Cultural Deprivation and Response Biases of Preschool Children for Complex and Novel Stimuli

1975 ◽  
Vol 40 (3) ◽  
pp. 999-1003 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert A. Hicks ◽  
Steven Dockstader ◽  
Mary Parker-Schumacher

As a test of the hypothesis that a consequence of cultural deprivation is the avoidance of arousal-provoking stimuli the response biases to complex/novel and simple/familiar stimuli of 29 deprived and 35 non-deprived preschoolers were determined using a signal detection-like procedure. Consistent with the hypothesis, the deprived Ss demonstrated a pronounced response bias for the simple/familiar stimuli. With qualification, it was suggested that the response bias of the deprived group might stem from possible aversive effects of complex/novel stimuli on these Ss.

1973 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
pp. 587-598 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathryn H. Williams ◽  
John E. Williams ◽  
Robert C. Beck

Previous research indicated that, in relative choice situations, both Caucasian and Negro preschool children tend to associate positive evaluative adjectives with light-skinned human figures and negative evaluative adjectives with dark-skinned ones. The present study utilized a signal-detection model with figures presented singly so that response bias, as well as sensitivity to the color-signal, could be evaluated. 30 Caucasian and 30 Negro preschool children were given 48 trials on which either a dark-skinned or light-skinned figure was accompanied by a story containing a positive or a negative adjective and were asked if the story described the figure. Dark-skinned figures carried a negative “signal” for Ss of both races. While the light-skinned figure carried a positive signal for the Caucasian Ss, the evidence for Negro Ss was unclear. The data also showed strong acquiescent (“yea-saying”) response biases, i.e., the children tended to respond “yes” much more frequently than “no,” regardless of the type of adjective employed or the skin-color of the presented figure. It was concluded that the basic phenomena previously shown with the relative choice methodology can also be shown with the absolute judgment methodology of the signal-detection model.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mingjia Hu ◽  
Dobromir Rahnev

Predictive cues induce large changes in people’s choices by biasing responses towards the expected stimulus category. At the same time, even in the absence of predictive cues, humans often exhibit substantial intrinsic response biases. Despite the ubiquity of both of these biasing effects, it remains unclear how predictive cues interact with intrinsic bias. To understand the nature of this interaction, we examined data across three previous experiments that featured a combination of neutral cues (revealing intrinsic biases) and predictive cues. We found that predictive cues decreased the intrinsic bias to about half of its original size. This result held both when bias was quantified as the criterion location estimated using signal detection theory and as the probability of choosing a particular stimulus category. Our findings demonstrate that predictive cues reduce but do not eliminate intrinsic response bias, testifying to both the malleability and rigidity of intrinsic biases.


1994 ◽  
Vol 79 (3) ◽  
pp. 1299-1304 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gary M. Brosvic ◽  
Nancy A. Civale ◽  
Patricia Long ◽  
Deborah Kieley ◽  
Kathryn Kristoff ◽  
...  

Perceptual error in the Müller-Lyer and the Horizontal-Vertical illusions was quantified using nonparametric signal-detection measures of sensitivity and response bias. Sensitivity scores were positively related to signal strength with the greatest values observed for the strongest signals. Sensitivity at each signal strength did not differ between the two illusions. Response-bias scores were inversely related to signal strength, with the most conservative biases observed for the strongest signals. Response biases for each signal strength were significantly more conservative for the Horizontal-Vertical than for the Müller-Lyer illusion.


1986 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 327-336 ◽  
Author(s):  
Surendra N. Singh ◽  
Gilbert A. Churchill

Recognition tests are a very popular means of assessing the memory effectiveness of advertisements. Unfortunately the recognition scores obtained by current methods reflect both the memory for an advertisement and the response biases of the respondents. The authors introduce the theory of signal detection (TSD) which can be used to secure independent estimates of memory and response bias in recognition tests. They discuss how TSD can be used to improve ad recognition testing.


2012 ◽  
Vol 30 (5) ◽  
pp. 480-496 ◽  
Author(s):  
Molly J. Henry ◽  
J. Devin McAuley

This article considers a signal detection theory (SDT) approach to evaluation of performance on the Montreal Battery of Evaluation of Amusia (MBEA). One hundred fifty-five individuals completed the original binary response version of the MBEA (n = 62) or a confidence rating version (MBEA-C; n = 93). Confidence ratings afforded construction of empirical receiver operator characteristic (ROC) curves and derivation of bias-free performance measures against which we compared the standard performance metric, proportion correct (PC), and an alternative signal detection metric, d ′. Across the board, PC was tainted by response bias and underestimated performance as indexed by Az, a nonparametric ROC-based performance measure. Signal detection analyses further revealed that some individuals performing worse than the standard PC-based cutoff for amusia diagnosis showed large response biases. Given that PC is contaminated by response bias, this suggests the possibility that categorizing individuals as having amusia or not, using a PC-based cutoff, may inadvertently misclassify some individuals with normal perceptual sensitivity as amusic simply because they have large response biases. In line with this possibility, a comparison of amusia classification using d ′- and PC-based cutoffs showed potential misclassification of 33% of the examined cases.


