Forced-choice Test Research Articles

Washback and language change: An investigation of teachers’ perception of the Korean vowel length contrast

The goal of the current study is to investigate whether the vowel length contrast in Korean is retained in teachers’ perception due to a washback effect. Previous studies have demonstrated that the vowel length contrast in Korean has been completely lost in the production of contemporary Seoul Korean (Kang et al., 2015). However, considering that this vowel contrast is still being prescriptively taught in the elementary school curriculum, we hypothesized that teaching linguistically extinct contrasts might influence speech perception. In order to investigate whether Korean teachers have regained the vowel length contrast, we conducted two perception experiments. Twenty-three Korean elementary school teachers and 30 university students (control group) from the Seoul area completed a discrimination task as well as a forced-choice identification test in which vowel length contrasts were manipulated at a ratio of 1:3. The results showed that teachers’ perceptual identification accuracy was significantly higher than that of the control group. Interestingly, the control group’s identification accuracy also exceeded chance level, indicating that Korean listeners still retained some perceptual sensitivity. These results suggest that the Korean vowel length contrast may not be completely lost in perception, and also that a washback effect from language teaching may inhibit language change.

Eye movements in forced-choice recognition: Absolute judgments can preclude relative judgments

Forced choice recognition is usually assumed to involve a relative judgment process in which each test alternative is matched to memory and the one with the highest memory strength is selected. We monitored eye movements during a forced-choice recognition test to determine if absolute judgments also play a role; that is, do participants ever select an item because its memory strength exceeds an absolute criterion without comparing it to the other item? The results strongly supported a role for absolute judgments. Participants sometimes selected a response without looking at one of the test alternatives, and they were most likely to do this when they looked at the target first and correctly selected it as the studied item. Participants were also more accurate when they looked at the target first than when they looked at the lure first, which would be expected if they sometimes failed to consider the actual target word because they made an incorrect absolute judgment that the lure was studied. Finally, response times were faster when the word selected as the studied item was considered first than when it was considered second; that is, correct responses were faster when the target was viewed first and errors were faster when the lure was viewed first. This would be expected if participants sometimes make absolute judgments that the first item was studied, thus eliminating the additional time needed to consider the second item.

Anticipatory scene representation in preschool children's recall and recognition memory

Behavioral and neuroscience research on boundary extension (false memory beyond the edges of a view of a scene) has provided new insights into the constructive nature of scene representation, and motivates questions about development. Early research with children (as young as 6-7years) was consistent with boundary extension, but relied on an analysis of spatial errors in drawings which are open to alternative explanations (e.g. drawing ability). Experiment 1 replicated and extended prior drawing results with 4-5-year-olds and adults. In Experiment 2, a new, forced-choice immediate recognition memory test was implemented with the same children. On each trial, a card (photograph of a simple scene) was immediately replaced by a test card (identical view and either a closer or more wide-angle view) and participants indicated which one matched the original view. Error patterns supported boundary extension; identical photographs were more frequently rejected when the closer view was the original view, than vice versa. This asymmetry was not attributable to a selection bias (guessing tasks; Experiments 3-5). In Experiment 4, working memory load was increased by presenting more expansive views of more complex scenes. Again, children exhibited boundary extension, but now adults did not, unless stimulus duration was reduced to 5s (limiting time to implement strategies; Experiment 5). We propose that like adults, children interpret photographs as views of places in the world; they extrapolate the anticipated continuation of the scene beyond the view and misattribute it to having been seen. Developmental differences in source attribution decision processes provide an explanation for the age-related differences observed.

Relative sweetness and sweetness quality of phyllodulcin [(3R)-8-Hydroxy-3-(3-hydroxy-4-methoxyphenyl)-3,4-dihydro-1H-isochromen-1-one

Phyllodulcin, a sweet-tasting compound extracted from Hydrangea macrophylla var. thunbergii, has recently received attention as a natural intense alternative sweetener with beneficial health effects. This study was conducted to determine the sweetness potency of phyllodulcin, relative to that of sucrose and to elucidate its sensory profile. Phyllodulcin solution was prepared by dissolving it in 1% ethanol (v/v) at 50°C. Relative sweetness to that of 3% sucrose in 1% ethanol solution was determined using the two-alternative forced-choice test. The sensory profile was obtained based on the descriptive analysis of 10 trained panelists. The relative sweetness of phyllodulcin was 434.8. Phyllodulcin was characterized by its bitterness, alcohol flavor, cooling sensation, and astringent aftertaste, but the persistence and onset of the sweetness of phyllodulcin were similar to those of sucrose. Further studies are required to improve the sweetness quality of phyllodulcin for facilitating its use in industrial applications by reducing its unfavorable flavor attributes.

