Showing papers in "Behavior Research Methods in 2008"
TL;DR: An overview of simple and multiple mediation is provided and three approaches that can be used to investigate indirect processes, as well as methods for contrasting two or more mediators within a single model are explored.
Abstract: Hypotheses involving mediation are common in the behavioral sciences. Mediation exists when a predictor affects a dependent variable indirectly through at least one intervening variable, or mediator. Methods to assess mediation involving multiple simultaneous mediators have received little attention in the methodological literature despite a clear need. We provide an overview of simple and multiple mediation and explore three approaches that can be used to investigate indirect processes, as well as methods for contrasting two or more mediators within a single model. We present an illustrative example, assessing and contrasting potential mediators of the relationship between the helpfulness of socialization agents and job satisfaction. We also provide SAS and SPSS macros, as well as Mplus and LISREL syntax, to facilitate the use of these methods in applications.
25,799 citations
TL;DR: Software called STOP-IT is presented, for running the stop-signal task, as well as an additional analyzing program called ANALYZE-IT, which is a precompiled executable, and for basic use there is no need for additional programming.
Abstract: The stop-signal paradigm is a useful tool for the investigation of response inhibition In this paradigm, subjects are instructed to respond as fast as possible to a stimulus unless a stop signal is presented after a variable delay However, programming the stop-signal task is typically considered to be difficult To overcome this issue, we present software called STOP-IT, for running the stop-signal task, as well as an additional analyzing program called ANALYZE-IT The main advantage of both programs is that they are a precompiled executable, and for basic use there is no need for additional programming STOP-IT and ANALYZE-IT are completely based on free software, are distributed under the GNU General Public License, and are available at the personal Web sites of the first two authors or at expsyugentbe/tscope/stophtml
418 citations
TL;DR: In general, happy faces were identified more accurately, earlier, and faster than other faces, whereas judgments of fearful faces were the least accurate, the latest, and the slowest.
Abstract: Participants judged which of seven facial expressions (neutrality, happiness, anger, sadness, surprise, fear, and disgust) were displayed by a set of 280 faces corresponding to 20 female and 20 male models of the Karolinska Directed Emotional Faces database (Lundqvist, Flykt, & Ohman, 1998). Each face was presented under free-viewing conditions (to 63 participants) and also for 25, SO, 100, 250, and 500 msec (to 160 participants), to examine identification thresholds. Measures of identification accuracy, types of errors, and reaction times were obtained for each expression. In general, happy faces were identified more accurately, earlier, and faster than other faces, whereas judgments of fearful faces were the least accurate, the latest, and the slowest. Norms for each face and expression regarding level of identification accuracy, errors, and reaction times may be downloaded from www.psychonomic.org/archive/.
397 citations
TL;DR: It is concluded that categorical scales only reach ordinal-scale level, and thus visual analogue scales are to be preferred whenever possible, and therefore VAS Generator and the scales it generates work independently of platforms and use the underlying languages HTML and JavaScript.
Abstract: The present article describes VAS Generator (www.vasgenerator.net), a free Web service for creating a wide range of visual analogue scales that can be used as measurement devices in Web surveys and Web experimentation, as well as for local computerized assessment. A step-by-step example for creating and implementing a visual analogue scale with visual feedback is given. VAS Generator and the scales it generates work independently of platforms and use the underlying languages HTML and JavaScript. Results from a validation study with 355 participants are reported and show that the scales generated with VAS Generator approximate an interval-scale level. In light of previous research on visual analogue versus categorical (e.g., radio button) scales in Internet-based research, we conclude that categorical scales only reach ordinal-scale level, and thus visual analogue scales are to be preferred whenever possible.
380 citations
TL;DR: The Montreal Affective Voices consist of 90 nonverbal affect bursts corresponding to the emotions of anger, disgust, fear, pain, sadness, surprise, happiness, and pleasure (plus a neutral expression), recorded by 10 different actors.
