Design fluency within a cognitive battery: A study of test order effects Hart, C. C., Harter, S. L., Miller, S. A., & Harter, G. W.

Interactions with natural environments and nature-related stimuli have been found to be beneficial to cognitive performance, in particular on executive cognitive tasks with high demands on directed attention processes. However, results vary across different studies.The aim of the present study was to perform a meta-analysis of all our published and unpublished studies testing the effect of different interactions with nature versus urban/built control environments, on an executive test with high demands on directed attention: the backwards digit span (BDS) task. Specific aims were to evaluate the effect of nature versus urban environment interactions on BDS across different exposure types (e.g. being in real environments, or viewing videos, images, or listening to sounds) and disentangle the effects of testing order (i.e. practice with repeated testing) and the role of affective changes on BDS performance. We also reviewed the literature and compared and contrasted our meta-analysis with results from other studies. Results from our meta-analysis comprising 12 studies (N=567 participants) showed significant environment-by-time interactions with beneficial effects of nature compared to urban environments on BDS performance. This effect was magnified after parceling out initial practice effects on the BDS. Changes in positive or negative affect did not mediate the beneficial effects of nature on BDS performance. These results mirrored effects that we reviewed from outside of our laboratories. Uncontrolled and confounding order effects may explain some of the inconsistent findings in the literature. In all, these results highlight the robustness of the effects of natural environments on cognition when confounding order effects have been considered, and also provide a more nuanced account of when a nature intervention will be most effective.

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Effects of Test Order on Most Comfortable and Uncomfortable Loudness Levels for Speech

American Journal of Audiology ◽

10.1044/1059-0889(2004/020) ◽

2004 ◽

Vol 13 (2) ◽

pp. 158-163 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Jerry Punch ◽

Brad Rakerd ◽

Antony Joseph

Keyword(s):

Order Effect ◽

Normal Hearing ◽

Order Effects ◽

Test Order ◽

Group 2 ◽

Comfortable Loudness ◽

Group 1 ◽

Temporal Spacing

This study examined test-order effects on most comfortable loudness (MCL) and uncomfortable loudness (UCL) levels for spondaic words in 2 groups of 30 normal hearing listeners each. For Group 1, MCL was measured first, followed by UCL. For Group 2, UCL was measured first, and then MCL. A retest was conducted for both groups. Results showed that MCL was significantly elevated for Group 2, but not for Group 1. There was no effect on UCL for either group. In a follow-up experiment, the magnitude of the test-order effect on MCL increased significantly when MCL measurements followed UCL measurements closely in time. These results argue for management of the ordering and temporal spacing of MCL and UCL testing in clinical loudness measurements.

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Order Effects in the Perception and Production of New Words

10.20944/preprints202005.0383.v1 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Peter Richtsmeier ◽

Michelle Moore

Keyword(s):

Perceptual Learning ◽

Practice Effect ◽

Order Effects ◽

Learning Mechanisms ◽

Baseline Design ◽

Production Practice ◽

Test Order ◽

Speech Accuracy ◽

Primary Focus ◽

Carry Over

Purpose: Perceptual learning and production practice are basic mechanisms that children depend on to acquire adult levels of speech accuracy. In this study, we examined perceptual learning and production practice as they contributed to changes in speech accuracy in three- and four-year-old children. Our primary focus was manipulating the order of perceptual learning and baseline production practice to better understand when and how these learning mechanisms interact. Method: Sixty-five typically-developing children between the ages of three and four were included in the study. Children were asked to produce CVCCVC nonwords like /bozjəm/ and /tʌvtʃəp/ that were described as the names of make-believe animals. All children completed two separate experimental blocks: a baseline block in which participants heard each nonword once and repeated it, and a test block in which the perceptual input frequency of each nonword varied between 1 and 10. Half of the participants completed a baseline-test order; half completed a test-baseline order. Results: Greater accuracy was observed for nonwords produced in the second experimental block, reflecting a production practice effect. Perceptual learning resulted in greater accuracy during the test for nonwords that participants heard 3 or more times. However, perceptual learning did not carry over to baseline productions in the test-baseline design, suggesting that it reflects a kind of temporary priming. Finally, a post hoc analysis suggested that the size of the production practice effect depended on the age of acquisition of the consonants that comprised the nonwords. Conclusions: The study provides new details about how perceptual learning and production practice interact with each other and with phonological aspects of the nonwords, resulting in complex effects on speech accuracy and learning of form-referent pairs. These findings may ultimately help speech-language pathologists maximize their clients’ improvement in therapy.

