Instructional and probability manipulations of bias in multiletter matching

Ratcliff (1985) performed fits of his diffusion model to the results of multiletter-matching experiments conducted by Ratcliff and Hacker (1981) and Proctor, Rao, and Hurst (1984), in which bias to respond "same" or "different" was manipulated by instructions and probabilities, respectively. The fits showed that both bias manipulations affected settings of a goodness-of-match criterion, whereas instructions also affected sensitivity. Evaluations of the experimental procedures and of Ratcliff's model-fitting procedures were performed in the present study. Three experiments showed that instructions and probabilities had similar effects, regardless of whether the different pairs were blocked or randomized according to the number of mismatching positions. The most salient feature of the results--that "same" reaction times were traded off more than were "different" reaction times, with no corresponding asymmetry in the error rates--was evident in all situations. The evaluation of Ratcliff's model-fitting procedures indicated that the apparent influence of instructions on sensitivity likely is an artifact of unequal variance for the sets of same and different pairs. Moreover, the effects of bias can be explained in terms of settings of response criteria, rather than of the goodness-of-match criterion, as in Ratcliff's fits.     

The optimum decision rules in thesame-different paradigm

In this paper we derive the optimum (likelihood-ratio) decision statistic for asame-different paradigm. The likelihood ratio is dependent on the degree of correlation between the two observations on each trial. For the two extreme cases in which the observations are either independent or highly correlated, the optimum decision rule is identical to each of two previously suggested decision rules. For these two cases, the receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curves are calculated. Finally, an experimental procedure is suggested for assessing the decision rule actually used by the observer in asame-different task.     

Aparametric investigation of multiletter matches

Proctor (1981) presented a theoretical framework that distinguishes factors contributing to disparities in time to classify physical-same, name-same, and different letter pairs as a function of three variables: method of presentation (simultaneous vs. successive), case relationship (samecase vs. opposite-case pairs), and blocking (blocked vs. mixed presentation of same-case and opposite-case pairs). He also argued that these variables were critical in multIletter matches, and performed a between-study comparison of existing data to support his contention. Because comparison across studies is always a tenuous process and because the absence of several relevant conditions precluded a complete analysis of predictions, a within-experiment manipulation of the three relevant variables was desirable. The present study reports such an experiment. In general, the factorial manipulation of variables supported predictions of Proctor’s framework and indicated that many phenomena of multiletter matching, including the widely studied fast-“same” phenomenon, are attributable primarily to differences in the rate at which component letter pairs are matched.     

Heuristic and linear models of judgment: matching rules and environments

Much research has highlighted incoherent implications of judgmental heuristics, yet other findings have demonstrated high correspondence between predictions and outcomes. At the same time, judgment has been well modeled in the form of as if linear models. Accepting the probabilistic nature of the environment, the authors use statistical tools to model how the performance of heuristic rules varies as a function of environmental characteristics. They further characterize the human use of linear models by exploring effects of different levels of cognitive ability. They illustrate with both theoretical analyses and simulations. Results are linked to the empirical literature by a meta-analysis of lens model studies. Using the same tasks, the authors estimate the performance of both heuristics and humans where the latter are assumed to use linear models. Their results emphasize that judgmental accuracy depends on matching characteristics of rules and environments and highlight the trade-off between using linear models and heuristics. Whereas the former can be cognitively demanding, the latter are simple to implement. However, heuristics require knowledge to indicate when they should be used.     

Transfer of relational rules in matching and oddity learning by pigeons and corvids

Three experiments compared the performance of pigeons and corvids when they were given the opportunity to transfer the relational rule underlying matching or oddity discriminations to new sets of stimuli. In the first, pigeons and jackdaws were initially trained either on a matching or on a non-relational conditional discrimination and then transferred to a new matching discrimination. In the second, pigeons and jays were trained on a series of three matching (or oddity) discriminations with three different pairs of colours and finally tested, either with the same or the reversed rule, on matching or oddity to line orientations. In the third, pigeons and rooks were trained to perform one response when two coloured panels were the same and a different response when the two colours were different and then transferred, either with the same or the reversed rule, to a new set of colour stimuli. All three experiments produced the same result: no evidence of transfer of the relational rule by pigeons, but substantial and significant transfer by corvids.     