Abstract: The Montreal Affective Voices consist of 90 nonverbal affect bursts corresponding to the emotions of anger, disgust, fear, pain, sadness, surprise, happiness, and pleasure (plus a neutral expression), recorded by 10 different actors (5 of them male and 5 female). Ratings of valence, arousal, and intensity for eight emotions were collected for each vocalization from 30 participants. Analyses revealed high recognition accuracies for most of the emotional categories (mean of 68%). They also revealed significant effects of both the actors' and the participants' gender: The highest hit rates (75%) were obtained for female participants rating female vocalizations, and the lowest hit rates (60%) for male participants rating male vocalizations. Interestingly, the mixed situations--that is, male participants rating female vocalizations or female participants rating male vocalizations--yielded similar, intermediate ratings. The Montreal Affective Voices are available for download at vnl.psy.gla.ac.uk/ (Resources section).
375 citations
TL;DR: The PIUQ proved to be a reliable measurement for assessing the extent of problems caused by the “misuse” of the Internet; however, further analysis is needed.
Abstract: Despite the fact that more and more clinical case studies and research reports have been published on the increasing problem of Internet addiction, no generally accepted standardized tool is available to measure problematic Internet use or Internet addiction. The aim of our study was to create such a questionnaire. On the basis of earlier studies and our previous experience with Young’s (1998a) Internet Addiction Test, initially, we created a 30-item questionnaire, which was assessed together with other questions regarding participants’ Internet use. Data were collected online from 1,037 persons (54.1% of them male; mean age, 23.3 years; SD, 9.1). As a result of reliability analysis and factor analysis, we reduced the number of items to 18 and created the Problematic Internet Use Questionnaire (PIUQ) containing three subscales: obsession, neglect, and control disorder. Cronbach’s α of the PIUQ is .87 (Cronbach’s α of the subscales is .85, .74, and .76, respectively). The test-retest correlation of the PIUQ is .90. The PIUQ proved to be a reliable measurement for assessing the extent of problems caused by the “misuse” of the Internet; however, further analysis is needed. nt]mis|This research was supported by Grant KAB-KT-02-13 from the Ministry of Children, Youth, and Sport in Hungary.
303 citations
TL;DR: Both age groups rated positive pictures as less arousing, resulting in a stronger linear association between valence and arousal, than has been found in previous studies.
Abstract: The International Affective Picture System (IAPS) has been widely used in aging-oriented research on emotion. However, no ratings for older adults are available. The aim of the present study was to close this gap by providing ratings of valence and arousal for 504 IAPS pictures by 53 young and 53 older adults. Both age groups rated positive pictures as less arousing, resulting in a stronger linear association between valence and arousal, than has been found in previous studies. This association was even stronger in older than in young adults. Older adults perceived negative pictures as more negative and more arousing and positive pictures as more positive and less arousing than young adults did. This might indicate a dedifferentiation of emotional processing in old age. On the basis of a picture recognition task, we also report memorability scores for individual pictures and how they relate to valence and arousal ratings. Data for all the pictures are archived at www.psychonomic.org/archive/.
243 citations
TL;DR: Higher levels of print exposure were associated with higher sentence processing abilities and superior verbal ACT performance, and the relative merits of different print exposure assessments are discussed.
Abstract: The relationship between print exposure and measures of reading skill was examined in college students (N = 99, 58 female; mean age = 20.3 years). Print exposure was measured with several new self-reports of reading and writing habits, as well as updated versions of the Author Recognition Test and the Magazine Recognition Test (Stanovich & West, 1989). Participants completed a sentence comprehension task with syntactically complex sentences, and reading times and comprehension accuracy were measured. An additional measure of reading skill was provided by participants’ scores on the verbal portions of the ACT, a standardized achievement test. Higher levels of print exposure were associated with higher sentence processing abilities and superior verbal ACT performance. The relative merits of different print exposure assessments are discussed.
233 citations
TL;DR: A software tool, the Diffusion Model Analysis Toolbox (DMAT), intended to make the Ratcliff diffusion model for reaction time and accuracy data more accessible to experimental psychologists is presented.
