Correction and Validation of Time-Critical Behavioral Measurements over the Internet in the Stage Twin Cohort with More Than 7000 Participants

Guy Madison

doi:10.3390/psych2030012

Abstract

Behavioral data are increasingly collected over the Internet. This is particularly useful when participants’ own computers can be used as they are, without any modification that relies on their technical skills. However, the temporal accuracy in these settings is generally poor, unknown, and varies substantially across different hard- and software components. This makes it dubious to administer time-critical behavioral tests such as implicit association, reaction time, or various forms of temporal judgment/perception and production. Here, we describe the online collection and subsequent data quality control and adjustment of reaction time and time interval production data from 7127 twins sourced from the Swedish Twin Registry. The purposes are to (1) validate the data that are already and will continue to be reported in forthcoming publications (due to their utility, such as the large sample size and the twin design) and to (2) provide examples of how one might engage in post-hoc analyses of such data, and (3) explore how one might control for systematic influences from specific components in the functional chain. These possible influences include the type and version of the operating system, browser, and multimedia plug-in type

Highlights

The Internet provides the opportunity to collect information from human participants across infinite distances, wherever there is an on-line computer
isochronous sensorimotor synchronization (ISMS) data were described by the mean (M) and standard deviation (SD) and the reaction time data by the median (Md) and the inter-quartile range (IQR)
The Isochronous Serial Interval Production (ISIP)/ISMS means were not considered, because they typically reflect the stimulus inter-onset intervals (IOI) accurately, and do not provide information relevant for timing problems incurred by the computer system

Summary

Introduction

The Internet provides the opportunity to collect information from human participants across infinite distances, wherever there is an on-line computer. A large-scale transfer of behavioral data collection to the Internet has taken place over the last decades, and it has become established practice to collect questionnaire and survey data through web interfaces This is accompanied by an increasing availability of online platforms and software tools that reduce the demands on researchers to design web-interfaces, and to manage the technical intricacies of client-host communication, database management, and multi-platform variability [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15]. Many types of measurements remain dependent on traveling, for obvious reasons, such as brain imaging and physical performance tests Between their high level of physical interaction and temporal precision, and the corresponding low levels in a typical questionnaire, there is a range of measurements that could in principle be made with the input and output devices and the versatility of a personal computer connected over the Internet. Cognitive, and perceptual tests, Psych 2020, 2, 128–152; doi:10.3390/psych2030012 www.mdpi.com/journal/psych

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