Questions tagged [experimental-psychology]

For questions about the application of specific experimental methods to study psychology.

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25 votes
11 answers
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How can I create computer based psychology experiments using OS X?

I've used E-prime to create computer based psychology experiments (you know, the kind where you for example show a number of pictures to the participant and record their responses to them, for example ...
Speldosa's user avatar
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13 votes
4 answers
4k views

How valid are reaction times collected from online studies?

Online studies promise the possibility of greatly increased numbers of and variability in populations to study, but there are many potential concerns and need for validation, and diving in head first ...
Christian Hummeluhr's user avatar
22 votes
2 answers
2k views

What tasks does Bayesian decision-making model poorly?

Bayesianism has been a relatively successful paradigm for modeling decision-making. However, not every psychologist is a bayesian, and there are tasks such as the Tversky & Shafir (1992) ...
Artem Kaznatcheev's user avatar
20 votes
5 answers
3k views

Is there an R implementation of the linear ballistic accumulator model or Ratcliff's diffusion model for measuring response time and accuracy?

I am looking for an implementation of the linear ballistic accumulator model or Ratcliff's diffusion model (e.g. in R, MATLAB, or Python).
jokel's user avatar
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19 votes
1 answer
514 views

Human behaviour in one-shot perfect information games

Background A one-shot game is one where two participants have some set of actions $\{1, ... , n\}$, they make their decision on which option to take (without knowing the decision of their partner, or ...
Artem Kaznatcheev's user avatar
18 votes
6 answers
12k views

How to analyze reaction times and accuracy together?

Is there a good way to analyze reaction times and accuracy together, other than MANOVA? I have data from an experiment in which participants had to respond to stimuli in two different conditions in a ...
Pavel's user avatar
  • 790
7 votes
1 answer
855 views

In the digit span test, why do some strategies work and others don't?

I got a free copy of PEBL, psych experiment software, which includes a couple of standard working memory tests. When I perform the digit span working memory test, I can repeat the numbers as they ...
user avatar
4 votes
3 answers
1k views

Split Brain Experiments on Animals

I was wondering what would happen if you took a split brain person and stimulated the pleasure center of one hemisphere and the pain center of the other hemisphere in conjunction with an external ...
ChickenGod's user avatar
23 votes
5 answers
2k views

Can response time be incorporated into signal detection theory?

In signal detection theory, one typically uses "signal" and "no signal" responses to analyze the data (that is, the analysis is based on a discrete choice for each trial, generating the four possible ...
Speldosa's user avatar
  • 1,414
16 votes
5 answers
4k views

Is psychology a science?

I've read some books from behavioral economy to emotional intelligence, and it kind of makes sense, but when it comes to psychology it feels to me a bit like astrology, where there are some things ...
rraallvv's user avatar
  • 549
13 votes
1 answer
4k views

Do people "subvocalize" during thinking or "internal monologue"?

I've recently became aware of the concept of subvocalization, where people make tiny motions with their vocal cords when reading. I'm looking for a clarification on the subject: Does subvocalization ...
Alex Stone's user avatar
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11 votes
1 answer
2k views

How to measure group differences incorporating reaction time / accuracy trade-off?

In a psychological experiment I am measuring subjects' reaction time as well as their error rate. Now I would like to compare two groups (males & females). There might be a bias in the sense that ...
jokel's user avatar
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8 votes
1 answer
5k views

Quantifying the Dunning-Kruger Effect

The Dunning-Kruger effect states that people unexperienced in a certain field or subject generally perceive themselves as having greater aptitude than in reality they do. Dunning and Kruger were able ...
JMJ's user avatar
  • 213
24 votes
4 answers
5k views

How long does it take to read a sentence with X number of characters?

How does the time needed to read a sentence scale with the number of characters? Or does this time scaling depend on something more than just character count? For example, let $X$ be the number of ...
JoJo's user avatar
  • 675
23 votes
1 answer
928 views

Medium-term effects of polyphasic sleep on performance

Typical sleep patterns of one big block of 6 to 9 hours with no naps is usually referred to as monophasic sleep. A second natural sleep pattern is biphasic sleep which breaks up your sleep into two ...
Artem Kaznatcheev's user avatar
18 votes
2 answers
64k views

What was the experiment where you pour liquid from a tall container to a short one and ask a child which has more?

From Developmental psychology 101 I remember an experiment where the person conducting the experiment would pour liquid from a tall, narrow container into a short, narrow container and ask a child if ...
Josh's user avatar
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18 votes
3 answers
2k views

Longitudinal mobile mood tracking app with random reminders

The goal is to take simple measurements of mood using Likert scale over an extended period of time (e.g. two months). I know there is a large number of mobile apps for tracking mood on every ...
Geek On Acid's user avatar
  • 2,377
16 votes
8 answers
1k views

Software for online psychological experiments that don't require users to download anything

We are currently using Inquisit to conduct Internet experiments. Ideally, we would like to implement something that is strictly browser-based, without any extra plug-ins or downloads. We also ...
Allison Yan's user avatar
11 votes
2 answers
5k views

What is the standard way to analyze EEG data in a mismatch negativity paradigm?