Abstract: The Ratcliff diffusion model has proved to be a useful tool in reaction time analysis. However, its use has been limited by the practical difficulty of estimating the parameters. We present a software tool, the Diffusion Model Analysis Toolbox (DMAT), intended to make the Ratcliff diffusion model for reaction time and accuracy data more accessible to experimental psychologists. The tool takes the form of a MATLAB toolbox and can be freely downloaded from ppw.kuleuven.be/okp/dmatoolbox. Using the program does not require a background in mathematics, nor any advanced programming experience (but familiarity with MATLAB is useful). We demonstrate the basic use of DMAT with two examples.
220 citations
TL;DR: A number of properties of word associations, generated in a continuous task, were investigated and the correspondence of word class in association cues and responses was investigated, indicating a dominant paradigmatic response style.
Abstract: A number of properties of word associations, generated in a continuous task, were investigated First, we investigated the correspondence of word class in association cues and responses Nouns were the modal word class response, regardless of the word class of the cue, indicating a dominant paradigmatic response style Next, the word association data were used to build an associative network to investigate the centrality of nodes The study of node centrality showed that central nodes in the network tended to be highly frequent and acquired early Small-world properties of the association network were investigated and compared with a large English association network (Steyvers & Tenenbaum, 2005) Networks based on a multiple association procedure showed small-world properties despite being denser than networks based on a discrete task Finally, a semantic taxonomy was used to investigate the composition of semantic types in association responses The majority of responses were thematically related situation responses and entity responses referring to parts, shape, or color Since the association task required multiple responses per cue, the interaction between generation position and semantic role could be investigated and discussed in the framework of recent theories of natural concept representations (Barsalou, Santos, Simmons, & Wilson, in press)
205 citations
TL;DR: In the present article, a new software is introduced that allows the recording and analyzing of eye- and mouse-tracking data from slideshow-based experiments in parallel and can be used directly with different statistical software packages.
Abstract: In the present article, a new software is introduced that allows the recording and analyzing of eye- and mouse-tracking data from slideshow-based experiments in parallel. The Open Gaze and Mouse Analyzer (OGAMA) is written in C#.NET and has been released as an open-source project. Its main features include slide-show design, the recording of gaze and mouse data, database-driven preprocessing and filtering of gaze and mouse data, the creation of attention maps, areas-of-interest definition, and replay. Eyetracking and/or presentation soft- and hardware recordings in ASCII format can be imported. Data output is provided that can be used directly with different statistical software packages. Because it is open source, one can easily adapt it to suit one’s needs.
TL;DR: The Computerized Propositional Idea Density Rater (CPIDR, pronounced “spider”) is a computer program that determines the propositional idea density (P-density) of an English text automatically on the basis of part of speech tags.
Abstract: The Computerized Propositional Idea Density Rater (CPIDR, pronounced “spider”) is a computer program that determines the propositional idea density (P-density) of an English text automatically on the basis of partof-speech tags. The key idea is that propositions correspond roughly to verbs, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, and conjunctions. After tagging the parts of speech using MontyLingua (Liu, 2004), CPIDR applies numerous rules to adjust the count, such as combining auxiliary verbs with the main verb. A “speech mode” is provided in which CPIDR rejects repetitions and a wider range of fillers. CPIDR is a user-friendly Windows .NET application distributed as open-source freeware under GPL. Tested against human raters, it agrees with the consensus of two human raters better than the team of five raters agree with each other [r(80) = .97 vs. r(10) = .82, respectively].
TL;DR: This work provides the first set of norms for event concepts, a set of feature norms collected from approximately 280 participants for a total of 456 words, used in research addressing questions concerning the similarities and differences between the semantic representation of objects and events and in research concerning the interface between semantics and syntax.
Abstract: Semantic features produced by speakers of a language when given a word corresponding to a concept have provided insight into numerous behavioral phenomena concerning semantic representation in language-impaired and -unimpaired speakers. A number of theories concerning the organization of semantic memory have used features as their starting point. Here, we provide a set of feature norms collected from approximately 280 participants for a total of 456 words (169 nouns referring to objects, 71 nouns referring to events, and 216 verbs referring to events). Whereas a number of feature norms for object concepts already exist, we provide the first set of norms for event concepts. We have used these norms (for both objects and events) in research addressing questions concerning the similarities and differences between the semantic representation of objects and events and in research concerning the interface between semantics and syntax, given that events can be expressed in language as nouns or verbs. Some of this research is summarized here. These norms may be downloaded from www.psychonomic.org/archive.