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The Effect of Presentation Level on the SCAN-3 in Children and Adults

American Journal of Audiology ◽

10.1044/2018_aja-17-0098 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 27 (2) ◽

pp. 238-245 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Tina M. Stoody ◽

Chelsea E. Cottrell

Keyword(s):

Auditory Processing ◽

Normal Hearing ◽

Stimulus Level ◽

Effect Sizes ◽

Order Effects ◽

Hearing Sensitivity ◽

Presentation Level ◽

Normal Limits ◽

Test Order ◽

Composite Scores

PurposeThe pediatric and adult versions of the SCAN-3 test (Keith, 2009a, 2009b) are widely used to screen and diagnose auditory processing disorders. According to the instruction manual, the test administration is flexible in that it may be administered through an audiometer at 50 dB HL or a portable CD player at the patient or administrator's most comfortable listening level (MCL). Because MCL may vary across individuals, even in those with normal hearing sensitivity, this study explored whether the presentation level affected scores on the SCAN-3 for both pediatric and adult populations.MethodTwenty-two young adults and 23 children with normal hearing sensitivity and middle ear function were administered the SCAN-3 three different times at 1-month intervals, at 40, 50, and 60 dB HL. The stimulus level of the SCAN-3 was counterbalanced across participants to eliminate test order effects. In addition, MCL was measured in the pediatric participants during each session.ResultsMCL varied significantly across children as well as between test sessions, ranging from 40 to 75 dB HL. Performance on 3 of the 4 subtests administered, as well as composite scores, was significantly different across presentation levels (based on scaled scores). Effect sizes were also calculated and found to be strong. The number of composite scores interpreted as within normal limits versus borderline or disordered was also statistically different across presentation levels.ConclusionsPresentation level appears to affect performance on auditory figure ground, monaural low-redundancy, and binaural integration types of auditory processing tasks that are measured by the SCAN-3. In children, MCL was found to vary significantly both between and within individuals. Although several professions outside audiology are qualified to administer the SCAN-3, it is likely that many of these individuals administer the test without an audiometer and would use an MCL to determine presentation level. It is recommended that SCAN-3 users administer the test through an audiometer at 50 dB HL, rather than with a portable CD player, using MCL values to avoid any presentation level effects.

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Order effects in the rubber hand illusion

10.31234/osf.io/amsrp ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Peter Lush

Keyword(s):

Multisensory Integration ◽

Rubber Hand Illusion ◽

Order Effects ◽

Rubber Hand ◽

Demand Characteristics ◽

Test Order ◽

Integration Mechanisms ◽

Synchronous Condition ◽

The Difference ◽

Proprioceptive Drift

Seeing a fake hand brushed in synchrony with brushstrokes to a participant’s hand (the rubber hand illusion; RHI) prompts reports of referred touch, illusory ownership and that the real hand has drifted toward the fake hand (proprioceptive drift). According to one theory, RHI effects are attributable to multisensory integration mechanisms, but they may alternatively (or additionally) reflect the generation of experience to meet expectancies arising from demand characteristics (phenomenological control). Multisensory integration accounts are supported by contrasting synchronous and asynchronous brush stroking conditions, typically presented in counter-balanced order. This contrast is known to be confounded by demand characteristics, but to date there has been no exploration of the role of demand characteristics relating to condition-order. In an exploratory study, existing data from a rubber hand study (n = 124) were analysed to test order effects. Synchronous condition illusion report and the difference between synchronous and asynchronous conditions in both report and proprioceptive drift were greater when the asynchronous condition was performed first (and therefore participants were exposed to the questionnaire materials). These order effects have implications for interpretation of reports of ownership experience: in particular, there was no mean ownership agreement in the synchronous-first group. These data support the theory that reports of ownership of a rubber hand are at least partially attributable to phenomenological control in response to demand characteristics.

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