Sensitivity and specificity of MMPI-2 neurologic correction factors: receiver operating characteristic analysis

A number of Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2) items have been hypothesized to reflect neurologic symptomatology, rather than psychopathology, among closed-head-injury (CHI) patients. Some investigators have proposed a correction factor interpretive approach, which involves the deletion of such items from the MMPI-2 profile, as a method of reducing the probability of artificial clinical scale elevations due to the symptoms of CHI. The present study employed receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis to evaluate the sensitivity and specificity of three correction factors. All three factors demonstrated strong sensitivity when discriminating CHI patients from normal individuals but demonstrated poor specificity when discriminating CHI patients from psychiatric patients. These findings suggest that caution should be applied in using MMPI-2 neurologic correction factors, particularly with patients who might have comorbid psychiatric conditions.     

Item recognition memory and the receiver operating characteristic

Four experiments were conducted to investigate the effects of study time, study repetition, semantic and orthographic similarity, and category length on item recognition memory receiver operating characteristics (ROCs). Analyses of ROC shape rejected A. P. Yonelinas's (1994) dual-process model. The normal unequal variance signal-detection model provided a better account of the data, except for a small but consistent excess of high-confidence errors. It was found that z-transformed ROC slope was increased by similarity, category length, and study item repetition, rejecting R. Ratcliff, G. McKoon, and M. Tindall's (1994) "constancy-of-slopes" generalization for these variables, but slope was relatively unaffected by massed study time.     

Behavior analysis and decision making

Behavior analysts have developed powerful methodologies to assess central phenomena in areas that have been dominated by cognitive psychologists. Advances in instructional control, stimulus equivalence, choice, rule-governed behavior, matching to sample, and verbal behavior are some of the tools that have been developed in the experimental analysis of behavior. Although the article focuses on the experimental analysis of reasoning, this is but one of the areas in which behavior analysts should have a greater impact on contemporary psychology.     

Systems analysis and dynamic decision making

Previous research in dynamic decision making has failed to produce a unified approach to the area This has result in a collection of experiments whose results are difficult to generalise from the specific task systems used. It is argued that an approach focusing on the structure of the task system and employing well-known methods of systems analysis can overcome this difficulty. In addition, this technique can order research and assist in the psychological interpretation of system parameters.The use of systems analysis in this role is demonstrated in an experiment using first order feedback system. subjects were required to stabilise the system at a level other than its equilibrium. The results show that subjects quickly adapt to different values of parameters in the system boundary. However performance was consistently better in more inertial systems. This suggests that subjects rely on the task system to integrate over-and underadjustments of their decision inputs.     

Word frequency and receiver operating characteristic curves in recognition memory: evidence for a dual-process interpretation

Dual-process models of the word-frequency mirror effect posit that low-frequency words are recollected more often than high-frequency words, producing the hit rate differences in the word-frequency effect, whereas high-frequency words are more familiar, producing the false-alarm-rate differences. In this pair of experiments, the authors demonstrate that the analysis of receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves provides critical information in support of this interpretation. Specifically, when participants were required to discriminate between studied nouns and their plurality reversed complements, the ROC curve was accurately described by a threshold model that is consistent with recollection-based recognition. Further, the plurality discrimination ROC curves showed characteristics consistent with the interpretation that participants recollected low-frequency items more than high-frequency items.     

Beyond IQ: A latent state-trait analysis of general intelligence, dynamic decision making, and implicit learning

The present study investigated cognitive performance measures beyond IQ. In particular, we investigated the psychometric properties of dynamic decision making variables and implicit learning variables and their relation with general intelligence and professional success. N = 173 employees from different companies and occupational groups completed two standard intelligence tests, two dynamic decision making tasks, and two implicit learning tasks at two measurement occasions each. We used structural equation models to test latent state-trait measurement models and the relation between constructs. The results suggest that dynamic decision making and implicit learning are substantially related with general intelligence. Furthermore, general intelligence is the best predictor for income, social status, and educational attainment. Dynamic decision making can predict supervisor ratings even beyond general intelligence.     

Signal-detection analysis of group decision making

How effectively can groups of people make yes-or-no decisions? To answer this question, we used signal-detection theory to model the behavior of groups of human participants in a visual detection task. The detection model specifies how performance depends on the group's size, the competence of the members, the correlation among members' judgments, the constraints on member interaction, and the group's decision rule. The model also allows specification of performance efficiency, which is a measure of how closely a group's performance matches the statistically optimal group. The performance of our groups was consistent with the theoretical predictions, but efficiency decreased as group size increased. This result was attributable to a decrease in the effort that members gave to their individual tasks rather than to an inefficiency in combining the information in the members' judgments.     

