Response Time Patterns Research Articles

What makes words special? Words as unmotivated cues

Verbal labels, such as the words “dog” and “guitar,” activate conceptual knowledge more effectively than corresponding environmental sounds, such as a dog bark or a guitar strum, even though both are unambiguous cues to the categories of dogs and guitars (Lupyan & Thompson-Schill, 2012). We hypothesize that this advantage of labels emerges because word-forms, unlike other cues, do not vary in a motivated way with their referent. The sound of a guitar cannot help but inform a listener to the type of guitar making it (electric, acoustic, etc.). The word “guitar” on the other hand, can leave the type of guitar unspecified. We argue that as a result, labels gain the ability to cue a more abstract mental representation, promoting efficient processing of category members. In contrast, environmental sounds activate representations that are more tightly linked to the specific cause of the sound. Our results show that upon hearing environmental sounds such as a dog bark or guitar strum, people cannot help but activate a particular instance of a category, in a particular state, at a particular time, as measured by patterns of response times on cue-picture matching tasks (Exps. 1–2) and eye-movements in a task where the cues are task-irrelevant (Exp. 3). In comparison, labels activate concepts in a more abstract, decontextualized way—a difference that we argue can be explained by labels acting as “unmotivated cues”.

A mixture hierarchical model for response times and response accuracy

In real testing, examinees may manifest different types of test-taking behaviours. In this paper we focus on two types that appear to be among the more frequently occurring behaviours – solution behaviour and rapid guessing behaviour. Rapid guessing usually happens in high-stakes tests when there is insufficient time, and in low-stakes tests when there is lack of effort. These two qualitatively different test-taking behaviours, if ignored, will lead to violation of the local independence assumption and, as a result, yield biased item/person parameter estimation. We propose a mixture hierarchical model to account for differences among item responses and response time patterns arising from these two behaviours. The model is also able to identify the specific behaviour an examinee engages in when answering an item. A Monte Carlo expectation maximization algorithm is proposed for model calibration. A simulation study shows that the new model yields more accurate item and person parameter estimates than a non-mixture model when the data indeed come from two types of behaviour. The model also fits real, high-stakes test data better than a non-mixture model, and therefore the new model can better identify the underlying test-taking behaviour an examinee engages in on a certain item.

Response time patterns in a stated choice experiment

This paper studies how response times vary between unlabelled binary choice occasions in a stated choice (SC) experiment, with alternatives differing with respect to in-vehicle travel time and travel cost. The pattern of response times is interpreted as an indicator of the cognitive processes employed by the respondents when making their choices. We find clear signs of reference-dependence in response times in the form of a strong gain–loss asymmetry. Moreover, different patterns of response times for travel time and travel cost indicate that these attributes are processed in different ways by respondents. This may be of particular relevance for choice experiments in the transportation field, where the travel time attribute is central.

Social cognition dysfunction in adolescents with 22q11.2 deletion syndrome (velo-cardio-facial syndrome): relationship with executive functioning and social competence/functioning.

Social difficulties are often noted among people with intellectual disabilities. Children and adults with 22q.11.2 deletion syndrome (22q11DS) often have poorer social competence as well as poorer performance on measures of executive and social-cognitive skills compared with typically developing young people. However, the relationship between social functioning and more basic processes of social cognition and executive functioning are not well understood in 22q11DS. The present study examined the relationship between social-cognitive measures of emotion attribution and theory of mind with executive functioning and their contribution to social competence in 22q11DS. The present cross-sectional study measured social cognition and executive performance of 24 adolescents with 22q11DS compared with 27 age-matched typically developing controls. Social cognition was tested using the emotion attribution task (EAT) and a picture sequencing task (PST), which tested mentalising (false-belief), sequencing, cause and effect, and inhibition. Executive functioning was assessed using computerised versions of the Tower of London task and working memory measures of spatial and non-spatial ability. Social competence was also assessed using the parent-reported Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. Adolescents with 22q11DS showed impaired false-belief, emotion attribution and executive functioning compared with typically developing control participants. Poorer performance was reported on all story types in the PST, although, patterns of errors and response times across story types were similar in both groups. General sequencing ability was the strongest predictor of false-belief, and performance on the false-belief task predicted emotion attribution accuracy. Intellectual functioning, rather than theory of mind or executive functioning, predicted social competence in 22q11DS. Performance on social-cognitive tasks of theory of mind indicate evidence of a general underlying dysfunction in 22q11DS that includes executive ability to understand cause and effect, to logically reason about social scenarios and also to inhibit responses to salient, but misleading cues. However, general intellectual ability is closely related to actual social competence suggesting that a generalised intellectual deficit coupled with more specific executive impairments may best explain poor social cognition in 22q11DS.

