diff --git a/task-launcher/src/tasks/adult-reasoning/helpers/config.ts b/task-launcher/src/tasks/adult-reasoning/helpers/config.ts
index cff34d761..9e848a7d7 100644
--- a/task-launcher/src/tasks/adult-reasoning/helpers/config.ts
+++ b/task-launcher/src/tasks/adult-reasoning/helpers/config.ts
@@ -26,7 +26,6 @@ export const getLayoutConfig = (
     value: stimItem,
     displayValue: undefined,
   };
-  defaultConfig.inCorrectTrialConfig.onIncorrectTrial = 'skip';
   if (!defaultConfig.isInstructionTrial) {
     const mappedDistractors = mapDistractorsToString(distractors);
     const prepChoices = prepareChoices(answer.toString(), mappedDistractors, true, trialType);
diff --git a/task-launcher/src/tasks/adult-reasoning/timeline.ts b/task-launcher/src/tasks/adult-reasoning/timeline.ts
index 226c21685..ef7ef1f7e 100644
--- a/task-launcher/src/tasks/adult-reasoning/timeline.ts
+++ b/task-launcher/src/tasks/adult-reasoning/timeline.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 // setup
-import { initTrialSaving, initTimeline, createPreloadTrials, getRealTrials } from '../shared/helpers';
+import { initTrialSaving, initTimeline, createPreloadTrials, getRealTrials, prepareCorpus } from '../shared/helpers';
 import { jsPsych, initializeCat } from '../taskSetup';
 import { taskStore } from '../../taskStore';
 // trials
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ import {
   taskFinished,
   enterFullscreen,
   finishExperiment,
+  fixationOnly,
 } from '../shared/trials';
 import { getLayoutConfig } from './helpers/config';
 
@@ -23,6 +24,8 @@ export default function buildAdultReasoningTimeline(config: Record<string, any>,
   const translations: Record<string, string> = taskStore().translations;
   const validationErrorMap: Record<string, string> = {};
 
+  const cat = taskStore().runCat;
+
   taskStore('totalTestTrials', getRealTrials(corpus));
 
   const layoutConfigMap: Record<string, LayoutConfigType> = {};
@@ -48,14 +51,30 @@ export default function buildAdultReasoningTimeline(config: Record<string, any>,
     layoutConfigMap,
   };
 
-  const stimulusBlock = {
-    timeline: [afcStimulusTemplate(trialConfig)],
+  const stimulusBlock = (trial?: StimulusType) => {
+    return {
+      timeline: [afcStimulusTemplate(trialConfig, trial)]
+    }
   };
 
-  const numOfTrials = taskStore().totalTrials;
+  let numOfTrials; 
+
+  if (cat) {
+    const fullCorpus = prepareCorpus(corpus, false);
+    const practice = [...fullCorpus.ipLight, ...fullCorpus.ipHeavy]; 
+    numOfTrials = 8;
+
+    practice.forEach(trial => {
+      timeline.push({ ...fixationOnly, stimulus: `` });
+      timeline.push(stimulusBlock(trial));
+    });
+  } else {
+    numOfTrials = taskStore().totalTrials;
+  }
+  
   for (let i = 0; i < numOfTrials; i++) {
     timeline.push({ ...setupStimulus, stimulus: `` });
-    timeline.push(stimulusBlock);
+    timeline.push(stimulusBlock());
   }
 
   initializeCat();
diff --git a/task-launcher/src/tasks/same-different-selection/catTimeline.ts b/task-launcher/src/tasks/same-different-selection/catTimeline.ts
index ad12df76c..6891431fc 100644
--- a/task-launcher/src/tasks/same-different-selection/catTimeline.ts
+++ b/task-launcher/src/tasks/same-different-selection/catTimeline.ts
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ export default function buildSameDifferentTimelineCat(config: Record<string, any
   const heavy: boolean = taskStore().heavyInstructions;
 
   const corpus: StimulusType[] = taskStore().corpora.stimulus;
-  const preparedCorpus = prepareCorpus(corpus);
+  const preparedCorpus = prepareCorpus(corpus, false);
 
   const catCorpus = setupSds(taskStore().corpora.stimulus);
   const allBlocks = prepareMultiBlockCat(catCorpus);
diff --git a/task-launcher/src/tasks/shared/helpers/getCorpus.ts b/task-launcher/src/tasks/shared/helpers/getCorpus.ts
index 62cfd9846..f167ada6b 100644
--- a/task-launcher/src/tasks/shared/helpers/getCorpus.ts
+++ b/task-launcher/src/tasks/shared/helpers/getCorpus.ts
@@ -121,7 +121,14 @@ const transformCSV = (
       audioFile: row.audio_file,
       // difficulty must be undefined for non-instruction/practice trials to avoid running cat
       difficulty:
-        taskStore().runCat || row.trial_type === 'instructions' || row.assessment_stage === 'practice_response'
+        taskStore().runCat || 
+        (
+          (
+            row.trial_type === 'instructions' || 
+            row.assessment_stage === 'practice_response'
+          ) && 
+          taskStore().heavyInstructions
+        )
           ? parseFloat(row.d || row.difficulty)
           : NaN,
       trialNumber: row.trial_num,
diff --git a/task-launcher/src/tasks/shared/helpers/prepareCat.ts b/task-launcher/src/tasks/shared/helpers/prepareCat.ts
index 36f12dbe9..d0379ae9c 100644
--- a/task-launcher/src/tasks/shared/helpers/prepareCat.ts
+++ b/task-launcher/src/tasks/shared/helpers/prepareCat.ts
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ import { taskStore } from '../../../taskStore';
 import { cat } from '../../taskSetup';
 
 // separates trials from corpus into blocks depending on for heavy/light instructions and CAT
-export function prepareCorpus(corpus: StimulusType[]) {
+export function prepareCorpus(corpus: StimulusType[], randomStartBlock = true) {
   const excludedTrialTypes = '3D';
   // limit random starting items so that their difficulty is less than 0
   const maxTrialDifficulty = 0;
@@ -44,10 +44,9 @@ export function prepareCorpus(corpus: StimulusType[]) {
   const startItems: StimulusType[] = selectNItems(possibleStartItems, 5);
 
   // put cat portion of corpus into taskStore
-  const catCorpus: StimulusType[] =
-    taskStore().task === 'same-different-selection'
-      ? normedTrials
-      : normedTrials.filter((trial) => !startItems.includes(trial));
+  const catCorpus: StimulusType[] = 
+    randomStartBlock ? 
+    normedTrials.filter((trial) => !startItems.includes(trial)) : normedTrials;
 
   corpora = {
     ipHeavy: corpusParts.ipHeavy, // heavy instruction/practice trials