Performing under pressure: gaze control, decision making and shooting performance of elite and rookie police officers

Gaze of elite (E) and rookie (R) officers were analyzed as they faced a potentially lethal encounter that required use of a handgun, or inhibition of the shot when a cell phone was drawn. The E shot more accurately than the R (E 74.60%; R 53.80%) and made fewer decisions errors in the cell condition when 18.50% of E and 61.50% of R fired at the assailant. E and R did not differ in duration of the draw/aim/fire phases, but the R's motor onsets were later, during the final second compared to the E's final 2.5 s. Across the final six fixations the E increased the percent of fixations on the assailant's weapon/cell to 71% and to 86% on hits, compared to a high of 34% for the R. Before firing, the R made a rapid saccade to their own weapon on 84% of trials leading to a failure to fixate the assailant on 50% of trials as they fired. Compared to the R, the E had a longer quiet eye duration on the assailant's weapon/cell prior to firing. The results provide new insights into officer weapon focus, firearms training and the role of optimal gaze control when under extreme pressure.     

Numerical and verbal decision analysis: comparison on practical cases

Numerical decision analysis (NDA), derived from statistical decision theory, is very well known. Verbal decision analysis (VDA), oriented towards so‐called unstructured problems, where the qualitative and uncertain factors dominate, is a newer direction in decision theory and practice. Verbal and numerical decision analyses (DAs) have been compared in an experimental setting, with groups of students. This paper presents the results of a comparison in the context of live practical tasks. Both approaches were attempted on two comparable choices, facing both Russian and US government agencies, involving a choice between oil and gas transportation options. The resulting methodological insights are generalized into a systematic comparison of the strong and weak features of each approach. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Expert testimony and jury decision making: An empirical analysis

This experiment examines the influence of expert psychological testimony on juror decision making in eyewitness identification cases. Experienced jurors and undergraduate mock jurors viewed versions of a videotaped trial, rated the credibility of the eyewitness and the strength of the prosecution's and defense's cases, and rendered verdicts. In the absence of expert testimony jurors were insensitive to eyewitness evidence. Expert testimony improved juror sensitivity to eyewitness evidence without making them more skeptical about the accuracy of the eyewitness identification. Few differences emerged between the experienced jurors and undergraduate mock jurors.     

Aging selectively impairs recollection in recognition memory for pictures: evidence from modeling and receiver operating characteristic curves

Young and older adults were tested on recognition memory for pictures. The Yonelinas high threshold (YHT) model, a formal implementation of 2-process theory, fit the response distribution data of both young and older adults significantly better than a normal unequal variance signal-detection model. Consistent with this finding, nonlinear z-transformed receiver operating characteristic curves were obtained for both groups. Estimates of recollection from the YHT model were significantly higher for young than for older adults. This deficit was not a consequence of a general decline in memory; older adults showed comparable overall accuracy and in fact a nonsignificant increase in their familiarity scores. Implications of these results for theories of recognition memory and the mnemonic deficit associated with aging are discussed.     

Symmetry of receiver operating characteristic curves and Kullback–Leibler divergences between the signal and noise populations

It is shown that the symmetry of the receiver operating characteristic curve implies that the Kullback–Leibler divergences between the signal and noise populations are equal when the arguments are interchanged.     

The area above the ordinal dominance graph and the area below the receiver operating characteristic graph

Receiver operating characteristic graphs are shown to be a variant form of ordinal dominance graphs. The area above the latter graph and the area below the former graph are useful measures of both the size or importance of a difference between two populations and/or the accuracy of discrimination performance. The usual estimator for this area is closely related to the Mann-Whitney U statistic. Statistical literature on this area estimator is reviewed. For large sample sizes, the area estimator is approximately normally distributed. Formulas for the variance and the maximum variance of the area estimator are given. Several different methods of constructing confidence intervals for the area measure are presented and the strengths and weaknesses of each of these methods are discussed. Finally, the Appendix presents the derivation of a new mathematical result, the maximum variance of the area estimator over convex ordinal dominance graphs.     

Multi-attribute decision support and complexity: An evaluation and process analysis of aided versus unaided decision making

The present study addresses the effectiveness of a computerized decision aid (DECAID, Pitz 1987) based on the Multi-Attribute Utility Model (MAU). The effectiveness of DECAID was investigated for personnel selection problems varying in complexity (number of alternatives and number of attributes). Results show that the decision aid was most successful for problems of medium complexity. DECAID significantly affected the thoroughness of the decision, preference formation, and the perceived difficulty of the decision problem for medium complex problems. This was not the case for highly complex problems. Next, a process analysis is presented of unaided decision making focusing on the selection and evaluation of information. This process analysis of verbal protocols was based on the same decision problems as the first study. Results indicate that problem complexity had a significant impact on the decision process. Increasing complexity resulted in a less thorough evaluation, and selective information processing. Subjects tended to focus on one or two most promising alternatives. Furthermore, evaluation strategies diverged from those used in DECAID in terms of standard of comparison. The paper concludes with implications for the design of decision aids.     