I'm running an EEG experiment using a modified auditory mismatch negativity (MMN) design, and I'm wondering if anyone can tell me the best method for data analysis (and recommend any stats programs/...
Becky's user avatar
  • 111
9 votes
1 answer
1k views

Is there a database of emotional stimuli available?

For my research I need to use emotional stimuli to use for habituation to certain emotion. Are there any databases available (preferably free or not expensive) of non-linguistic stimuli I could use? (...
Oriesok Vlassky's user avatar
8 votes
1 answer
232 views

Are there any open task sets available to assess workload using secondary task measures?

Performance on secondary tasks next to a primary task is sometimes used to assess mental workload (Ogden, Levine and Eisner, 1979). For example, the Stroop test as a secondary task has been evaluated ...
Steven Jeuris's user avatar
  • 3,523
7 votes
2 answers
400 views

Is there evidence to support the Dunning-Kruger effect?

The well known Dunning-Kruger effect is oft cited as a general explanation for why people with limited expertise overestimate their abilities. Other than the initial research that described this ...
Dr Stu's user avatar
  • 171
6 votes
3 answers
216 views

What are the mechanics behind the mind of a conspiracy theorist?

Conspiracy Theorists, in my opinion, are people I don't like except for some exceptions. However, this question will not be answered with my irrelevant opinions on said people.. Now, here is the ...
CoonKitteh's user avatar
5 votes
4 answers
438 views

What is the primary mechanism behind nationalism, sports-team-ism, product-ism etc.?

I'm interested in doing research on the subject of nationalism, but I believe that what I'm looking for is more generic than that. I observe that nationalism looks similar to the way that people feel ...
Logical Fallacy's user avatar
5 votes
1 answer
98 views

What is the consequences to be a person who works in theory of science?

this question rises into my head this day. First I read the comment by @mikeazo he says Do you learn best by reading or doing? That will make a difference. Also, today I had a class in ...
YOUSEFY's user avatar
  • 153
5 votes
3 answers
2k views

How to use a QUEST staircase in 2-AFC?

Firstly, I need to declare that I am not psychologyst, however I am currently working on visual recognition research. To be precise, I working on face recognition deficits in Autism Spectrum Disorder. ...
Enasi's user avatar
  • 173
5 votes
1 answer
93 views

Is there any research showing success of teaching with smell?

Cognitive science holds that smell is the sense that has the strongest ability to trigger memories. It is discussed in awe. We see anecdotes such as the sudden striking memory of sitting in your ...
user3399067's user avatar
5 votes
1 answer
967 views

John Calhoun's Mouse Utopia and Genetic Diversity

I learned about John Calhoun's Mouse Utopia experiment from this Youtube video. The corresponding 1962 paper isn't readily available. What I want to know is, did Calhoun account for genetic diversity ...
MackTuesday's user avatar
4 votes
2 answers
1k views

Is the Raspberry Pi capable of operating as a stimulus presentation system for experiments?

I'm outfitting a small behavioural lab with a fiscal-austerity-induced budget. I'm considering trying out a Raspberry pi for individual participant systems. My tentative plan is to run linux and code ...
appositive's user avatar
4 votes
1 answer
140 views

What are the key features of dreams that trigger dream recall in the waking state?

There are various ways of writing down dreams upon awakening in one's dream journal. I've seen long, detailed descriptions that read like novels and take a page or two. Then there are terse notes of ...
Alex Stone's user avatar
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4 votes
2 answers
161 views

Introduction or Tutorial on Continuous EEG Collection Procedures and Initial Processing?

Are there any tutorials or introductions (specifically not slides from talks) on the very basic details of EEG data collection and processing? Things like: Discussions of reference systems (montages) ...
Doctorambient's user avatar
4 votes
1 answer
67 views

Manipulating the difficulty of guessing a correlation

I am trying to generate correlations between random variables (two dimensional) with a defined linear relationship (in the $r$ sense), but with different visual patterns when plotted. I am trying to ...
amaatouq's user avatar
  • 193
3 votes
2 answers
77 views

Group differences reflecting different use of a rating scale vs actual difference in perception

I was reading a paper that reports average ratings of chords by two different groups of subjects (trained musicians, and non-musicians). The paper makes the argument that "These group differences ...
z8080's user avatar
  • 919
2 votes
3 answers
3k views

How to change someone's beliefs? [closed]

I tried to change my brother's beliefs. He gets motivated by some bad ideas. Following my attempt to change his beliefs, his beliefs have become even stronger.
Siva's user avatar
  • 39
2 votes
0 answers
441 views

Where to recruit paid participants for online Inquisit experiments?

My team and I are trying to use Inquisit for a reaction-time based experiment looking at attentional bias. However, with the no download policy on Mturk and CrowdFlower, we don't know a good site to ...
Michael's user avatar
  • 29
1 vote
1 answer
49 views

How can two-way dependencies in factorial designs be interpreted?

Scenario: Given there are results from two factorial experiments that show a two-way dependency between two variables A and B. Details: In the first experiment A is the independent variable with two ...
thando's user avatar
  • 173