The optimum decision rules for the oddity task

This paper presents the optimum decision rule for an m-interval oddity task in whichm-1 intervals contain the same signal and one is different or odd. The optimum decision rule depends on the degree of correlation among observations. The present approach unifies the different strategies that occur with “roved” or “fixed” experiments (Macmillan & Creelman, 1991, p. 147). It is shown that the commonly used decision rule for anm-interval oddity task corresponds to the special case of highly correlated observations. However, as is also true for thesame-different paradigm, there exists a different optimum decision rule when the observations are independent. The relation between the probability of a correct response andd’ is derived for the three-interval oddity task. Tables are presented of this relation for the three-, four-, and five-interval oddity task. Finally, an experimental method is proposed that allows one to determine the decision rule used by the observer in an oddity experiment.     

Analysis of proposed three-class classification decision rules in terms of the ideal observer decision rule

We analyze recently proposed decision rules for three-class classification from the point of view of ideal observer decision theory. We consider three-class decision rules proposed by Scurfield, by Chan et al., and by Mossman. Scurfield's decision rule is shown to be a special case of the three-class ideal observer decision rule in three different situations. Chan et al. start with an ideal observer model and specify its decision-consequence utility structure in a way that causes two of the decision lines used by the ideal observer to overlap and the third line to become undefined. Finally, we show that, for a particular and obvious choice of ideal-observer-related decision variables, the Mossman decision rule cannot be a special case of the ideal observer decision rule. Despite the considerable difficulties presented by the three-class classification task, the three-class ideal observer provides a useful framework for analyzing a variety of three-class decision strategies.     

Sampling and decision rules used by honey bees in a foraging arena

Animals must continuously choose among various available options to exploit the most profitable resource. They also need to keep themselves updated about the values of all available options, since their relative values can change quickly due to depletion or exploitation by competitors. While the sampling and decision rules by which foragers profitably exploit a flower patch have attracted a great deal of attention in theory and experiments with bumble bees, similar rules for honey bee foragers, which face similar foraging challenges, are not as well studied. By presenting foragers of the honey bee Apis cerana with choice tests in a foraging arena and recording their behavior, we investigate possible sampling and decision rules that the foragers use to choose one option over another and to track other options. We show that a large part of the sampling and decision-making process of a foraging honey bee can be explained by decomposing the choice behavior into dichotomous decision points and incorporating the cost of sampling. The results suggest that a honey bee forager, by using a few simple rules as part of a Bayesian inference process, is able to effectively deal with the complex task of successfully exploiting foraging patches that consist of dynamic and multiple options.     

The influence of task requirements on priming in object decision and matching

We argue that task requirements can be the determinant in generating different results in studies on visual object recognition. We investigated priming for novel visual objects in three implicit memory tasks. A study-test design was employed in which participants first viewed line drawings of unfamiliar objects and later made different decisions about structural aspects of the objects. Priming for both symmetric and asymmetric possible objects was observed in a task requiring a judgment of structural possibility. However, when the task was changed to one requiring a judgment of structural symmetry, only symmetric possible objects showed priming. Finally, in a matching task in which participants made a same-different judgment, only symmetric possible objects exhibited priming. These results suggest that an understanding of object representation will be most fruitful if it is based on careful analyses of both the task demands and their interaction(s) with encoding and retrieval processes.     

Prototype matching: a strategy for social decision making

College students responded to a series of questionnaires while they were in the process of selecting housing from a choice of seven available options for the coming fall. Questionnaires concerned their self-concepts, their housing prototypes, their preferences in housing, and their goals in housing selection. Overall analyses of the self-to-prototype matching strategy suggest that most students indeed prefer the type of housing for which their prototype of the "representative" resident most closely matches their self-perceptions. More important, we obtained individual differences in attention to self-fit in situations. Of individuals who reported that they had interpersonal goals in the housing selection task, those who reported that many personality characteristics (both positive and negative) were untrue of self were more systematic in their use of the self-to-prototype matching rule, this was also true of low self-monitors. Neither pattern of individual differences obtained for students with practical goals in the housing decision.     

Development of decision making: sequential versus integrative rules

Decisions can be made by applying a variety of decision-making rules-sequential rules in which decisions are based on a sequential evaluation of choice dimensions and the integrative normative rule in which decisions are based on an integration of choice dimensions. In this study, we investigated the developmental trajectory of such decision-making rules. In the Gambling Machine Task, participants choose between options that differ in three dimensions: frequency of loss, amount of loss, and certain gain. The task was administered to 231 children and adolescents (age range=8-17 years). Latent group analysis of their performance allowed precise classification of the underlying decision rules. The majority of participants used sequential decision rules, and the number of evaluated dimensions in these rules increased with age. Integrative rule use decreased with age. We discuss these results in light of traditional developmental theories and fuzzy trace theory.     