Productive extension of semantic memory in school-aged children: Relations with reading comprehension and deployment of cognitive resources.

We investigated 7- to 10-year-old children's productive extension of semantic memory through self-generation of new factual knowledge derived through integration of separate yet related facts learned through instruction or through reading. In Experiment 1, an experimenter read the to-be-integrated facts. Children successfully learned and integrated the information and used it to further extend their semantic knowledge, as evidenced by high levels of correct responses in open-ended and forced-choice testing. In Experiment 2, on half of the trials, the to-be-integrated facts were read by an experimenter (as in Experiment 1) and on half of the trials, children read the facts themselves. Self-generation performance was high in both conditions (experimenter- and self-read); in both conditions, self-generation of new semantic knowledge was related to an independent measure of children's reading comprehension. In Experiment 3, the way children deployed cognitive resources during reading was predictive of their subsequent recall of newly learned information derived through integration. These findings indicate self-generation of new semantic knowledge through integration in school-age children as well as relations between this productive means of extension of semantic memory and cognitive processes engaged during reading. (PsycINFO Database Record

Revisiting Fluctuations in L2 Article Choice in L1-Korean L2-English Learners.

The current study investigated the distinction of L2 (second language) English article choice sensitivity in fifty-three L1-Korean L2-English learners in semantic contexts. In the context of English as a foreign language, the participants were divided into two groups based on grammatical ability as determined by their performance on a cloze test. In addition, a forced-choice elicitation test and a writing production test were administered to assess, respectively, the participants' receptive and productive article choice abilities. Regardless of grammatical ability, the results disclosed the overuse of the indefinite a in the [[Formula: see text]definite, -specific] context and the definite the in the [-definite, [Formula: see text]specific] context on the forced-choice elicitation test. In the [[Formula: see text]definite, [Formula: see text]specific] and [-definite, -specific] contexts, however, the overuse of either the indefinite a or the definite the, respectively, was less likely. Furthermore, it was revealed on the writing test that the participants more accurately used the definite the than the indefinite a, and they were also found to unreasonably omit more articles than to add or substitute articles on the writing production test. The findings across the two tests indicate that L1-Korean L2-English learners are more likely to have intrinsic difficulties transferring their L1 noun phrase (NP) knowledge to L2 NP knowledge owing to structural discrepancies and complex interfaces between L1 NPs and L2 NPs with respect to syntactic, semantic and pragmatic/discourse language subsystems.

Realizing Relevance: The Influence of Domain-Specific Information on Generation of New Knowledge Through Integration in 4- to 8-Year-Old Children.

In accumulating knowledge, direct modes of learning are complemented by productive processes, including self-generation based on integration of separate episodes. Effects of the number of potentially relevant episodes on integration were examined in 4- to 8-year-olds (N=121; racially/ethnically heterogeneous sample, English speakers, from large metropolitan area). Information was presented along with unrelated or related episodes; the latter challenged children to identify the relevant subset of episodes for integration. In Experiment 1, 4- and 6-year-olds integrated in the unrelated context. Six-year-olds also succeeded in the related context in forced-choice testing. In Experiment 2, 8-year-olds succeeded in open-ended and forced-choice testing. Results illustrate a developmental progression in productive extension of knowledge due in part to age-related increases in identification of relevant information.

Transfer at the level of argument structure or morphology: a comparative study of English and Persian unaccusative and unergative verbs

Abstract Transitivity alternation refers to the causative/inchoative alternation of some unaccusative verbs. Different languages use different patterns to show transitivity alternation morphologically. While some languages like English use zero or no overt lexical marking, other languages (e.g. Spanish, Turkish, and Japanese) use overt morphological markers to show transitivity. This study aims to investigate the degree to which similarities and/or mismatches between English and Persian influence the use of unaccusative and unergative verbs by Persianspeaking learners of English. Based on different verb types in English and Persian, seven verb categories were identified as the basis for comparison. A forced-choice elicitation test including 48 items was developed based on these seven verb categories. A proficiency test was also used to divide participants (116 undergraduate students of English) into high and low proficiency groups. The results revealed findings more in line with transfer at the morphological rather than the argument structure level (Montrul, 2000). Alternating unaccusatives with similar equivalent structures for transitive/intransitive pairs in Persian and non-alternating unaccusatives with different structures for transitive/intransitive pairs in Persian seem to be the most difficult verb categories for learners. The effect of proficiency level was also significant on the recognition of correct structures.