TL;DR: It is found that participants who watched demonstrations of successful problem-solving sessions or who read instructions outperformed those who were told only that they solved problems correctly or not.
Abstract: Online experiments have recently become very popular, and—in comparison with traditional lab experiments— they may have several advantages, such as reduced demand characteristics, automation, and generalizability of results to wider populations (Birnbaum, 2004; Reips, 2000, 2002a, 2002b). We replicated Dandurand, Bowen, and Shultz’s (2004) lab-based problem-solving experiment as an Internet experiment. Consistent with previous results, we found that participants who watched demonstrations of successful problem-solving sessions or who read instructions outperformed those who were told only that they solved problems correctly or not. Online participants were less accurate than lab participants, but there was no interaction with learning condition. Thus, we conclude that online and Internet results are consistent. Disadvantages included high dropout rate for online participants; however, combining the online experiment with the department subject pool worked well.
TL;DR: A program was developed to automate the calculation of unique and common elements in commonality analysis, using the statistical package R, and a heuristic example using data from the Holzinger and Swineford (1939) study is presented.
Abstract: Multiple regression is a widely used technique for data analysis in social and behavioral research. The complexity of interpreting such results increases when correlated predictor variables are involved. Commonality analysis provides a method of determining the variance accounted for by respective predictor variables and is especially useful in the presence of correlated predictors. However, computing commonality coefficients is laborious. To make commonality analysis accessible to more researchers, a program was developed to automate the calculation of unique and common elements in commonality analysis, using the statistical package R. The program is described, and a heuristic example using data from the Holzinger and Swineford (1939) study, readily available in the MBESS R package, is presented.
TL;DR: The findings of the present study can serve as a basis for the selection of appropriate facial stimuli in age-comparative studies of face perception, face processing, or memory for faces.
Abstract: Young (n = 24) and old (n = 24) participants rated 160 faces of young and old individuals taken from the CAL/PAL Face Database (Minear & Park, 2004) with regard to attractiveness, likeability, distinctiveness, goal orientation, energy, mood, and age. Ratings are reported for each face separately. Further analyses showed that the age groups differed in their ratings of young and old faces. On average, old participants evaluated the faces as more positive (i.e., more attractive, more energetic) than did young participants. In line with research on a negative aging stereotype, old faces were judged as less positive than young faces. They were, for instance, seen as less attractive, less likeable, less distinctive, less growth-oriented, and less energetic. The findings of the present study can serve as a basis for the selection of appropriate facial stimuli in age-comparative studies of face perception, face processing, or memory for faces. All face-specific data are archived at www.psychonomic.org/archive.
TL;DR: The results show that the use of a continuous task allows the study of weaker associations in comparison with a discrete task, and the relationship with similar procedures is investigated.
Abstract: This study describes the collection of a large set of word association norms. In a continuous word association task, norms for 1,424 Dutch words were gathered. For each cue, three association responses were obtained per participant. In total, an average of 268 responses were collected for each cue. We investigated the relationship with similar procedures, such as discrete association tasks and exemplar generation tasks. The results show that the use of a continuous task allows the study of weaker associations in comparison with a discrete task. The effects of the continuous tasks were investigated for set size and the availability characteristics of the responses, measured through word frequency, age of acquisition, and imageability. Finally, we compared our findings to those of a semantically constrained version of the association task in which participants generated responses within the domain of a semantic category. Results of this comparison are discussed. The Appendix cited in this article is available at www.psychonomic.org/archive.
TL;DR: An experimental comparison of two commonly used delay-discounting procedures and modes of administration raised questions about the commonly assumed relationship between discounting and the construct of impulsivity and pointed to refinements for both the methodology and criteria used to study delay discounting.