2014 ◽  
Vol 114 (3) ◽  
pp. 896-912 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guofang Liu ◽  
Ziqiang Xin ◽  
Chongde Lin

Negativity bias means that negative information is usually given more emphasis than comparable positive information. Under signal detection theory, recent research found that people more frequently and incorrectly identify negative task-related words as having been presented originally than positive words, even when they were not presented. That is, people have lax decision criteria for negative words. However, the response biases for task-unrelated negative words and for emotionally important words are still unclear. This study investigated response bias for these two kinds of words. Study 1 examined the response bias for task-unrelated negative words using an emotional Stroop task. Proportions of correct recognition to negative and positive words were assessed by non-parametric signal detection analysis. Participants have lower (i.e., more lax) decision criteria for task-unrelated negative words than for positive words. Study 2 supported and expanded this result by investigating participants' response bias for highly emotional words. Participants have lower decision criteria for highly emotional words than for less emotional words. Finally, possible evolutionary sources of the response bias were discussed.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tuong-Van Vu ◽  
Catrin Finkenauer ◽  
Lydia Krabbendam

Collectivistic orientation, which entails interdependent self-construal and concern for interpersonal harmony and social adjustment, has been suggested to be associated with detecting emotional expressions that signal social threat than individualistic orientation, which entails independent self-construal. The present research tested if this detection is a result of enhanced perceptual sensitivity or of response bias. We used country as proxy of individualism and collectivism (Country IC), measured IC of individuals with a questionnaire (Individual IC) and manipulated IC with culture priming (Situational IC). Dutch participants in the Netherlands (n = 143) and Chinese participants in China (n = 151) performed a social threat detection task where they had to categorize ambiguous facial expressions as “angry” or “not angry”. As the stimuli varied in degrees of scowling and frequency of presentation, we were able to measure the participants' perceptual sensitivity and response bias following the principles of the Signal Detection Theory. On the Country IC level, the results indicated that individualism-representative Dutch participants had higher perceptual sensitivity than collectivism-representative Chinese participants; whereas, Chinese participants were more biased towards categorizing a scowling face as “angry” than the Dutch (i.e. stronger liberal bias). In both groups, collectivism on the Individual IC was associated with a bias towards recognizing a scowling face as “not angry” (i.e. stronger conservative bias). Culture priming (Situational IC) affected neither perceptual sensitivity nor response bias. Our data suggested that cultural differences were in the form of behavioral tendency and IC entails multiple constructs linked to different outcomes in social threat detection.


Author(s):  
John Paul Plummer ◽  
Anastasia Diamond ◽  
Alex Chaparro ◽  
Rui Ni

Hazard perception (HP) is an important aspect of driving performance and is associated with crash risk. In the current study, we investigate the effect of roadway environment (city vs. highway) and expertise on HP. HP was measured using HP clips that evaluated response lag (defined as the time from the participant’s response to the end of the clip) and fuzzy signal detection theory metrics of response criterion and sensitivity. Forty videos were used: 20 from highway environments and 20 from city environments. Forty-eight participants with a range of driving experience as assessed by the years since obtaining a license (less than 1 year to 24 years) completed the study. There were differences between city and highway environments in response lag and response bias; participants responded earlier to the hazards in the highway environment and exhibited a more liberal response bias. Driving experience was significantly correlated to response lag. When the video clips were categorized by environment, driving experience was only significantly correlated with performance for the city environment.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Samuel Schwarzkopf ◽  
Nonie J Finlayson ◽  
Benjamin de Haas

Perceptual bias is inherent to all our senses, particularly in the form of visual illusionsand aftereffects. However, many experiments measuring perceptual biases may besusceptible to non-perceptual factors, such as response bias and decision criteria. Here wequantify how robust Multiple Alternative Perceptual Search (MAPS) is for disentanglingestimates of perceptual biases from these confounding factors. First our results show thatwhile there are considerable response biases in our four-alternative forced choice design,these are unrelated to perceptual biases estimates, and these response biases are notproduced by the response modality (keyboard versus mouse). We also show that perceptualbias estimates are reduced when feedback is given on each trial, likely due to feedbackenabling observers to partially (and actively) correct for perceptual biases. However, thisdoes not impact the reliability with which MAPS detects the presence of perceptual biases.Finally, our results show that MAPS can detect actual perceptual biases and is not adecisional bias towards choosing the target in the middle of the candidate stimulusdistribution. In summary, researchers conducting a MAPS experiment should use a constantreference stimulus, but consider varying the mean of the candidate distribution. Ideally,they should not employ trial-wise feedback if the magnitude of perceptual biases is ofinterest.


Perception ◽  
10.1068/p7908 ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 44 (3) ◽  
pp. 289-300 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessica K Witt ◽  
J Eric T Taylor ◽  
Mila Sugovic ◽  
John T Wixted

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document