Criticisms of the criminal justice system: A decision making analysis

When a decision making analysis is applied to key decisions within the criminal justice system, e.g., bail, sentencing, and plea bargaining, a wide range of evidence suggests that the decision makers believe they follow policies other than those that actually guide their decisions; that the policies that are followed are often simple ones, involving only a few decision factors; and that the decision outcomes are often assigned to defendants in a reasonable manner but that, even so, the outcomes are often ineffective. Because many proposals for the reform of the criminal justice system are based on the testimony of decision makers and “experts” whose knowledge of the system is often flawed, it is unlikely that reforms will have a beneficial impact on criminal behavior until much more is known about the day-to-day decisions of judges, prosecutors, and probation officers.     

Targets and tactics: The analysis of moment-to-moment decision making in animal combat

Even though injury and death are more common consequences of fighting among animals than once believed, they are still relatively infrequent. Modern evolutionary models of animal combat have emphasized that given the threat of retaliation, animals only escalate to more injurious fighting if the benefits outweigh the costs, and then only if threat and bluff fail to achieve the goal. Such models stress the role of communication as to whether animals decide to escalate or not. An alternative view is that failure to produce injury or death arises from the neutralization of one animal's attack by another's defense. That is, attack and defense end in a stalemate that may be misinterpreted by outside observers as an absence of injury producing behavior. As attack typically involves the biting or striking of specific body targets, movements and postures occurring during combat need to be analyzed with respect to their role in gaining or averting such contact. For example, in the combat of muroid rodents the attacker targets the lower dorsum and flanks (low threshold) or face (high threshold), whereas a defender may defensively launch counterstrikes against the attacker's face. Two combat tactics (supine defense and lateral attack) typically present in the fighting of muroid rodents are analyzed in detail to illustrate how targets constrain the movements of combatants. Such a functional analysis of combat assumes that the movements and postures performed are related to their role in the attack and defense of targets. Deviations from such a strict functional interpretation reveal some of the other factors that may constrain the combatants' behavior. For example, body morphology and the aggressiveness of the opponent are shown to be important in deciding the type of combat tactic to use and how it is performed. Finally, movements and postures that are neutral or even counterproductive for attack and defense may be revealed as communicatory. This approach provides a means of analyzing behavior during the "heat of combat" that is typically not dealt with in traditional evolutionary models. Aggr. Behav. 23:107–129, 1997.© 1997 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

Judgment and decision making: Behavioral approaches

The area of judgment and decision making has given rise to the study of many interesting phenomena, including reasoning fallacies, which are also of interest to behavior analysts. Indeed, techniques and principles of behavior analysis may be applied to study these fallacies. This article reviews research from a behavioral perspective that suggests that humans are not the information-seekers we sometimes suppose ourselves to be. Nor do we utilize information effectively when it is presented. This is shown from the results of research utilizing matching to sample and other behavioral tools (monetary reward, feedback, instructional control) to study phenomena such as the conjunction fallacy, base-rate neglect, and probability matching. Research from a behavioral perspective can complement research from other perspectives in furthering our understanding of judgment and decision making.     

The application of correspondence analysis to multiple-criteria decision making

The aim of this paper is to show how correspondence analysis can be a useful aid in multiple-criteria decision making, particularly in the case of categorical criteria values. Under different types of input information, the technique is used to perform some preliminary analyses with a bonus of providing a simultaneous graphical representation of the alternatives and criteria. This picture can provide a better understanding of the structure of the two sets of variables to the decision maker before a decision is made.     

When psychologists work with religious clients: applications of the general principles of ethical conduct

Psychologists become more effective and relevant when they appreciate that many clients hold religious values and commitments. Greater awareness of religion and religious values in the lives of clients may aid clinicians' efforts to provide more accurate assessments and effective treatment plans. The authors use the American Psychological Association's (1992) "Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct" as a framework to examine many of the ethical issues relevant when psychologists work with religious clients. This article also provides suggestions for ways in which clinicians may obtain the skills needed to offer competent assessments and interventions with religiously committed clients.     

Juvenile psychopathy and judicial decision making: an empirical analysis of an ethical dilemma

In the burgeoning juvenile psychopathy literature, there is a debate on whether it is appropriate to apply this construct to youths. Some have suggested that labeling children/adolescents as psychopathic might result in negative consequences, such as being recommended for more restrictive placements. However, the scant evidence is equivocal. This study provides additional insights on this issue by assessing judicial perceptions and recommendations to a hypothetical case. Results indicate that psychopathy influenced perceptions of amenability (eta = .12) and dangerousness (eta = .25), and recommendations for placement (eta = .11). More specifically, youth who were both labeled as psychopathic and ascribed psychopathic traits were viewed as less amenable to treatment and more dangerous and were more likely to be recommended for a restrictive placement than youth who were neither labeled nor described as such. The effect of psychopathy on placement recommendations, however, was not significant after controlling for perceptions of dangerous. This suggests that the influence of psychopathy on judicial restrictiveness may operate through the perceived dangerousness of the youth.