Abstract: An experimental comparison of two commonly used delay-discounting procedures (binary choice and fill in the blank) and modes of administration (paper and pencil and computer based) was conducted. Statistically significant main effects were found for task type—steeper discounting was observed in the binary-choice task— but not for mode of administration. As simple evidence of validity, hyperbolic curves consistently provided a better fit to the data than did exponential curves for both tasks. Further, magnitude effects were also observed across conditions. Correlational results varied largely as a function of the discounting index (either k or area under the curve) under consideration. Across the two tasks, discounting indices showed modest levels of reliability [r(AUC)=.33; r(k)=.75]. The findings pointed to refinements for both the methodology and criteria that are used to study delay discounting and raised questions about the commonly assumed relationship between discounting and the construct of impulsivity.
TL;DR: A set of norms for age of acquisition, familiarity, and iconicity for 300 British Sign Language signs, as rated by deaf signers, are presented in the hope that they may prove useful to other researchers studying BSL and other signed languages.
Abstract: Research on signed languages offers the opportunity to address many important questions about language that it may not be possible to address via studies of spoken languages alone. Many such studies, however, are inherently limited, because there exist hardly any norms for lexical variables that have appeared to play important roles in spoken language processing. Here, we present a set of norms for age of acquisition, familiarity, and iconicity for 300 British Sign Language (BSL) signs, as rated by deaf signers, in the hope that they may prove useful to other researchers studying BSL and other signed languages. These norms may be downloaded from www.psychonomic.org/archive.
TL;DR: The International Affective Digitized Sounds (IADS) dataset as discussed by the authors is a set of 111 sounds characterized along the affective dimensions of valence, arousal, and dominance, which can be used to control for or manipulate stimulus properties in accordance with both theories of affect.
Abstract: Although there are many well-characterized affective visual stimuli sets available to researchers, there are few auditory sets available. Those auditory sets that are available have been characterized primarily according to one of two major theories of affect: dimensional or categorical. Current trends have attempted to utilize both theories to more fully understand emotional processing. As such, stimuli that have been thoroughly characterized according to both of these approaches are exceptionally useful. In an effort to provide researchers with such a stimuli set, we collected descriptive data on the International Affective Digitized Sounds (IADS), identifying which discrete categorical emotions are elicited by each sound. The IADS is a database of 111 sounds characterized along the affective dimensions of valence, arousal, and dominance. Our data complement these characterizations of the IADS, allowing researchers to control for or manipulate stimulus properties in accordance with both theories of affect, providing an avenue for further integration of these perspectives. Related materials may be downloaded from the Psychonomic Society Web archive at www.psychonomic.org/archive.
TL;DR: The results of a feature generation task in which the exemplars and labels of 15 semantic categories served as cues are described and the importance of the generated features was assessed by tallying the frequency with which they were generated and by obtaining judgments of their relevance.
Abstract: Features are at the core of many empirical and modeling endeavors in the study of semantic concepts. This article is concerned with the delineation of features that are important in natural language concepts and the use of these features in the study of semantic concept representation. The results of a feature generation task in which the exemplars and labels of 15 semantic categories served as cues are described. The importance of the generated features was assessed by tallying the frequency with which they were generated and by obtaining judgments of their relevance. The generated attributes also featured in extensive exemplar by feature applicability matrices covering the 15 different categories, as well as two large semantic domains (that of animals and artifacts). For all exemplars of the 15 semantic categories, typicality ratings, goodness ratings, goodness rank order, generation frequency, exemplar associative strength, category associative strength, estimated age of acquisition, word frequency, familiarity ratings, imageability ratings, and pairwise similarity ratings are described as well. By making these data easily available to other researchers in the field, we hope to provide ample opportunities for continued investigations into the nature of semantic concept representation. These data may be downloaded from the Psychonomic Society’s Archive of Norms, Stimuli, and Data, www.psychonomic.org/archive.
TL;DR: A perimeter detection measure correlates strongly with human judgments of the complexity of line drawings of real-world objects and nonsense shapes and captures some of the processes important in judgments of subjective complexity, while removing the bias due to familiarity effects.
Abstract: Complexity is conventionally defined as the level of detail or intricacy contained within a picture. The study of complexity has received relatively little attention—in part, because of the absence of an acceptable metric. Traditionally, normative ratings of complexity have been based on human judgments. However, this study demonstrates that published norms for visual complexity are biased. Familiarity and learning influence the subjective complexity scores for nonsense shapes, with a significant training × familiarity interaction [F(1,52) = 17.53, p < .05]. Several image-processing techniques were explored as alternative measures of picture and image complexity. A perimeter detection measure correlates strongly with human judgments of the complexity of line drawings of real-world objects and nonsense shapes and captures some of the processes important in judgments of subjective complexity, while removing the bias due to familiarity effects.
