Structural equation modeling: reviewing the basics and moving forward

This tutorial begins with an overview of structural equation modeling (SEM) that includes the purpose and goals of the statistical analysis as well as terminology unique to this technique. I will focus on confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), a special type of SEM. After a general introduction, CFA is differentiated from exploratory factor analysis (EFA), and the advantages of CFA techniques are discussed. Following a brief overview, the process of modeling will be discussed and illustrated with an example using data from a HIV risk behavior evaluation of homeless adults (Stein & Nyamathi, 2000). Techniques for analysis of nonnormally distributed data as well as strategies for model modification are shown. The empirical example examines the structure of drug and alcohol use problem scales. Although these scales are not specific personality constructs, the concepts illustrated in this article directly correspond to those found when analyzing personality scales and inventories. Computer program syntax and output for the empirical example from a popular SEM program (EQS 6.1; Bentler, 2001) are included.     

A dot that went for a walk: People prefer lines drawn with human-like kinematics

A dominant theory of embodied aesthetic experience (Freedberg & Gallese, 2007, Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 11, 197) posits that the appreciation of visual art is linked to the artist’s movements when creating the artwork, yet a direct link between the kinematics of drawing actions and the aesthetics of drawing outcomes has not been experimentally demonstrated. Across four experiments, we measured aesthetic responses of students from arts and non-arts backgrounds to drawing movements generated from computational models of human writing. Experiment 1 demonstrated that human-like drawing movements with bell-shaped velocity profiles (Sigma Lognormal [SL] and Minimum Jerk [MJ]) are perceived as more natural and pleasant than movements with a uniform profile, and in both Experiments 1 and 2 movements that were perceived as more natural were also preferred. Experiment 3 showed that this effect persists if lower-level dynamic stimulus features are fully matched across experimental and control conditions. Furthermore, aesthetic preference for human-like movements were associated with greater perceptual fluency in Experiment 3, evidenced by unbiased estimations of the duration of natural movements. In Experiment 4, line drawings with visual features consistent with the dynamics of natural, human-like movements were preferred, but only by art students. Our findings directly link the aesthetics of human action to the visual aesthetics of drawings, but highlight the importance of incorporating artistic expertise into embodied accounts of aesthetic experience.     

Comparing resetting to non‐resetting DRO procedures to reduce stereotypy in a child with autism

We compared a resetting to a non‐resetting differential reinforcement of other behavior (DRO) procedure to reduce stereotypy exhibited by young boy with autism. During the resetting DRO, a reinforcer was delivered contingent upon the absence of stereotypy during the DRO interval. If stereotypy occurred, the DRO interval was immediately reset. The non‐resetting DRO procedure was identical, except that contingent upon stereotypy, the DRO interval continued until it expired; a new DRO interval then began. Results indicate that the DRO procedures were equally effective to reduce stereotypy, but the participant preferred the resetting DRO procedure.     

Accuracy of perceptually based and acoustically based inspiratory loci in reading

Investigations of speech often involve the identification of inspiratory loci in continuous recordings of speech. The present study investigates the accuracy of perceptually determined and acoustically determined inspiratory loci. While wearing a circumferentially vented mask connected to a pneumotach, 16 participants read two passages. The perceptually determined and acoustically determined inspiratory loci were compared with the actual loci of inspiration, which were determined aerodynamically. The results showed that (1) agreement across all three judges was the most accurate of the approaches considered here for detecting inspiratory loci based on listening; (2) the most accurate pause duration threshold for detecting inspiratory loci was 250 msec; and (3) the perceptually based breath-group determination was more accurate than the acoustically based determination of pause duration. Inconsistencies among perceptually determined, acoustically determined, and aerodynamically determined inspiratory loci are not negligible and, therefore, need to be considered when researchers design experiments on breath groups in speech.     

Women’s Reporting of Physical Assaults to Police in a National Sample: A Brief Report

Research examining reporting decisions of women physically assaulted by any type of perpetrator is scarce. This study used data from the National Violence Against Women Survey (NVAWS) to examine how victim characteristics, assault characteristics, emotions during the assault, and postassault disclosure to informal social support sources affect victim and third-party reporting decisions in physical assault incidents. Results showed that victim education, race and ethnicity, victim–offender relationship, crime severity, perceived life threat, and disclosure to informal social support sources were related to victim reporting, whereas victim employment and marital status were associated with third-party reporting.     

Sticking to the Evidence? A Behavioral and Computational Case Study of Micro‐Theory Change in the Domain of Magnetism

Constructing an intuitive theory from data confronts learners with a “chicken‐and‐egg” problem: The laws can only be expressed in terms of the theory's core concepts, but these concepts are only meaningful in terms of the role they play in the theory's laws; how can a learner discover appropriate concepts and laws simultaneously, knowing neither to begin with? We explore how children can solve this chicken‐and‐egg problem in the domain of magnetism, drawing on perspectives from computational modeling and behavioral experiments. We present 4‐ and 5‐year‐olds with two different simplified magnet‐learning tasks. Children appropriately constrain their beliefs to two hypotheses following ambiguous but informative evidence. Following a critical intervention, they learn the correct theory. In the second study, children infer the correct number of categories given no information about the possible causal laws. Children's hypotheses in these tasks are explained as rational inferences within a Bayesian computational framework.