Developing and Validating a Facial Emotion Recognition Task With Graded Intensity

Facial emotion recognition (FER) tasks are often digitally altered to vary expression intensity; however, such tasks have unknown psychometric properties. In these studies, an FER task was developed and validated—the Graded Emotional Face Task (GEFT)—which provided an opportunity to examine the psychometric properties of such tasks. Facial expressions were altered to produce five intensity levels for six emotions (e.g., 40% anger). In Study 1, 224 undergraduates viewed subsets of these faces and labeled the expressions. An item selection algorithm was used to maximize internal consistency and balance gender and ethnicity. In Study 2, 219 undergraduates completed the final GEFT and a multimethod battery of validity measures. Finally, in Study 3, 407 undergraduates oversampled for borderline personality disorder (BPD) completed the GEFT and a self-report BPD measure. Broad FER scales (e.g., overall anger) demonstrated evidence of reliability and validity; however, more specific subscales (e.g., 40% anger) had more variable psychometric properties. Notably, ceiling/floor effects appeared to decrease both internal consistency and limit external validity correlations. The findings are discussed from the perspective of measurement issues in the social cognition literature.

Structural Investigation of Export Assistance and Performance of Handloom Exporters

The previous literature highlighted the importance of export assistance to uplift export activities of small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs). However, those studies could not test the feasibility of introduced export assistance for the targeted population. This study focuses on export assistance provided by the government institutions to the handloom exporters and its relationship with their perceived quantitative export performance. A detailed literature review of the existing export assistance programmes led to the categorization in four aspects, that is, financial support, informational support, facilitating support, and education/training support. A model is proposed based on identified variables depicting the relationship between export assistance and handloom exporters’ perceived quantitative export performance. In order to develop the model, first-order confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was initially applied for validity measures. Subsequently, second-order CFA was applied due to the presence of multicollinearity among the variables due to the undistinguishable response of the chosen sample units towards export assistance. Thus, the study investigated the relationship of each of the four identified export assistance elements with the quantitative performance of Handloom exporters.

An exploratory test of an intuitive evaluation method of perceived argument strength

According to Mercier and Sperber (2009, 2011, 2017), people have an immediate and intuitive feeling about the strength of an argument. These intuitive evaluations are not captured by current evaluation methods of argument strength, yet they could be important to predict the extent to which people accept the claim supported by the argument. In an exploratory study, therefore, a newly developed intuitive evaluation method to assess argument strength was compared to an explicit argument strength evaluation method (the PAS scale; Zhao et al., 2011), on their ability to predict claim acceptance (predictive validity) and on their sensitivity to differences in the manipulated quality of arguments (construct validity). An experimental study showed that the explicit argument strength evaluation performed well on the two validity measures. The intuitive evaluation measure, on the other hand, was not found to be valid. Suggestions for other ways of constructing and testing intuitive evaluation measures are presented.

A-123 Characterizing Sex Differences on the Comprehensive Traumatic Brain Injury Evaluation (CTBIE) in U.S. Military Veterans: A Million Veteran Program (MVP) Study

Objective Although emerging data suggest that women with traumatic brain injury (TBI) may suffer greater neurobehavioral dysfunction in both the post-acute and chronic phases of injury, sex differences have been severely understudied within the context of military TBI. Therefore, we examined sex differences on the Comprehensive Traumatic Brain Injury Evaluation (CTBIE) using a diverse sample of Iraq/Afghanistan-era Veterans enrolled in the VA’s Million Veteran Program. Method 14,378 Veterans (n = 1361 females [9.5%]) completed the CTBIE, a clinician-administered TBI interview. Chi-square analyses and logistic regressions (adjusting for age, race/ethnicity, and education) were used to explore associations between sex and CTBIE diagnostics, injury-related characteristics, neurobehavioral symptoms and other psychiatric comorbidities, and functional outcomes. Results Confirmed TBI diagnoses were more frequent among males than females (65% vs. 58%) and significant sex differences were observed across several CTBIE outcomes (p’s ≤ 0.001; $ \phi $/Cramer’s V = 0.03–0.14). Relative to females, a greater proportion of males experienced bullet and blast-related injuries and were employed. In contrast, a greater proportion of females experienced falls, reported clinically significant neurobehavioral symptoms (particularly cognitive and affective-related symptoms as well as symptom interference with daily life), failed symptom validity measures, and endorsed higher comorbid psychiatric symptoms. Conclusions Results indicate that males and females experience differential clinical and functional outcomes on the CTBIE, particularly with respect to injury-related characteristics, symptom endorsement, and employment. Findings underscore the need for female Veteran participation in TBI research in order to improve our understanding of sex-specific experiences with TBI and its sequelae, as well as to improve clinical care targeted to this vulnerable population.