TL;DR: Age of acquisition ratings made on a 1-7 scale for 3,000 monosyllabic words were obtained from 32 participants across four blocks of 750 trials, indicating that participants were consistent in their ratings across blocks.
Abstract: Age of acquisition (AoA) ratings made on a 1-7 scale for 3,000 monosyllabic words were obtained from 32 participants across four blocks of 750 trials (two blocks of 750 trials were completed in each of 2 days). These results, as well as those of the regression analyses and reliability and validity measures that were originally reported in Cortese and Khanna (2007), are summarized here. Here, we also report high interblock correlations across items, indicating that participants were consistent in their ratings across blocks. The norms for the 3,000 words are important for researchers interested in word processing and may be downloaded from the Psychonomic Society’s Norms, Stimuli, and Data archive at www.psychonomic.org/archive.
TL;DR: An R package is described for use in designing single-case phase (AB, ABA, and ABAB) and alternation experiments, as well as for conducting statistical analyses on data gathered by means of such designs.
Abstract: Randomization tests are nonparametric statistical tests that obtain their validity by computationally mimicking the random assignment procedure that was used in the design phase of a study. Because randomization tests do not rely on a random sampling assumption, they can provide a better alternative than parametric statistical tests for analyzing data from single-case designs. In this article, an R package is described for use in designing single-case phase (AB, ABA, and ABAB) and alternation (completely randomized, alternating treatments, and randomized block) experiments, as well as for conducting statistical analyses on data gathered by means of such designs. The R code is presented in a step-by-step way, which at the same time clarifies the rationale behind single-case randomization tests.
TL;DR: The Tholos software is developed, which uses measures from a dual-task paradigm with auditory signals; the National Aeronautics and Space Administration task load index (NASA-TLX) scale and its simplified version, the “raw” task Load Index (RTLX); and physiological measurements with which the software can merge results from the dual- task paradigm.
Abstract: Mental workload is a concept central to a range of disciplines (including cognitive psychology and ergonomics) that has given rise to various theoretical and methodological debates. As a result, researchers have used a number of techniques for measuring mental workload. Traditionally, three categories of measurement technique have been recognized: performance measures (e.g., the dual-task paradigm), subjective measures (e.g., rating scales), and physiological measures (e.g., heart, respiration, and blink rates). Each technique has advantages and limitations; however, some limitations may prevent an accurate evaluation of the mental workload. In this article, we focus on the benefits of combining multiple measures of mental workload. However, because combining several techniques is a very complex process, we have developed the Tholos software in an attempt to reduce this complexity. This software package uses measures from each of the three categories: a dual-task paradigm with auditory signals; the National Aeronautics and Space Administration task load index (NASA-TLX) scale and its simplified version, the “raw” task load index (RTLX); and physiological (such as pupil-dilation) measurements with which our software can merge results from the dual-task paradigm. To illustrate the benefits of using Tholos, we describe a puzzle-solving experiment in which we combined multiple measures of mental workload. The results indicate the importance of combining multiple measures to build upon the theoretical and methodological foundations of mental workload.
TL;DR: This article assists United States psychologists in designing online studies that meet accepted standards for informed consent, deception, debriefing, the right to withdraw, security of test materials, copyright of participants’ materials, confidentiality and anonymity, and avoiding harm.
Abstract: It is increasingly easy and, therefore, increasingly common to conduct experiments and questionnaire studies in online environments. However, the online environment is not a data collection medium that is familiar to many researchers or to many research methods instructors. Because of this, researchers have received little information about how to address ethical issues when conducting online research. Researchers need practical suggestions on how to translate federal and professional ethics codes into this new data collection medium. This article assists United States psychologists in designing online studies that meet accepted standards for informed consent, deception, debriefing, the right to withdraw, security of test materials, copyright of participants’ materials, confidentiality and anonymity, and avoiding harm.