インターネット調査によるデータ収集の課題—不良回答，回答時間，および地理的特性に注目した分析—

社会調査環境の変化を受けて，廉価で迅速にデータを収集できるインターネット調査に注目が集まっている．本論文では，標本の代表性と測定の精度という二つの側面からインターネット調査の課題を整理するとともに，実際に行われた調査データを用いて，回答行動，回答内容，そして地理的特性について分析した．その結果，インターネット調査における標本の偏りや，「不良回答」が回答時間と関連していることを確認し，地理的特性がそれらと一定の関連をもつことを指摘した．さらに，地理学における今後のインターネット調査利用の課題と将来の利用可能性について考察した．

Patterns of response times for enumeration, number comparison, addition and subtraction are different for symbolic and non-symbolic stimuli.

Patterns of response times for enumeration, number comparison, addition and subtraction are different for symbolic and non-symbolic stimuli.

Radar Cross Section Analysis Using Physical Optics and Its Applications to Marine Targets

Radar Cross Section (RCS) is one of the most considerable parameters for ship stealth design. As modern ships are larger than their predecessors, RCS must be managed at each design stage for its reduction. For predicting RCS of ship, Radar Cross Section Analysis Program (RACSAN) based on Kirchhoff approximation in high frequency range has been developed. This program can present RCS including multi-bounce effect in exterior and interior structure by combination of geometric optics (GO) and physical optics (PO) methods, coating effect by using Fresnel reflection coefficient, and response time pattern for detected target. In this paper, RCS calculations of ship model with above effects are simulated by using this developed program and RCS results are discussed.

Testing for Aberrant Behavior in Response Time Modeling

Many standardized tests are now administered via computer rather than paper-and-pencil format. In a computer-based testing environment, it is possible to record not only the test taker’s response to each question (item) but also the amount of time spent by the test taker in considering and answering each item. Response times (RTs) provide information not only about the test taker’s ability and response behavior but also about item and test characteristics. This study focuses on the use of RTs to detect aberrant test-taker responses. An example of such aberrance is a correct answer with a short RT on a difficult question. Such aberrance may be displayed when a test taker or test takers have preknowledge of the items. Another example is rapid guessing, wherein the test taker displays unusually short RTs for a series of items. When rapid guessing occurs at the end of a timed test, it often indicates that the test taker has run out of time before completing the test. In this study, Bayesian tests of significance for detecting various types of aberrant RT patterns are proposed and evaluated. In a simulation study, the tests were successful in identifying aberrant response patterns. A real data example is given to illustrate the use of the proposed person-fit tests for RTs.

Numerical simulation of two dimensional vortex-induced vibrations of an elliptic cylinder at low Reynolds numbers

Flow-induced vibrations (FIV) of an elastically supported rigid elliptical cylinder, which is free to move in cross-flow and in-line directions, with equal natural frequencies in both directions, is numerically simulated. Laminar flow regime (60<Re<400) for selected cylinder cross sectional aspect ratios and inclination angles (a/b=0.5, 1, 2; α=0°, 45°, 90°), with a low non-dimensional mass (m∗=10), are considered. Also, to enhance high amplitude oscillations, the structural damping coefficient is supposed to be zero (ξ=0). The natural structural frequency of the oscillator is assumed to match the associated vortex shedding frequency of a stationary cylinder with zero inclination angle at Re=100. The unsteady fluid/cylinder interactions are accurately captured by implementing the moving mesh scheme via integration of an in-house developed User Define Function (UDF) into the main code of the commercial finite volume solver Fluent. The temporal discretization is based on the computationally efficient non-iterative Fractional Step time marching procedure. Numerical results reveal the decisive effects of cross sectional aspect ratio and inclination angle on the cylinder VIV characteristics (i.e., transverse/in-line response amplitudes, aerodynamic coefficients, Strouhal number, phase portrait, time response, orbital trajectory, and wake mode pattern). In particular, it is observed that the fluid/structure interaction effects notably amplify with the decrease (increase) in the cylinder cross sectional aspect ratio (inclination angle), linked to the decrease in the added mass effect. The validity of the simulations is established by comparison with the available experimental/numerical data.

Patterns of response times and response choices to science questions: the influence of relative processing time.