A-178 Might Tip-of-the-Tongue Responses on the Auditory and Visual Naming Test be a Useful Embedded Performance Validity Measure in the Language Domain?

Objective This study examined whether responses on the Auditory and Visual Naming Test (ANT/VNT) would discriminate between veterans with invalid and valid test performance, thus suggesting a novel embedded performance validity test (PVT) for a language task. Method Veterans who completed the ANT/VNT and failed two or more PVTs were selected for inclusion, resulting in a sample of 9 veterans (8 males; Mage = 55.8, SD = 11.5; Medu = 12.7, SD = 2.1). An age-and education-matched group of 9 cognitively unimpaired veterans who passed PVTs (7 males; Mage = 56.1, SD = 11.5; Medu = 14.0, SD = 2.4) were selected from a database of patients from the same clinical setting. Variables of interest included tip-of-the-tongue (TOT) responses (responses with a latency between 2 and 20 seconds) and Total Correct responses for the ANT/VNT. Results Groups were comparable on demographic characteristics and there were no statistical differences in Total Correct responses on ANT/VNT. The invalid group had more TOT on both the visual (M = 4.2, SD = 3.8) and auditory (M = 14.4,SD = 9.7) tasks, as compared to the valid group (Mvisual = 0.7, SD = 0.7; Mauditory = 4.9,SD = 2.7). ROC curve analysis for detecting invalid performance was significant for both VNT-TOT (AUC = 0.79, p = 0.038) and ANT-TOT (AUC = 0.88, p = 0.006). A cutoff of 1 was optimal for VNT-TOT (sensitivity = 0.67, specificity = 0.89), while 6 was optimal for ANT-TOT (sensitivity = 0.89, specificity = 0.89). Conclusions Despite the small sample size, findings are promising regarding the utility of ANT/VNT TOT responses as embedded PVTs. These should be further explored since the field is in need of validity measures embedded within language/naming tasks. Visual Naming Test may be particularly useful given that it can take less than 5 minutes to administer.

Development and Application of Novel Performance Validity Metrics for Computerized Neurocognitive Batteries

Objective: Data from neurocognitive assessments may not be accurate in the context of factors impacting validity, such as disengagement, unmotivated responding, or intentional underperformance. Performance validity tests (PVTs) were developed to address these phenomena and assess underperformance on neurocognitive tests. However, PVTs can be burdensome, rely on cutoff scores that reduce information, do not examine potential variations in task engagement across a battery, and are typically not well-suited to acquisition of large cognitive datasets. Here we describe the development of novel performance validity measures that could address some of these limitations by leveraging psychometric modeling from data embedded within the Penn Computerized Neurocognitive Battery (PennCNB). Method: We first developed these validity measures using simulations of invalid response patterns with parameters drawn from real data. Next, we examined their application in two large, independent samples: 1) children and adolescents from the Philadelphia Neurodevelopmental Cohort (n=9,498); and 2) adult servicemembers from the Marine Resiliency Study-II (n=1,444). Results: Our performance validity metrics detected patterns of invalid responding in simulated data, even at subtle levels. Furthermore, a combination of these metrics significantly predicted previously established validity rules for these tests in both developmental and adult datasets. Moreover, most clinical diagnostic groups did not show reduced validity estimates. Conclusion: These results provide proof-of-concept evidence for multivariate, data-driven performance validity metrics. These metrics offer a novel method for determining the performance validity for individual neurocognitive tests that is scalable, applicable across different tests, less burdensome, and dimensional. However, more research is needed into their application.

Psychotherapy Style Scale: Development and Validation

Psychotherapy style is conceptualized as the therapeutic method that a therapist employs while working with clients during treatment. It influences both the therapeutic process and results of therapeutic actions. The present study developed and validated the Psychotherapy Style Scale (PSS). By following a systematic psychometric development process, a three-factor structure of the PSS was identified. Exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis provided evidence of multidimensional structure and validity of the PSS. Cronbach’s α suggested that the resulting scale was highly reliable. Criterion validity was also satisfactory, demonstrated by correlations between the scale and criterion validity measures. The PSS has the potential to help better understand therapists’ behavioral characteristics and select the most appropriate therapists for clients who undergo psychotherapy.