TL;DR: Procedures and apparatuses that were used to train a colony of computer-naive capuchin monkeys to quickly and reliably isolate themselves from group members and interact with a computerized test system in order to produce a large volume of data are described.
Abstract: Even with advances in automated testing techniques, the capuchin monkey (Cebus apella) can be a difficult species to test in the laboratory, given its social/behavioral tendencies and typical activity pattern. Laboratories that maintain social colonies of capuchin monkeys are able to separate and test individuals, but the process can be very effortful and time consuming, and the resulting data can be modest in quantity. The present article describes procedures and apparatuses that were used to train a colony of computer-naive capuchin monkeys to quickly and reliably isolate themselves from group members and interact with a computerized test system in order to produce a large volume of data. Several elements that were important in motivating the monkeys to participate are discussed.
TL;DR: Frequency, inappropriateness, valence, arousal, and imageability ratings for taboo, emotionally valenced, and emotionally neutral words were made by 78 native-English-speaking college students from a large metropolitan university.
Abstract: Although taboo words are used to study emotional memory and attention, no easily accessible normative data are available that compare taboo, emotionally valenced, and emotionally neutral words on the same scales. Frequency, inappropriateness, valence, arousal, and imageability ratings for taboo, emotionally valenced, and emotionally neutral words were made by 78 native-English-speaking college students from a large metropolitan university. The valenced set comprised both positive and negative words, and the emotionally neutral set comprised category-related and category-unrelated words. To account for influences of demand characteristics and personality factors on the ratings, frequency and inappropriateness measures were decomposed into raters’ personal reactions to the words versus raters’ perceptions of societal reactions to the words (personal use vs. familiarity and offensiveness vs. tabooness, respectively). Although all word sets were rated higher in familiarity and tabooness than in personal use and offensiveness, these differences were most pronounced for the taboo set. In terms of valence, the taboo set was most similar to the negative set, although it yielded higher arousal ratings than did either valenced set. Imageability for the taboo set was comparable to that of both valenced sets. The ratings of each word are presented for all participants as well as for single-sex groups. The inadequacies of the application of normative data to research that uses emotional words and the conceptualization of taboo words as a coherent category are discussed. Materials associated with this article may be accessed at the Psychonomic Society’s Archive of Norms, Stimuli, and Data, www.psychonomic.org/archive.
TL;DR: Examples of telemetric applications are provided to illustrate how this technology has been used in the behavioral sciences to unobtrusively and repeatedly gather physiological, behavioral, environmental, cognitive, and affective data in natural settings.
Abstract: This article reviews recent advances in telemetrics, a class of wireless information systems technology that can collect and transmit a wide variety of behavioral and environmental data remotely. Telemetrics include wearable computers that weave on-body sensors into articles of clothing, ubiquitous computers that embed sensors and transmitters seamlessly into the environment, and handheld devices, such as mobile phones and personal digital assistants, that can record cognitive and affective states. Examples of telemetric applications are provided to illustrate how this technology has been used in the behavioral sciences to unobtrusively and repeatedly gather physiological, behavioral, environmental, cognitive, and affective data in natural settings. Special issues relating to privacy and confidentiality, practical considerations, and statistical and measurement challenges when telemetrics are used are also discussed.
TL;DR: 18 tasks aimed at measuring face perception, face learning, face recognition, and the recognition of facially expressed emotions are presented, a first step in constructing a battery of face cognition measures.
Abstract: Despite the importance of face recognition in everyday life and frequent complaints about its failure, there is no comprehensive test battery for this ability. As a first step in constructing such a battery, we present 18 tasks aimed at measuring face perception, face learning, face recognition, and the recognition of facially expressed emotions. A sample of 153 healthy young adults completed all tasks. In general, reaction time measures showed high estimates of internal consistency; tasks focused on performance accuracy yielded reliabilities that were somewhat lower, yet high enough to support their use in a battery of face cognition measures. Some of the tasks allowed computation of established experimental effects in a within-subjects design, such as the part-whole effect. Most of these experimental effects were confirmed in our large sample, and valuable effect size estimates were obtained. However, in many cases these difference measures showed poor estimates of internal consistency.