on smartphone

One photo at a time for 10 s; then the photo is replaced by the question and a 0–100 slider (no handle until the first touch, Next confirms) or numbered buttons. Optionally with standard pictures from an image set in the same task.

When to use

After a Personal Cue Photos step, to measure craving to each participant's own cues against their own control scenes, in the lab session or repeatedly in daily life. With standard pictures in the same task, personal and standard cue reactivity can be compared, as in Conklin et al. (2010).

When not to use

Not before the participant has taken the photos (the task can then only be skipped), and not when all participants must see the same pictures. Like Picture Rating, the ratings are deliberate self-reports, not a measure of automatic processes.

How to use in a study

Give it the photo set name of the capture step. Keep the defaults: each photo 10 s (Conklin et al., 2010; Wray, Godleski & Tiffany, 2011), the photo gone while the participant rates (Conklin et al., 2022), each photo once in a random order with no kind of picture more than twice in a row (Conklin et al., 2010), and a single craving item on a 0–100 scale (Kirsch et al., 2025). Add a baseline craving question before the task, as Conklin et al. (2010) did.

Researcher-configurable parameters

  • Pictures: own cues vs. own controls (default), own cues vs. an image set's control pictures, or own and standard pictures together
  • Picture while rating: hidden (default, Conklin et al., 2022) or visible (Pronk et al., 2015)
  • Question and scale labels (default: “How strong is your craving right now?”, “Not at all” – “Extremely”)
  • Scale: 0–100 slider (default) or numbered buttons
  • Picture alone first (default 10000 ms), fixation cross, pause after the answer, ratings per picture
  • Order: random with no kind of picture more than twice in a row (default), random, or blocked

Outputs collected

  • Mean rating of the own cue photos (A) and the own control photos (B), and the difference A − B
  • With standard pictures: their mean ratings and A − B, and own minus standard (the comparison of Conklin et al., 2010)
  • Median response time from the appearance of the question
  • Per picture: rating, own photo or standard picture, photo id and set version, brightness, contrast and sharpness of an own photo

Interpretation notes

A positive difference means more craving after the cue photos than after the control photos. Own photos are not matched for image properties; their measures are stored per trial for use as covariates (Ekhtiari et al., 2022). If a participant takes a new set later, later tasks show the new photos; the set version in each trial tells the sets apart.

Scientific evidence

  • The craving difference between smoking and nonsmoking places was larger for the participants' own places than for standard places (Conklin et al., 2010).
  • Cue reactivity has been measured in smokers' daily life with pictures shown for 10–11 s on a handheld device and the rating after the picture (Warthen & Tiffany, 2009; Wray, Godleski & Tiffany, 2011).