The production effect in long-list recall: In no particular order?

The production effect reflects a memory advantage for words read aloud versus silently. We investigated how production influences free recall of a single long list of words. In each of 4 experiments, a production effect occurred in a mixed-list group but not across pure-list groups. When compared to the pure-list groups, the mixed-list effects typically reflected a cost to silent words rather than a benefit to aloud words. This cost persisted when participants had to perform a generation or imagery task for the silent items, ruling out a lazy reading explanation. This recall pattern challenges both distinctiveness and strength accounts, but is consistent with an item-order account. By this account, the aloud words in a mixed list disrupt the encoding of item-order information for the silent words, thus impairing silent word recall. However, item-order measures and a forced-choice order test did not provide much evidence that recall was guided by retrieval of item-order information. We discuss our pattern of results in light of another recent study of the effects of production on long-list recall. (PsycINFO Database Record

Nosewitness Identification: Effects of Lineup Size and Retention Interval.

Although canine identification of body odor (BO) has been widely used as forensic evidence, the concept of nosewitness identification by human observers was only recently put to the test. The results indicated that BOs associated with male characters in authentic crime videos could later be identified in BO lineup tests well above chance. To further evaluate nosewitness memory, we assessed the effects of lineup size (Experiment 1) and retention interval (Experiment 2), using a forced-choice memory test. The results showed that nosewitness identification works for all lineup sizes (3, 5, and 8 BOs), but that larger lineups compromise identification performance in similarity to observations from eye- and earwitness studies. Also in line with previous eye- and earwitness studies, but in disagreement with some studies on odor memory, Experiment 2 showed significant forgetting between shorter retention intervals (15 min) and longer retention intervals (1-week) using lineups of five BOs. Altogether this study shows that identification of BO in a forensic setting is possible and has limits and characteristics in line with witness identification through other sensory modalities.

The response dynamics of recognition memory: Sensitivity and bias.

Advances in theories of memory are hampered by insufficient metrics for measuring memory. The goal of this paper is to further the development of model-independent, sensitive empirical measures of the recognition decision process. We evaluate whether metrics from continuous mouse tracking, or response dynamics, uniquely identify response bias and mnemonic evidence, and demonstrate 1 application of these metrics to the strength-based mirror-effect paradigm. In 4 studies, we show that response dynamics can augment our current analytic repertoire in a way that speaks to the psychological mechanisms underlying recognition memory. We manipulated familiarity and response bias via encoding strength and the proportion of targets at test (Experiment 1) and found that the initial degree of deviation of the mouse movement toward a response is a robust indicator of response bias. In order to better isolate measures of memory strength, we next minimized response bias through the use of 2-alternative forced-choice tests (Experiments 2 and 3). Changes in the direction of movement along the x-axis provided an indication of encoding strength. We conclude by applying these metrics to the typical strength-based mirror effect design (Experiment 4) in an attempt to further discriminate between differentiation and criterion-shift accounts. (PsycINFO Database Record

Fat perception in cottage cheese: The contribution of aroma and tasting temperature

The aim of this work was to examine the influence of aroma and tasting temperature, on the detection of and difference sensitivity for fat content in cottage cheese. The detection (DetT) and difference (DiffT) thresholds were determined in 4 different conditions defined by a combination of two factors, each involving two variables: a nose clip (with or without) and the tasting temperature (7°C or 15°C). Forty non-trained panelists participated in this study. Thresholds were determined using two-alternative forced-choice (2-AFC) tests in ascending concentration series. Individual thresholds were calculated using the Best Estimate Threshold (BET) method.An increase in tasting temperature induced a decrease in the DetT and DiffT, while the use of a nose clip led to an increase in both thresholds. A hierarchical cluster analysis evidenced three homogeneous subsets of subjects with contrasting sensitivity profiles: subsets 1 (n=7) and 2 (n=9) were characterized by high and low DetT and DiffT values, respectively, for all conditions, while a larger third subset (n=24) included subjects with medium thresholds values that varied from one condition to another. Unlike the other subsets, subset 3 was significantly influenced by the change in tasting temperature, whereas only subset 1 showed no sensitivity improvement when aromas were perceptible.

