Measure Of Sensitive Dependence Research Articles

Experimental methods in studying child language acquisition.

This article reviews the some of the most widely used methods used for studying children's language acquisition including (1) spontaneous/naturalistic, diary, parental report data, (2) production methods (elicited production, repetition/elicited imitation, syntactic priming/weird word order), (3) comprehension methods (act-out, pointing, intermodal preferential looking, looking while listening, conditioned head turn preference procedure, functional neuroimaging) and (4) judgment methods (grammaticality/acceptability judgments, yes-no/truth-value judgments). The review outlines the types of studies and age-groups to which each method is most suited, as well as the advantage and disadvantages of each. We conclude by summarising the particular methodological considerations that apply to each paradigm and to experimental design more generally. These include (1) choosing an age-appropriate task that makes communicative sense (2) motivating children to co-operate, (3) choosing a between-/within-subjects design, (4) the use of novel items (e.g., novel verbs), (5) fillers, (6) blocked, counterbalanced and random presentation, (7) the appropriate number of trials and participants, (8) drop-out rates (9) the importance of control conditions, (10) choosing a sensitive dependent measure (11) classification of responses, and (12) using an appropriate statistical test. WIREs Cogn Sci 2013, 4:149-168. doi: 10.1002/wcs.1215 For further resources related to this article, please visit the WIREs website. The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Academic Decision Making and Prospect Theory

Two studies are reported that investigate the applicability of prospect theory to college students' academic decision making. Exp. 1 failed to provide support for the risk-seeking portion of the fourfold pattern predicted by prospect theory but did find the greater weighting of losses over gains. Using a more sensitive dependent measure, in Exp. 2 the results of the first experiment were replicated in terms of the gain-loss effect and also found some support for the fourfold pattern in the interaction between probabilities and gain versus loss. The greatest risk-seeking was found in the high probability loss condition.

A re-examination of the impact of object processing on shifts of spatial attention

When two targets are presented in rapid succession at the same spatial location, processing of the first is highly efficient, while processing of the second is often profoundly impaired at brief inter-target intervals (attentional blink; AB). While the AB has been shown to impact many processes, it is still unclear whether this includes the ability to shift spatial attention. The present study examined this question using a more sensitive dependent measure than past studies; namely, response times. It also evaluated whether masking of the cue stimulus modulated the effect of the AB on spatial shifts. The results showed significant cueing effects on T2 response times that were strongly modulated by the AB. This supports suggested links between mechanisms underlying object processing and spatial shifts of attention.

Measurement of the conjunction error in social judgment: Answer choice and answer justification

People often judge the probability of two events occurring together to be more probable than the less probable of each of these events occurring separately, thereby demonstrating the conjunction error. "Correct" responses are those in which participants rank a single-element statement of low probability as more probable than a conjunction consisting of a low-probability statement and an additional statement. We demonstrated in two studies that task structure was related to the number of people who chose the single-element statement as more probable. However, relatively few participants provided a rationale for their answer choice based on the conjunction rule. In a third study, responses on the answer choice and answer justification measures converged. In addition to serving as a sensitive dependent measure, participants' justifications when answering conjunction problems may provide insight into their reasoning.

Different faces of chaos in FRW models with scalar fields—geometrical point of view

FRW cosmologies with conformally coupled scalar fields are investigated in a geometrical way by the means of geodesics of the Jacobi metric. In this model of dynamics, trajectories in the configuration space are represented by geodesics. Because of the singular nature of the Jacobi metric on the boundary set ∂ D of the domain of admissible motion, the geodesics change the cone sectors several times (or an infinite number of times) in the neighborhood of the singular set ∂ D . We show that this singular set contains interesting information about the dynamical complexity of the model. Firstly, this set can be used as a Poincaré surface for construction of Poincaré sections, and the trajectories then have the recurrence property. We also investigate the distribution of the intersection points. Secondly, the full classification of periodic orbits in the configuration space is performed and existence of UPO is demonstrated. Our general conclusion is that, although the presented model leads to several complications, like divergence of curvature invariants as a measure of sensitive dependence on initial conditions, some global results can be obtained and some additional physical insight is gained from using the conformal Jacobi metric. We also study the complex behavior of trajectories in terms of symbolic dynamics.