We report on five experiments investigating response choices and response times to simple science questions that evoke student "misconceptions," and we construct a simple model to explain the patterns of response choices. Physics students were asked to compare a physical quantity represented by the slope, such as speed, on simple physics graphs. We found that response times of incorrect answers, resulting from comparing heights, were faster than response times of correct answers comparing slopes. This result alone might be explained by the fact that height was typically processed faster than slope for this kind of task, which we confirmed in a separate experiment. However, we hypothesize that the difference in response time is an indicator of the cause (rather than the result) of the response choice. To support this, we found that imposing a 3-s delay in responding increased the number of students comparing slopes (answering correctly) on the task. Additionally a significant proportion of students recognized the correct written rule (compare slope), but on the graph task they incorrectly compared heights. Finally, training either with repetitive examples or providing a general rule both improved scores, but only repetitive examples had a large effect on response times, thus providing evidence of dual paths or processes to a solution. Considering models of heuristics, information accumulation models, and models relevant to the Stroop effect, we construct a simple relative processing time model that could be viewed as a kind of fluency heuristic. The results suggest that misconception-like patterns of answers to some science questions commonly found on tests may be explained in part by automatic processes that involve the relative processing time of considered dimensions and a priority to answer quickly.

Sequential sampling model for multiattribute choice alternatives with random attention time and processing order.

A sequential sampling model for multiattribute binary choice options, called multiattribute attention switching (MAAS) model, assumes a separate sampling process for each attribute. During the deliberation process attention switches from one attribute consideration to the next. The order in which attributes are considered as well for how long each attribute is considered—the attention time—influences the predicted choice probabilities and choice response times. Several probability distributions for the attention time with different variances are investigated. Depending on the time and order schedule the model predicts a rich choice probability/choice response time pattern including preference reversals and fast errors. Furthermore, the difference between finite and infinite decision horizons for the attribute considered last is investigated. For the former case the model predicts a probability p0 > 0 of not deciding within the available time. The underlying stochastic process for each attribute is an Ornstein-Uhlenbeck process approximated by a discrete birth-death process. All predictions are also true for the widely applied Wiener process.

How priming in visual search affects response time distributions: analyses with ex-Gaussian fits.

Although response times (RTs) are the dependent measure of choice in the majority of studies of visual attention, changes in RTs can be hard to interpret. First, they are inherently ambiguous, since they may reflect a change in the central tendency or skew (or both) of a distribution. Second, RT measures may lack sensitivity, since meaningful changes in RT patterns may not be picked up if they reflect two or more processes having opposing influences on mean RTs. Here we describe RT distributions for repetition priming in visual search, fitting ex-Gaussian functions to RT distributions. We focus here on feature and conjunction search tasks, since priming effects in these tasks are often thought to reflect similar mechanisms. As expected, both tasks resulted in strong priming effects when target and distractor identities repeated, but a large difference between feature and conjunction search was also seen, in that the σ parameter (reflecting the standard deviation of the Gaussian component) was far more affected by search repetition in conjunction than in feature search. Although caution should clearly be used when particular parameter estimates are matched to specific functions or processes, our results suggest that analyses of RT distributions can inform theoretical accounts of priming in visual search tasks, in this case showing quite different repetition effects for the two differing search types, suggesting that priming in the two paradigms partly reflects different mechanisms.

Carbohydrate ingestion before and during soccer match play and blood glucose and lactate concentrations.

The ingestion of carbohydrate (CHO) before and during exercise and at halftime is commonly recommended to soccer players for maintaining blood glucose concentrations throughout match play. However, an exercise-induced rebound glycemic response has been observed in the early stages of the second half of simulated soccer-specific exercise when CHO-electrolyte beverages were consumed regularly. Therefore, the metabolic effects of CHO beverage consumption throughout soccer match play remain unclear. To investigate the blood glucose and blood lactate responses to CHOs ingested before and during soccer match play. Crossover study. Applied research study. Ten male outfield academy soccer players (age = 15.6 ± 0.2 years, height = 1.74 ± 0.02 m, mass = 65.3 ± 1.9 kg, estimated maximal oxygen consumption = 58.4 ± 0.8 mL·kg(-1)·min(-1)). Players received a 6% CHO-electrolyte solution or an electrolyte (placebo) solution 2 hours before kickoff, before each half (within 10 minutes), and every 15 minutes throughout exercise. Blood samples were obtained at rest, every 15 minutes during the match (first half: 0-15, 15-30, and 30-45 minutes; second half: 45-60, 60-75, and 75-90 minutes) and 10 minutes into the halftime break. Metabolic responses (blood glucose and blood lactate concentrations) and markers of exercise intensity (heart rate) were recorded. Supplementation influenced the blood glucose response to exercise (time × treatment interaction effect: P ≤ .05), such that glucose concentrations were higher at 30 to 45 minutes in the CHO than in the placebo condition. However, in the second half, blood glucose concentrations were similar between conditions because of transient reductions from peak values occurring in both trials at halftime. Blood lactate concentrations were elevated above those at rest in the first 15 minutes of exercise (time-of-sample effect: P < .001) and remained elevated throughout exercise. Supplementation did not influence the pattern of response (time × treatment interaction effect: P = .49). Ingestion of a 6% CHO-electrolyte beverage before and during soccer match play did not benefit blood glucose concentrations throughout the second half of exercise.