Alzheimer’s disease and memory strength: Gradual decline of memory traces as a function of their strength

ABSTRACTObjective: Episodic memory impairment is at the core of amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) and Alzheimer’s disease (AD). The origin of memory deficits may result either from an encoding deficit or from an accelerated decline of the memory trace. The present study explores these two hypotheses. Method: We used the delayed-matching-to sample 48 items (DMS-48) memory test in a group of controls, aMCI patients, and AD patients (n= 16 in each group). The DMS-48 offers an incidental learning phase followed by three forced-choice recognition tests at three-minute, one-hour, and one-week delays. Moreover, the forced-choice test distinguishes three kinds of couple items: abstract (meaningless), paired (two similar exemplars), and unique (two different objects) items. Results: As predicted by the accelerated forgetting hypothesis, patients showed a decrease in recognition performance over time. Controls also exhibited a similar decline in performance. As predicted by the encoding deficit hypothesis, abstract items were the most poorly recognized in AD, at both the three-minute and the one-week delays. In AD, recognition of the paired items also dropped after the one-hour delay, followed by unique items after a one-week delay. Patients with aMCI exhibited a performance that was similar to controls, except for abstract items, which dropped at the one-week delay. Conclusions: These results are discussed in light of a third hypothesis, the memory strength hypothesis, in order to better account for the progressive decline in memory performance as a function of the item type in AD.

Compliance on neuropsychological performance validity testing in patients with borderline personality disorder.

Complaints of cognitive dysfunction are common in patients with borderline personality disorder (BPD), and they are often accompanied by deficits on neuropsychological testing. Prior studies of BPD, however, did not evaluate compliance on neuropsychological performance validity testing, which could partially account for cognitive deficits observed in patients. The aims of the current study were to evaluate the frequency at which patients with BPD show less than adequate compliance on performance validity testing, and whether patients showing less compliance perform lower on standardized neuropsychological measures. Fifty outpatients with BPD completed the Victoria Symptom Validity Test, a 2-alternative, forced-choice recognition test as part of a larger neuropsychological test battery for research on cognitive functioning in BPD. As a group, patients with BPD made more errors and had longer response latencies on seemingly difficult items as compared to healthy individuals. Based on established guidelines for interpretation of performances on the Victoria Symptom Validity Test, 2% of the sample was classified as probably not compliant, 10% questionably compliant, and 88% compliant. Patients with questionably or probably not compliant performances had lower estimated premorbid intellectual functioning and displayed poorer response control on neuropsychological testing than compliant patients. These findings highlight the value of incorporating performance validity testing in neuropsychological studies of patients with BPD and suggest that prior research on the disorder should be interpreted with caution because the results may not be based on valid performances.

Neural activities in V1 create the bottom-up saliency map of natural scenes.

A saliency map is the bottom-up contribution to the deployment of exogenous attention. It, as well as its underlying neural mechanism, is hard to identify because of the influence of top-down signals. A recent study showed that neural activities in V1 could create a bottom-up saliency map (Zhang et al. in Neuron 73(1):183-192, 2012). In this paper, we tested whether their conclusion can generalize to complex natural scenes. In order to avoid top-down influences, each image was presented with a low contrast for only 50ms and was followed by a high contrast mask, which rendered the whole image invisible to participants (confirmed by a forced-choice test). The Posner cueing paradigm was adopted to measure the spatial cueing effect (i.e., saliency) by an orientation discrimination task. A positive cueing effect was found, and the magnitude of the cueing effect was consistent with the saliency prediction of a computational saliency model. In a following fMRI experiment, we used the same masked natural scenes as stimuli and measured BOLD signals responding to the predicted salient region (relative to the background). We found that the BOLD signal in V1, but not in other cortical areas, could well predict the cueing effect. These results suggest that the bottom-up saliency map of natural scenes could be created in V1, providing further evidence for the V1 saliency theory (Li in Trends Cogn Sci 6(1):9-16, 2002).

Traditional scores versus IRT estimates on forced-choice tests based on a dominance model.

Forced-choice tests (FCTs) were proposed to minimize response biases associated with Likert format items. It remains unclear whether scores based on traditional methods for scoring FCTs are appropriate for between-subjects comparisons. Recently, Hontangas et al. (2015) explored the extent to which traditional scoring of FCTs relates to the true scores and IRT estimates. The authors found certain conditions under which traditional scores (TS) can be used with FCTs when the underlying IRT model was an unfolding model. In this study, we examine to what extent the results are preserved when the underlying process becomes a dominance model. The independent variables analyzed in a simulation study are: forced-choice format, number of blocks, discrimination of items, polarity of items, variability of intra-block difficulty, range of difficulty, and correlation between dimensions. A similar pattern of results was observed for both models; however, correlations between TS and true thetas are higher and the differences between TS and IRT estimates are less discrepant when a dominance model involved. A dominance model produces a linear relationship between TS and true scores, and the subjects with extreme thetas are better measured.