Dynamical evolutionary psychology: individual decision rules and emergent social norms

A new theory integrating evolutionary and dynamical approaches is proposed. Following evolutionary models, psychological mechanisms are conceived as conditional decision rules designed to address fundamental problems confronted by human ancestors, with qualitatively different decision rules serving different problem domains and individual differences in decision rules as a function of adaptive and random variation. Following dynamical models, decision mechanisms within individuals are assumed to unfold in dynamic interplay with decision mechanisms of others in social networks. Decision mechanisms in different domains have different dynamic outcomes and lead to different sociospatial geometries. Three series of simulations examining trade-offs in cooperation and mating decisions illustratehow individual decision mechanisms and group dynamics mutually constrain one another, and offer insights about gene-culture interactions.     

The contraction rule and decision problems for logics without structural rules

This paper shows a role of the contraction rule in decision problems for the logics weaker than the intuitionistic logic that are obtained by deleting some or all of structural rules. It is well-known that for such a predicate logic L, if L does not have the contraction rule then it is decidable. In this paper, it will be shown first that the predicate logic FL_ec with the contraction and exchange rules, but without the weakening rule, is undecidable while the propositional fragment of FL_ec is decidable. On the other hand, it will be remarked that logics without the contraction rule are still decidable, if our language contains function symbols.     

On the relation between decision rules and perceptual representation in multidimensional perceptual categorization

This article examines the relation between changing categorization decision rules and the nature of the underlying perceptual representation. Observers completed a matching task that required them to adjust the length and orientation of a single line stimulus until they perceived it to "match" a second line stimulus (Alfonso-Reese, 1996, 1997). The same observers then completed four categorization tasks with the same stimuli. Data from the matching task were used to estimate a perceptual representation for each stimulus and observer. Three hypotheses regarding potential interactions between categorization decision rules and perceptual representation were examined. One assumed that there was no interaction between decision rules and perceptual representation. The second assumed that linear categorization rules affect the perceptual representation differently from nonlinear categorization rules. The third assumed that dimensional integration rules affected the perceptual representation differently from decision rules that require the observer to set a criterion along one stimulus dimension while ignoring the other; this is referred to as decisional selective attention. The results suggested that (1) the matching task perceptual representation provided a good account of the categorization data, (2) decisional selective attention affected the perceptual representation differently from decisional integration, and (3) decisional selective attention generally decreased the perceptual variability along the attended dimension.     

Same-different judgments of multiletter strings: insensitivity to positional bias and spacing

Several recent studies of multiletter matching have included pairs of strings that have the same letters in different positions (rearranged pairs). The task can be defined such that these rearranged pairs are correctly classified as different (i.e., subjects respond "same" only if the strings have the same letters in the same positions--the order task) or as same (i.e., subjects respond "same" if the strings have the same letters regardless of their positions--the item task). The order task produces left-to-right serial-position effects, whereas the item task produces U-shaped serial-position effects. Because these differences suggest that subjects may be able to exert strategic control over the comparison process, two sets of experiments were designed to test whether or not subjects can change the relative weightings devoted to the respective serial positions. In Experiments 1 and 2, the probability that a mismatch occurred in the different positions was manipulated. In Experiments 3 and 4, the physical spacing between letters, as well as whether or not the spaces were filled with neutral noise characters, was varied. None of the manipulations had much influence on the serial-position effects. Thus, the distinct serial-position effects for the order and item tasks apparently are mandatory and not due to any voluntary comparison strategy.     

On decision rules and information processing strategies for choices among multiattribute alternatives

Abstract.— It is suggested that a decision in a complex situation can be described as a sequential process in which different decision rules and information processing strategies can be used at different points in time. Examples of possible decision rules are presented in an approximate order of complexity. Two ways for processing the information in a decision situation, viz., breadth-first or depth-first strategies, are discussed and suggestions are made about their relationship to particular decision rules. Finally, it is proposed that the order of application of particular rules in a decision process is guided by a tendency to minimize cognitive effort.     

复杂决策规则下MIRT的分类准确性和分类一致性

介绍多维项目反应理论模型下分类准确性和分类一致性指标, 采用蒙特卡罗方法实现复杂决策规则下指标计算, 并从数学上证明分类准确性指标两类估计量在均匀先验和相同决策规则条件下依概率收敛于同一真值。研究结果表明：分类准确性指标可以比较准确地评价分类结果的准确性; 分类一致性指标可以较好地评价分类结果的重测一致性; 在一定条件下, 基于能力量尺的指标优于基于原始总分的指标; 纵使测验维度增加, 估计精度仍比较好; 随着测验长度和维度间相关增加, 分类准确性和分类一致性更高。指标可以用来评价标准参照测验或计算机分类测验的多种决策规则下分类信度和效度。