How to Use Item Desirability Ratings in Constructing Forced-Choice Tests

The forced-choice response format has been proposed as a method for preventing applicant faking on self-report non-cognitive measures. This potential benefit of the format depends on how closely the items comprising each forced-choice block are matched in terms of desirability for the job. Current desirability matching procedures rely on differences in items’ mean desirability ratings to quantify similarity in items’ desirability. We argue that relying on means, while ignoring individual differences in desirability ratings, may yield inaccurate similarity values and result in inferior item matches. As an alternative, we propose a distance-based measure that considers differences in desirability ratings at the individual level and may thus yield accurate similarity values and optimal matches. We support our arguments on a set of desirability ratings obtained with an explicit instruction to rate desirability of items.

Analysis of speed-accuracy trade-offs using the Wiener diffusion model for choice reaction times

A methodology review paper on the utility and challenges of modelling speed-accuracy trade-offs in response time data. The paper reviews the importance of accounting for speed-accuracy trade-offs when measuring response times, and provides background on diffusion models for response time data. It then describes a practical software implementation of the EZ-diffusion model to model speed-accuracy trade-offs in choice response time data using the R programming language.

The Challenge of Inferring Unconscious Mental Processes

Studies of unconscious mental processes often compare a performance measure (e.g., some assessment of perception or memory) with a measure of awareness (e.g., a verbal report or forced-choice response) of the critical cue or contingency taken either concurrently or separately. The resulting patterns of bivariate data across participants lend themselves to several analytic approaches for inferring the existence of unconscious mental processes, but it is rare for researchers to consider the underlying generative processes that might cause these patterns. We show that bivariate data are generally insufficient to discriminate single-process models, with a unitary latent process determining both performance and awareness, from dual-process models, comprising distinct latent processes for performance and awareness. Future research attempting to isolate and investigate unconscious processes will need to employ richer types of data and analyses.

EXPRESS: Mapping effects in choice-response and go/nogo variants of the lexical-decision task: A case for polarity correspondence.

Previous research has shown that responses to words are faster and more accurate in the go/nogo version of the lexical-decision task (LDT) than in the choice-response version. This finding has been attributed to reduced response-selection demands in the go/nogo task. Here we test an alternative account assuming similar response-selection demands in the two tasks, but an additional impact of polarity correspondence between stimuli and responses in the go/nogo task. Positive and negative polarities have been described as a frequent characteristic of binary stimulus and response dimensions. Only for the go/nogo version of the LDT an apparent polarity difference between go and nogo responses exists, with go responses having the same polarity as words and nogo responses the same polarity as nonwords. Thus, as compared with the choice-response LDT, in the go/nogo LDT go responses to words should be facilitated by polarity correspondence, and go responses to nonwords should be inhibited by polarity noncorrespondence. In the present study, each participant performed a go/nogo LDT and a choice-response LDT. Responses to words were faster and more accurate than responses to nonwords, and—consistent with the alternative account—this difference was larger in the go/nogo LDT than in the choice-response LDT. An analysis of performance by means of sequential-sampling models, that take into account a decaying influence of irrelevant stimulus features, supported the effect of polarity correspondence in the go/nogo LDT. This analysis suggested an effect in the choice-response LDT as well, though of a smaller size and a faster decay.

Orthogonal representation of task-related information in theta phase-based multiple place fields of single units in the subiculum

The subiculum is positioned at a critical juncture at the interface of the hippocampus with the rest of the brain. However, the exact roles of the subiculum in most hippocampal-dependent memory tasks remain largely unknown. One obstacle to make analytical comparisons of neural firing patterns between the subiculum and hippocampal CA1 is the broad firing fields of the subicular cells. Here, we used spiking phases in relation to theta rhythm to parse the broad firing field of a subicular neuron into multiple subfields to find the unique functional contribution of the subiculum while male rats performed a hippocampal-dependent visual scene memory task. Some of the broad firing fields of the subicular neurons were successfully divided into multiple subfields by using the theta-phase precession cycle. The resulting phase-based fields in the subiculum were more similar to those in CA1 in terms of the field size and phase-precession strength. The new method significantly improved the detection of task-relevant information in subicular cells without affecting the information content represented by CA1 cells. Notably, multiple fields of a single subicular neuron, unlike those in the CA1, could carry heterogeneous task-related information such as visual context and choice response. Our findings suggest that the subicular cells integrate multiple task-related factors by using theta rhythm to associate environmental context with action.

As Within, so Without; As Above, so Below: Common Mechanisms Can Support Between- and Within-Trial Learning Dynamics

Two fundamental difficulties when learning is deciding 1) what information is relevant, and 2) when to use it. To overcome these difficulties, humans continuously make choices about which dimensions of information to selectively attend to, and monitor their relevance to the current goal. Although previous theories have specified how observers learn to attend to relevant dimensions over time, those theories have largely remained silent about how attention should be allocated on a within-trial basis, which dimensions of information should be sampled, and how the temporal ordering of information sampling influences learning. Here, we use the Adaptive Attention Representation Model (AARM) to demonstrate that a common set of mechanisms can be used to specify: 1) how the distribution of attention is updated between trials over the course of learning; and 2) how attention dynamically shifts among dimensions within-trial. We validate or proposed set of mechanisms by comparing AARM’s predictions to observed behavior across five case studies, which collectively encompass different theoretical aspects of selective attention. Importantly, we use both eye-tracking and choice response data to provide a stringent test of how attention and decision processes dynamically interact. Specifically, how does attention to selected stimulus dimensions gives rise to decision dynamics, and in turn, how do decision dynamics influence our continuous choices about which dimensions to attend to via gaze fixations?

Mediodorsal thalamus is critical for updating during extra-dimensional shifts but not reversals in the attentional set-shifting task

Cognitive flexibility, attributed to frontal cortex, is vital for navigating the complexities of everyday life. The mediodorsal thalamus (MD), interconnected to frontal cortex, may influence cognitive flexibility. Here rats performed an attentional set-shifting task measuring intra-dimensional and extra-dimensional shifts in sensory discriminations. MD lesion rats needed more trials to learn the rewarded sensory dimension. However, once the choice response strategy was established, learning further two-choice discriminations in the same sensory dimension, and reversals of the reward contingencies in the same dimension, were unimpaired. Critically though, MD lesion rats were impaired during the extra-dimensional shift, when they must rapidly update the optimal choice response strategy. Behavioral analyses showed MD lesion rats had significantly reduced ‘on-the-fly’ correct second choice responses. Diminshed c-Fos expression in the prelimbic and orbitofrontal cortex was also documented. This evidence shows transfer of information via the MD is critical when monitoring and rapid updates in established choice response strategies are required.