The Psychological Representation of Musical Intervals in a Twelve-Tone Context

Previous studies of twelve-tone music suggest that participants can learn a twelve-tone row and identify it in a forced-choice test (Bigand, D’Adamo, & Poulin, 2003; Krumhansl, Sandell, & Sergeant, 1987). However, these findings invite speculation about the extent to which participants were attuning to intervals to complete the task. The present study builds upon these previous experiments by specifically investigating whether participants implicitly attune to repetitive interval patterns embedded in twelve-tone melodies. After passive exposure to a monophonic twelve-tone melody dominated by intervals 1 and 3 (in semitones), musician listeners with no formal training in nontonal music theory demonstrated learning of the frequent intervals (and directed interval pairs) in both forced-choice and ratings tasks. Experiment 2 tested a new group of participants with similar backgrounds, although this time the twelve-tone melody heard in familiarization was predominated with intervals 2 and 5. Participants showed learning of directed interval pairs, but not intervals (possibly due to the more tonal nature of interval successions within familiarization). These findings have pedagogical and analytical implications.

Pure Partial Awareness or Interaction between the Mask and the Masked Stimuli?

Many studies using masking paradigm have shown that stimuli can be processed unconsciously. However, different researchers put forward different ideas about the mechanisms of the unconscious information processing. For example, one idea is that the unconscious information might be derived from a partial awareness of the masked stimulus. Another idea is that it is derived from a perceptual interaction between a masked stimulus and the masking stimulus. We used a masking paradigm (with a briefly displayed target followed by a mask) and a subjective rating and an objective forced-choice test (with a word and picture version) given after the display to study the nature of partial awareness. The question we attempted to answer was whether people did perceive fragmentary features of a masked object picture correctly when they rated it as partially perceivable. The results showed that even when the masked stimuli only had simple features and when the subjects subjectively reported that they could perceive something of the masked stimuli, the objective forced-choice test performance was at chance level. The results were discussed in the context of interaction hypothesis and level of processing hypothesis.

Sound-symbolism boosts novel word learning.

The existence of sound-symbolism (or a non-arbitrary link between form and meaning) is well-attested. However, sound-symbolism has mostly been investigated with nonwords in forced choice tasks, neither of which are representative of natural language. This study uses ideophones, which are naturally occurring sound-symbolic words that depict sensory information, to investigate how sensitive Dutch speakers are to sound-symbolism in Japanese in a learning task. Participants were taught 2 sets of Japanese ideophones; 1 set with the ideophones' real meanings in Dutch, the other set with their opposite meanings. In Experiment 1, participants learned the ideophones and their real meanings much better than the ideophones with their opposite meanings. Moreover, despite the learning rounds, participants were still able to guess the real meanings of the ideophones in a 2-alternative forced-choice test after they were informed of the manipulation. This shows that natural language sound-symbolism is robust beyond 2-alternative forced-choice paradigms and affects broader language processes such as word learning. In Experiment 2, participants learned regular Japanese adjectives with the same manipulation, and there was no difference between real and opposite conditions. This shows that natural language sound-symbolism is especially strong in ideophones, and that people learn words better when form and meaning match. The highlights of this study are as follows: (a) Dutch speakers learn real meanings of Japanese ideophones better than opposite meanings, (b) Dutch speakers accurately guess meanings of Japanese ideophones, (c) this sensitivity happens despite learning some opposite pairings, (d) no such learning effect exists for regular Japanese adjectives, and (e) this shows the importance of sound-symbolism in scaffolding language learning. (PsycINFO Database Record

Consumer Preference and Sensory Properties of the Pacific Cupped Oyster (Crassostrea gigas) and the European Flat Oyster (Ostrea edulis)

ABSTRACTExperts in the oyster supply chain (farmers, retailers, and gourmet chefs) in The Netherlands have suggested that the European flat oyster (Ostrea edulis) has superior sensory qualities compared to the Pacific cupped oyster (Crassostrea gigas). However, scientific evidence is lacking. The aim of this study was to evaluate consumer preferences for these two oyster species and to determine the sensory properties of both species by consumers. Two-alternative forced choice tests were performed with the oysters involving a panel of 74 naïve consumers. No significant differences in preferences between the oyster species were observed by the consumers. Nine sensory attributes of both oyster species were evaluated. Consumers did not observe significant differences between species in the sensory attributes: overall odor intensity, sea odor, mud odor, sweetness, pungency, and firmness. The Pacific cupped oyster was perceived as significantly saltier and more intense in greenness than the European flat oyster. We concluded that only a few sensory properties of the European flat oyster and the Pacific cupped oyster are perceived as being different by untrained consumers.