Add effortCheck config parameter to control attention check

Co-authored-by: JamesPHoughton <4304478+JamesPHoughton@users.noreply.github.com>

Author: Copilot

client/src/App.jsx

@@ -57,7 +57,15 @@ function InnerParticipant() {
   const introSequence = globals.get("recruitingBatchIntroSequence");
 
   function introSteps() {
-    const steps = [Consent, AttentionCheck, EquipmentCheck, EnterNickname];
+    const steps = [Consent];
+    
+    // Add AttentionCheck based on effortCheck config
+    const effortCheck = batchConfig?.effortCheck ?? true; // default to true if not specified
+    if (effortCheck !== false) {
+      steps.push(AttentionCheck);
+    }
+    
+    steps.push(EquipmentCheck, EnterNickname);
 
     if (introSequence?.introSteps) {
       introSequence.introSteps.forEach((step, index) => {

client/src/intro-exit/AttentionCheck.jsx

@@ -1,14 +1,22 @@
 import React, { useEffect, useState } from "react";
 import { usePlayer } from "@empirica/core/player/classic/react";
+import { useGlobal } from "@empirica/core/player/react";
 import { Button } from "../components/Button";
 
 export function AttentionCheck({ next }) {
   const [correctUntil, setCorrectUntil] = useState(undefined);
   const [sentenceInput, setSentenceInput] = useState("");
   const [loadedTime, setLoadedTime] = useState(-1);
   const player = usePlayer();
-  const originalString =
-    "I agree to participate in this study to the best of my ability.";
+  const globals = useGlobal();
+  const batchConfig = globals?.get("recruitingBatchConfig");
+  
+  // Get effortCheck config, default to true with default text
+  const effortCheck = batchConfig?.effortCheck ?? true;
+  const originalString = 
+    typeof effortCheck === "string" 
+      ? effortCheck 
+      : "I agree to participate in this study to the best of my ability.";
 
   useEffect(() => {
     console.log("Intro: Attention Check");

docs/batchConfig.md

@@ -107,6 +107,36 @@ Set to false if you are not using webcams in your experiment, and you don't care
 Must be a boolean. If you do not wish to check participant audio, enter `"checkAudio": false`.
 Set this to false if you aren't using webcams OR microphones. Has no effect unless `checkVideo` is also set to false.
 
+### `effortCheck`
+
+Controls whether to show the sentence typing effort check during the intro steps. This is an optional parameter with three possible configurations:
+
+- `"effortCheck": true` (default if not specified) - Shows the effort check with the default sentence: "I agree to participate in this study to the best of my ability."
+- `"effortCheck": false` - Skips the effort check entirely
+- `"effortCheck": "Your custom sentence here"` - Shows the effort check with a custom sentence that participants must type exactly
+
+Example configurations:
+
+```json
+{
+  "effortCheck": false
+}
+```
+
+```json
+{
+  "effortCheck": true
+}
+```
+
+```json
+{
+  "effortCheck": "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog"
+}
+```
+
+This feature allows experiment designers to prioritize speed in the intro stages by skipping the effort check, or to customize the sentence participants must type.
+
 ### `introSequence`
 
 The name of the sequence defined in `treatmentFile` to be shown to all participants prior to assignment to treatment condition

server/src/preFlight/validateBatchConfig.test.js

@@ -250,3 +250,27 @@ test.skip("treatment name is not present in treatment file", () => {
   expect(result.success).toBe(false);
   // Todo: add check for error message
 });
+
+test("effortCheck boolean true", () => {
+  const config = JSON.parse(JSON.stringify(passingConfig));
+  config.effortCheck = true;
+  expect(() => validateBatchConfig(config)).not.to.throw(ValidationError);
+});
+
+test("effortCheck boolean false", () => {
+  const config = JSON.parse(JSON.stringify(passingConfig));
+  config.effortCheck = false;
+  expect(() => validateBatchConfig(config)).not.to.throw(ValidationError);
+});
+
+test("effortCheck custom string", () => {
+  const config = JSON.parse(JSON.stringify(passingConfig));
+  config.effortCheck = "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog";
+  expect(() => validateBatchConfig(config)).not.to.throw(ValidationError);
+});
+
+test("effortCheck undefined/not provided", () => {
+  const config = JSON.parse(JSON.stringify(passingConfig));
+  // effortCheck is not set, should be optional and work fine
+  expect(() => validateBatchConfig(config)).not.to.throw(ValidationError);
+});

server/src/preFlight/validateBatchConfig.ts

@@ -183,6 +183,9 @@ export const batchConfigSchema = z
     checkVideo: z.boolean({
       message: `Must be a boolean. If you do not wish to check participant video, enter "false"`,
     }),
+    effortCheck: z
+      .union([z.boolean(), z.string()])
+      .optional(),
   })
   .strict()
   .superRefine((obj, ctx) => {