What Makes People Better at Describing Photographs?
Phase: NA
Conditions: Healthy Aging
Sponsor: University of Colorado, Colorado Springs

Cover Page for Study Protocol Document 
Official Study Title: What makes people better at describing photographs? 
NCT05444114 
Document Date 5/30/24 
 
 

Materials 
For the mindful breathing exercise, a 10 min segment from “Guided Meditation Journey into 
Body Sensations” (retrieved from https://youtu.be/1cPWV0Sgwi8?t=172) was used. It aimed to bring 
participants into a mindful state via a guided breathing exercise. For the control condition, an alternative 
10 min clip, “Zen – Jerome Bixby” (retrieved from https://youtu.be/zUKR_3WrE-Y) was played for 
participants instead of the guided meditation clip. For comparability with the breathing exercise, the clip 
includes sound accompanied by a still picture only (i.e., without a moving visual component). Both clips 
were used in Van Wagenen's (2022) study. As a manipulation check, each participant was given a single 
4-point Likert scale item question asking: "How mindful do you feel right now?" (1 = not at all mindful; 4 
= very mindful) which was presented after the clips and again after the participant completed the 
picture description task.  
Speech fluency was measured from a picture description task that included photographs similar 
to those used by Castro and James (2014). Three pictures were taken from the Open Affective 
Standardized Image Set (OASIS; Kurdi et al., 2017; https://db.tt/yYTZYCga) and shown to both the 
intervention and control groups. Three pictures used were: “car crash,” which depicts two cars that have 
collided with each other and policemen walking around in the background; “cemetery,” which presents 
a scene in which a woman is seen kneeling down in front of a gravestone and American flags are planted 
throughout the cemetery; and “couple,” which shows a couple sitting on a bench overlooking a lake with 
the man facing the lake and the woman sitting with her back turned toward the man, facing the camera, 
and appearing to be upset (OASIS pictures labeled Car Crash 3, Cemetery 5, and Couple 3; Kurdi et al., 
2016). These pictures have ratings data indicating they have negative content, which has been shown to 
increase disfluencies during picture description tasks (Castro & James, 2014).  
A consent form outlining general information as well as risks and benefits of the current study, 
and the option for withdrawal from the study, was provided to each participant. A fill-in demographics 

questionnaire assessing race/ethnicity, education level, age, and gender was used. Additionally, 
participants' English vocabulary knowledge was assessed using the Shipley (1940) Vocabulary Test. This 
test contains a total of 40 vocabulary words that participants pair with the corresponding synonym from 
the four choices given for each word. Finally, a debriefing sheet containing information about the true 
purpose of the study was used.      
Procedure 
The study was approved by the UCCS Institutional Review Board. Recruitment took place via the 
UCCS psychology department SONA system research pool, by distributing flyers throughout the 
community, and via Research Match (www.researchmatch.org) to recruit a wide variety of participants. 
Each participant was randomly assigned to either the control (N = 32) or intervention group (N = 
31, after excluding the person who did not meet the age inclusion criterion) and given the consent form. 
Next, the participant saw either the mindful breathing or control clip and then was administered the 
single question mindfulness measure. Then, each participant was instructed to describe each picture 
during a 30 – 60 s time frame with research assistants prompting the participant to add more details if 
they spoke for fewer than 30 s. The three pictures were presented in random order for each participant. 
Following Van Wagenen (2022), the participant’s hand gesturing during the speech fluency task was 
restricted using an empty water bottle that the participant held with both hands in camera view for the 
duration of the picture description task. Immediately after the picture description task, mindfulness was 
re-measured using the 4-point Likert scale.   
The first part of the study was conducted via video conference through Zoom, and it was 
completed within 30-40 min. The researcher carefully monitored each participant’s hand gesturing 
throughout the picture description task and ensured they did not engage in other distracting activities 
(e.g., leaving the room, using their phone, watching videos, or eating) via the webcam. The researchers 
carefully read the instructions verbatim from a script and monitored the participant throughout the 

video call. If necessary, notes were taken to describe any testing situation deemed as “different” based 
on the participant’s behavior or other events (e.g., not looking at the screen; looking around as a sign of 
distraction; interruptions to testing). The picture description task was audio recorded (with the 
participant’s consent) and was later transcribed to score speech fluency.  
After the picture description task, the participant was directed to complete a series of 
questionnaires and scales on their own via Qualtrics. This information and further instructions were 
provided by the researcher at the Zoom meeting. The questionnaires included demographic information 
as well as the Shipley (1940) Vocabulary Test. Additionally, the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI; 
Spielberger, 1983), the Kentucky Inventory of Mindfulness Skills (KIMS; Baer et al., 2004), and the 
Applied Mindfulness Process Scale (AMPS; Li et al., 2016) were administered. These scales will be used 
as part of a larger study including older adult participants and were not analyzed as part of the current 
project. These scales required about 10-20 min to complete in total. Finally, a debriefing with an 
explanation of the true nature of the study was given to each participant.