The Nature and Time Course of Pragmatic Plausibility Effects

The experiments reported in this article used a delayed same/different sentence matching task with concurrent measurement of eye movements to investigate the nature of the plausibility effect. The results clearly show that plausibility effects are not due to low level lexical associative processes, but arise as a consequence of the processing of the earliest or most basic form of sentential meaning. In fact, when sentential implausibility and lexical association are varied simultaneously, it is only sentential implausibility that exerts an effect. Effects of implausibility occur rapidly—sometimes parafoveally—and are localised in the regions of the sentence where the implausibility occurs, suggesting an incremental interpretive process progressing on a roughly word-by-word basis. It is suggested that plausibility effects result from the operation of a heuristically-driven process of sentential interpretation. This appears to behave in a ‘modular’ fashion, despite being influenced by real world knowledge and probabilities.Particular thanks are due to Ken Forster for kindling the ideas which led to much of this work and to Merrill Garrett for posing impossible challenges, which, probably to everyone’s surprise, could in fact be met. I am also much indebted to Claire Boissiere, Emma Clayes, Clare Dobbin, Alan Kennedy, Julie-Ann Marshall, Ashley Murray, and Murray Rowan for their collaboration in this research.     

Beta-MPT: Multinomial processing tree models for addressing individual differences

Traditionally, multinomial processing tree (MPT) models are applied to groups of homogeneous participants, where all participants within a group are assumed to have identical MPT model parameter values. This assumption is unreasonable when MPT models are used for clinical assessment, and it often may be suspect for applications to ordinary psychological experiments. One method for dealing with parameter variability is to incorporate random effects assumptions into a model. This is achieved by assuming that participants’ parameters are drawn independently from some specified multivariate hyperdistribution. In this paper we explore the assumption that the hyperdistribution consists of independent beta distributions, one for each MPT model parameter. These beta-MPT models are ‘hierarchical models’, and their statistical inference is different from the usual approaches based on data aggregated over participants. The paper provides both classical (frequentist) and hierarchical Bayesian approaches to statistical inference for beta-MPT models. In simple cases the likelihood function can be obtained analytically; however, for more complex cases, Markov Chain Monte Carlo algorithms are constructed to assist both approaches to inference. Examples based on clinical assessment studies are provided to demonstrate the advantages of hierarchical MPT models over aggregate analysis in the presence of individual differences.     

A Signal Detection Model for Multiple-Choice Exams

A model for multiple-choice exams is developed from a signal-detection perspective. A correct alternative in a multiple-choice exam can be viewed as being a signal embedded in noise (incorrect alternatives). Examinees are assumed to have perceptions of the plausibility of each alternative, and the decision process is to choose the most plausible alternative. It is also assumed that each examinee either knows or does not know each item. These assumptions together lead to a signal detection choice model for multiple-choice exams. The model can be viewed, statistically, as a mixture extension, with random mixing, of the traditional choice model, or similarly, as a grade-of-membership extension. A version of the model with extreme value distributions is developed, in which case the model simplifies to a mixture multinomial logit model with random mixing. The approach is shown to offer measures of item discrimination and difficulty, along with information about the relative plausibility of each of the alternatives. The model, parameters, and measures derived from the parameters are compared to those obtained with several commonly used item response theory models. An application of the model to an educational data set is presented.     

A Minister's Information-Handling

ABSTRACT

One of the roles which ministers perform is that of “caregiver.” Caregiving functions include such activities as visiting parishioners, hearing confessions, and counselling people. These functions are carried out within a legal context. In this paper, two aspects of the parish minister's information handling in respect to his/her role as caregiver are examined. Specific attention is given to the pastor's vulnerability, while carrying out pastoral duties, to civil lawsuits for malpractice and to her/his expectation of privilege against testifying in criminal proceedings. It is observed that in North America, considerable confusion exists over who actually owns and who can control the information a minister acquires and disseminates.     

The response dynamics of preferential choice

The ubiquity of psychological process models requires an increased degree of sophistication in the methods and metrics that we use to evaluate them. We contribute to this venture by capitalizing on recent work in cognitive science analyzing response dynamics, which shows that the bearing information processing dynamics have on intended action is also revealed in the motor system. This decidedly “embodied” view suggests that researchers are missing out on potential dependent variables with which to evaluate their models—those associated with the motor response that produces a choice. The current work develops a method for collecting and analyzing such data in the domain of decision making. We first validate this method using widely normed stimuli from the International Affective Picture System (Experiment 1), and demonstrate that curvature in response trajectories provides a metric of the competition between choice options. We next extend the method to risky decision making (Experiment 2) and develop predictions for three popular classes of process model. The data provided by response dynamics demonstrate that choices contrary to the maxim of risk seeking in losses and risk aversion in gains may be the product of at least one “online” preference reversal, and can thus begin to discriminate amongst the candidate models. Finally, we incorporate attentional data collected via eye-tracking (Experiment 3) to develop a formal computational model of joint information sampling and preference accumulation. In sum, we validate response dynamics for use in preferential choice tasks and demonstrate the unique conclusions afforded by response dynamics over and above traditional methods.     

Hierarchical models for relational event sequences

Interaction within small groups can often be represented as a sequence of events, each event involving a sender and a recipient. Recent methods for modeling network data in continuous time model the rate at which individuals interact conditioned on the previous history of events as well as actor covariates. We present a hierarchical extension for modeling multiple such sequences, facilitating inferences about event-level dynamics and their variation across sequences. The hierarchical approach allows one to share information across sequences in a principled manner—we illustrate the efficacy of such sharing through a set of prediction experiments. After discussing methods for adequacy checking and model selection for this class of models, the method is illustrated with an analysis of high school classroom dynamics from 297 sessions.     

Mental Health and Adverse Childhood Experiences

The theoretical basis of occupational therapy interventions was investigated in two mental health facilities in the Midwestern United States. Using retrospective cohort and grounded theory designs, 121 medical records were reviewed and five occupational therapy practitioners were interviewed. Theoretical reasoning was not explicitly documented, but according to analysis, the behavioral/cognitive-behavioral model, client-centered models, and the model of human occupation were the most frequently used theories to guide interventions. Lack of documentation of theory use has significant implications for the value accorded to occupational therapy skills in health care. A larger study is recommended to increase external generalizability of the findings.     

Ideological analytics: A study of evolving world values

This study analyses ideologies in a comparative perspective. It does so by treating ideologies as normative mental systems interacting with environmental physical realities and following their evolution in the contemporary world. As a result, it exemplifies a systematic method of undertaking a diagnosis, anagnosis, and prognosis of the global ideological situation.

The study introduces a relevance tree reflecting the conceptual framework of ideological analytics. On this basis, it presents three levels of generality which contain the outline of a substantive analysis. The examples given therein illustrate the model and could serve as prototypes for more detailed studies.

Finally, the study draws the main conclusions from the above generalizations by identifying the dialectical process of ideological dynamics. This process together with the non‐linear development of social systems produce the macrohistorical cycles of world evolution. Thus, the proposed hypothesis of dialectichaos can contribute to a better understanding oïideosocial change.