Examining the neighborhood effects on police performance to assault calls

Using agency-generated data collected from the Houston Police Department (HPD) and the 2000 census statistics, this article examines the relationship between police performance and neighborhood disorganization through an analysis of the distribution of police response to in-progress assault calls across different Houston neighborhoods. The results of multilevel analyses suggest that concentrated disadvantage, immigrant concentration, and residential stability are significantly related to the distribution of the HPD’s response time patterns. More specifically, police responses were quicker to in-progress assault calls in disorganized neighborhoods. The implications drawn from the current study’s results on police response time patterns can be useful in improving police service levels, the police–community relationship, and patrol strategies.

Social disorganization and police performance to burglary calls: a tale of two cities

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine whether the distribution of police response time to in-progress burglaries differ according to the level of social disorganization across different neighborhoods. Design/methodology/approach – Using 2006 calls for service data collected from the Dallas and Houston Police Departments and from the 2000 US Bureau of Census statistics, the effects of social disorganization on police performance were examined through multilevel analysis of the distribution of police response time patterns across different neighborhoods in Dallas and Houston. Findings – The analysis of the DPD and HPD in-progress calls produced somewhat consistent findings on the relationship between the level of social disorganization and police response time. Concentrated disadvantage, immigrant concentration, and residential stability are important predictors of the distribution of police response time patterns in Dallas and Houston. Practical implications – Neighborhood social disorganization is related to the distribution of agency response time patterns. Detailed response time analysis is crucial for agencies to improve police performance and the community-police relationship. Originality/value – In the policing literature, researchers have tended to neglect rapid response when examining many aspects of policing. The present study expands on existing research by examining the theoretical link between the level of neighborhood social disorganization with the distribution of rapid police response to in-progress burglary in two cities.

Protein Induced Aggregation of Conjugated Polyelectrolytes Probed with Fluorescence Correlation Spectroscopy: Application to Protein Identification

The interaction of a series of water-soluble conjugated polyelectrolytes with varying backbone structure, charge type (cationic and anionic), and charge density with a set of seven different proteins is explored by using fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS). The FCS method affords the diffusion time for a particular CPE/protein pair, and this diffusion time is a reflection of the aggregation state of the polymer/protein in the solution. The diffusion time is larger for oppositely charged CPE/protein combinations, reflecting the tendency toward the formation of CPE/protein aggregates in these systems. However, by careful analysis of the data, other factors emerge, including possible effects of hydrophobic interaction in specific CPE/protein systems. The final diffusion time for each CPE/protein mixture varies and the diffusion time response pattern created by the six-CPE array for a typical protein is unique, and this effect was leveraged to develop a sensor array for protein identification by using linear-discriminant analysis (LDA) methods. By application of multimode linear discrimination analysis, the unknown protein samples have been successfully identified with a total accuracy of 93%.

Competing Speech Perception in Older and Younger Adults

The purpose of this study was to examine eye-movement patterns in older and younger adults to identify differences in how they respond to both to-be-attended and to-be-ignored speech. The study described in this article used an eye-tracking paradigm to provide insight into the factors underlying competing speech understanding in older (n = 23) and younger (n = 22) listeners. Participants attended to a sentence presented in one ear and were instructed to click on a visually displayed word that was heard in that ear while their eye movements were monitored. A foil word also was shown on the screen. Either no sound, steady state noise, or competing speech was presented to the other ear. Comparisons between younger and older listeners on all three types of indicators measured in this study (percent correct, response time, and eye movement patterns) demonstrated that older adults were more greatly affected by competing speech than were younger adults. Differences between the groups could not be attributed to the presence of hearing loss in the older participants, as performance for all subjects was at ceiling in quiet and none of the performance metrics was significantly associated with degree of hearing loss. Results of this study support the idea that age-related changes other than lack of audibility or susceptibility to energetic masking negatively affect the ability to understand speech in the presence of a competing message.

