Realizing complex delayed intentions in young and old adults: The role of planning aids

Although it has been suggested that the delayed realization of intended actions should benefit from appropriate intention planning, empirical evidence on this issue is scarce. In three experiments, we examined whether and which planning aids provided in the intention formation phase affect delayed intention realization in young and old adults. One finding was that intention planning directly affected delayed intention realization: instructing participants to include the cue for appropriate intention initiation in their plans benefited delayed performance. Another finding was that older adults' performance was improved when they were guided in structuring their plan in combination with guidance in implementing this plan after a delay. In sum, the results point to the importance of plan-related factors for understanding the delayed realization of intended actions.     

Are you looking at me? Measuring the cone of gaze

The processing of gaze cues plays an important role in social interactions, and mutual gaze in particular is relevant for natural as well as video-mediated communications. Mutual gaze occurs when an observer looks at or in the direction of the eyes of another person. The authors chose the metaphor of a cone of gaze to characterize this range of gaze directions that constitutes "looking at" another person. In 4 experiments using either a real person or a virtual head, the authors investigated the influences of observer distance, head orientation, visibility of the eyes, and the presence of a 2nd head on the perceived direction and width of the gaze cone. The direction of the gaze cone was largely affected by all experimental manipulations, whereas its angular width remained comparatively stable.     

Effects of Discontinue Rules on Psychometric Properties of Test Scores

This paper provides results on a form of adaptive testing that is used frequently in intelligence testing. In these tests, items are presented in order of increasing difficulty. The presentation of items is adaptive in the sense that a session is discontinued once a test taker produces a certain number of incorrect responses in sequence, with subsequent (not observed) responses commonly scored as wrong. The Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scales (SB5; Riverside Publishing Company, 2003) and the Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children (KABC-II; Kaufman and Kaufman, 2004), the Kaufman Adolescent and Adult Intelligence Test (Kaufman and Kaufman 2014) and the Universal Nonverbal Intelligence Test (2nd ed.) (Bracken and McCallum 2015) are some of the many examples using this rule. He and Wolfe (Educ Psychol Meas 72(5):808–826, 2012. https://doi.org/10.1177/0013164412441937) compared different ability estimation methods in a simulation study for this discontinue rule adaptation of test length. However, there has been no study, to our knowledge, of the underlying distributional properties based on analytic arguments drawing on probability theory, of what these authors call stochastic censoring of responses. The study results obtained by He and Wolfe (Educ Psychol Meas 72(5):808–826, 2012. https://doi.org/10.1177/0013164412441937) agree with results presented by DeAyala et al. (J Educ Meas 38:213–234, 2001) as well as Rose et al. (Modeling non-ignorable missing data with item response theory (IRT; ETS RR-10-11), Educational Testing Service, Princeton, 2010) and Rose et al. (Psychometrika 82:795–819, 2017. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11336-016-9544-7) in that ability estimates are biased most when scoring the not observed responses as wrong. This scoring is used operationally, so more research is needed in order to improve practice in this field. The paper extends existing research on adaptivity by discontinue rules in intelligence tests in multiple ways: First, an analytical study of the distributional properties of discontinue rule scored items is presented. Second, a simulation is presented that includes additional scoring rules and uses ability estimators that may be suitable to reduce bias for discontinue rule scored intelligence tests.

     

Kurt Lewin's early intentions (dedicated to his 100th birthday)

This article deals with Lewin's early intentions to promote applied psychology, especially with his essay ‘Die Sozialisierung des Taylorsystems’ (The Socialisation of the Taylor System). The authors point out that certain characteristics of Lewin's social psychological approach can already be seen in this early article. Furthermore, they want to show how important the role of applied psychology has been in the development of Lewin S scientific work.     

I wish it were true: Confessions of a secret deductivist

The criticisms by S. V. Paunonen and D. N. Jackson (1985, Journal of Research in Personality, 19, 331–342) are examined in detail. Despite the best of intentions, the author remains unconvinced.     

Working with Research Integrity—Guidance for Research Performing Organisations: The Bonn PRINTEGER Statement

This document presents the Bonn PRINTEGER Consensus Statement: Working with Research Integrity—Guidance for research performing organisations. The aim of the statement is to complement existing instruments by focusing specifically on institutional responsibilities for strengthening integrity. It takes into account the daily challenges and organisational contexts of most researchers. The statement intends to make research integrity challenges recognisable from the work-floor perspective, providing concrete advice on organisational measures to strengthen integrity. The statement, which was concluded February 7th 2018, provides guidance on the following key issues:

1. § 1.
   Providing information about research integrity
    
2. § 2.
   Providing education, training and mentoring
    
3. § 3.
   Strengthening a research integrity culture
    
4. § 4.
   Facilitating open dialogue
    
5. § 5.
   Wise incentive management
    
6. § 6.
   Implementing quality assurance procedures
    
7. § 7.
   Improving the work environment and work satisfaction
    
8. § 8.
   Increasing transparency of misconduct cases
    
9. § 9.
   Opening up research
    
10. § 10.
    Implementing safe and effective whistle-blowing channels
     
11. § 11.
    Protecting the alleged perpetrators
     
12. § 12.
    Establishing a research integrity committee and appointing an ombudsperson
     
13. § 13.
    Making explicit the applicable standards for research integrity
     

     

Biases in multilevel analyses caused by cluster-specific fixed-effects imputation

When datasets are affected by nonresponse, imputation of the missing values is a viable solution. However, most imputation routines implemented in commonly used statistical software packages do not accommodate multilevel models that are popular in education research and other settings involving clustering of units. A common strategy to take the hierarchical structure of the data into account is to include cluster-specific fixed effects in the imputation model. Still, this ad hoc approach has never been compared analytically to the congenial multilevel imputation in a random slopes setting. In this paper, we evaluate the impact of the cluster-specific fixed-effects imputation model on multilevel inference. We show analytically that the cluster-specific fixed-effects imputation strategy will generally bias inferences obtained from random coefficient models. The bias of random-effects variances and global fixed-effects confidence intervals depends on the cluster size, the relation of within- and between-cluster variance, and the missing data mechanism. We illustrate the negative implications of cluster-specific fixed-effects imputation using simulation studies and an application based on data from the National Educational Panel Study (NEPS) in Germany.     

Simultaneous motor demands affect decision making under objective risk

Previous studies on factors influencing decision making focused on the effects of additional cognitive load, stress, psychological disorders, and the process of aging. The potential effects of simultaneously performing motor demands have been neglected, so far. However, previous motor / cognitive dual-task studies provide evidence for both negative as well as facilitating effects of simultaneously performing cognitive and motor tasks. The study at hand, aimed to investigate the effects of decision making under objective risk while performing additional motor demands. Seventy-two participants ranging from 18 to 30 years performed the Game of Dice Task either while sitting or while standing on one leg. Participants were asked to put similar effort on the decision task and the motor demand. The results revealed a significant main effect for “choice”, as well as a significant interaction of “choice”?×?“group”. Participants standing on one leg more frequently selected the most disadvantageous choice (one single number), whereas the “sitting group” most often selected the advantageous combination of four numbers. The findings are discussed under the aspects of executive functions, working memory, stress, somatic markers and the dual-process theory.