Unfalsifiability and mutual translatability of major modeling schemes for choice reaction time.

[Correction Notice: An Erratum for this article was reported in Vol 121(1) of Psychological Review (see record 2014-03591-005). The link to supplemental material was missing. All versions of this article have been corrected.] Much current research on speeded choice utilizes models in which the response is triggered by a stochastic process crossing a deterministic threshold. This article focuses on 2 such model classes, 1 based on continuous-time diffusion and the other on linear ballistic accumulation (LBA). Both models assume random variability in growth rates and in other model components across trials. We show that if the form of this variability is unconstrained, the models can exactly match any possible pattern of response probabilities and response time distributions. Thus, the explanatory or predictive content of these models is determined not by their structural assumptions but, rather, by distributional assumptions (e.g., Gaussian distributions) that are traditionally regarded as implementation details. Selective influence assumptions (i.e., which experimental manipulations affect which model parameters) are shown to have no restrictive effect, except for the theoretically questionable assumption that speed-accuracy instructions do not affect growth rates. The 2nd contribution of this article concerns translation of falsifiable models between universal modeling languages. Specifically, we translate the predictions of the diffusion and LBA models (with their parametric and selective influence assumptions intact) into the Grice modeling framework, in which accumulation processes are deterministic and thresholds are random variables. The Grice framework is also known to reproduce any possible pattern of response probabilities and times, and hence it can be used as a common language for comparing models. It is found that only a few simple properties of empirical data are necessary predictions of the diffusion and LBA models.

Magnitude comparison with different types of rational numbers.

An important issue in understanding mathematical cognition involves the similarities and differences between the magnitude representations associated with various types of rational numbers. For single-digit integers, evidence indicates that magnitudes are represented as analog values on a mental number line, such that magnitude comparisons are made more quickly and accurately as the numerical distance between numbers increases (the distance effect). Evidence concerning a distance effect for compositional numbers (e.g., multidigit whole numbers, fractions and decimals) is mixed. We compared the patterns of response times and errors for college students in magnitude comparison tasks across closely matched sets of rational numbers (e.g., 22/37, 0.595, 595). In Experiment 1, a distance effect was found for both fractions and decimals, but response times were dramatically slower for fractions than for decimals. Experiments 2 and 3 compared performance across fractions, decimals, and 3-digit integers. Response patterns for decimals and integers were extremely similar but, as in Experiment 1, magnitude comparisons based on fractions were dramatically slower, even when the decimals varied in precision (i.e., number of place digits) and could not be compared in the same way as multidigit integers (Experiment 3). Our findings indicate that comparisons of all three types of numbers exhibit a distance effect, but that processing often involves strategic focus on components of numbers. Fractions impose an especially high processing burden due to their bipartite (a/b) structure. In contrast to the other number types, the magnitude values associated with fractions appear to be less precise, and more dependent on explicit calculation.

A combined model of sensory and cognitive representations underlying tonal expectations in music: From audio signals to behavior.

Listeners' expectations for melodies and harmonies in tonal music are perhaps the most studied aspect of music cognition. Long debated has been whether faster response times (RTs) to more strongly primed events (in a music theoretic sense) are driven by sensory or cognitive mechanisms, such as repetition of sensory information or activation of cognitive schemata that reflect learned tonal knowledge, respectively. We analyzed over 300 stimuli from 7 priming experiments comprising a broad range of musical material, using a model that transforms raw audio signals through a series of plausible physiological and psychological representations spanning a sensory-cognitive continuum. We show that RTs are modeled, in part, by information in periodicity pitch distributions, chroma vectors, and activations of tonal space--a representation on a toroidal surface of the major/minor key relationships in Western tonal music. We show that in tonal space, melodies are grouped by their tonal rather than timbral properties, whereas the reverse is true for the periodicity pitch representation. While tonal space variables explained more of the variation in RTs than did periodicity pitch variables, suggesting a greater contribution of cognitive influences to tonal expectation, a stepwise selection model contained variables from both representations and successfully explained the pattern of RTs across stimulus categories in 4 of the 7 experiments. The addition of closure--a cognitive representation of a specific syntactic relationship--succeeded in explaining results from all 7 experiments. We conclude that multiple representational stages along a sensory-cognitive continuum combine to shape tonal expectations in music.