Web-based Experiments Research Articles

Conducting Language Production Research Online: A Web-based Study of Semantic Context and Name Agreement Effects in Multi-Word Production

Few web-based experiments have explored spoken language production, perhaps due to concerns of data quality, especially for measuring onset latencies. The present study highlights how speech production research can be done outside of the laboratory by measuring utterance durations and speech fluency in a multiple-object naming task when examining two effects related to lexical selection: semantic context and name agreement. A web-based modified blocked-cyclic naming paradigm was created, in which participants named a total of sixteen simultaneously presented pictures on each trial. The pictures were either four tokens from the same semantic category (homogeneous context), or four tokens from different semantic categories (heterogeneous context). Name agreement of the pictures was varied orthogonally (high, low). In addition to onset latency, five dependent variables were measured to index naming performance: accuracy, utterance duration, total pause time, the number of chunks (word groups pronounced without intervening pauses), and first chunk length. Bayesian analyses showed effects of semantic context and name agreement for some of the dependent measures, but no interaction. We discuss the methodological implications of the current study and make best practice recommendations for spoken language production research in an online environment.

Lured Into Listening

Abstract. This brief statement revisits some earlier observations on what makes web-based experiments, and especially citizen science using engaging games, an attractive alternative to laboratory-based setups. It suggests web-based experimenting to be a full-grown alternative to traditional laboratory-based experiments, especially in the field of music cognition, where sampling bias is a common problem and large amounts of empirical data are needed to characterize individual variability.

Interventions Using Heart Age for Cardiovascular Disease Risk Communication: Systematic Review of Psychological, Behavioral, and Clinical Effects.

BackgroundCardiovascular disease (CVD) risk communication is a challenge for clinical practice, where physicians find it difficult to explain the absolute risk of a CVD event to patients with varying health literacy. Converting the probability to heart age is increasingly used to promote lifestyle change, but a rapid review of biological age interventions found no clear evidence that they motivate behavior change.ObjectiveIn this review, we aim to identify the content and effects of heart age interventions.MethodsWe conducted a systematic review of studies presenting heart age interventions to adults for CVD risk communication in April 2020 (later updated in March 2021). The Johanna Briggs risk of bias assessment tool was applied to randomized studies. Behavior change techniques described in the intervention methods were coded.ResultsFrom a total of 7926 results, 16 eligible studies were identified; these included 5 randomized web-based experiments, 5 randomized clinical trials, 2 mixed methods studies with quantitative outcomes, and 4 studies with qualitative analysis. Direct comparisons between heart age and absolute risk in the 5 web-based experiments, comprising 5514 consumers, found that heart age increased positive or negative emotional responses (4/5 studies), increased risk perception (4/5 studies; but not necessarily more accurate) and recall (4/4 studies), reduced credibility (2/3 studies), and generally had no effect on lifestyle intentions (4/5 studies). One study compared heart age and absolute risk to fitness age and found reduced lifestyle intentions for fitness age. Heart age combined with additional strategies (eg, in-person or phone counseling) in applied settings for 9582 patients improved risk control (eg, reduced cholesterol levels and absolute risk) compared with usual care in most trials (4/5 studies) up to 1 year. However, clinical outcomes were no different when directly compared with absolute risk (1/1 study). Mixed methods studies identified consultation time and content as important outcomes in actual consultations using heart age tools. There were differences between people receiving an older heart age result and those receiving a younger or equal to current heart age result. The heart age interventions included a wide range of behavior change techniques, and conclusions were sometimes biased in favor of heart age with insufficient supporting evidence. The risk of bias assessment indicated issues with all randomized clinical trials.ConclusionsThe findings of this review provide little evidence that heart age motivates lifestyle behavior change more than absolute risk, but either format can improve clinical outcomes when combined with other behavior change strategies. The label for the heart age concept can affect outcomes and should be pretested with the intended audience. Future research should consider consultation time and differentiate between results of older and younger heart age.International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID)NPRR2-10.1101/2020.05.03.20089938

MouseView.js: Reliable and valid attention tracking in web-based experiments using a cursor-directed aperture

Psychological research is increasingly moving online, where web-based studies allow for data collection at scale. Behavioural researchers are well supported by existing tools for participant recruitment, and for building and running experiments with decent timing. However, not all techniques are portable to the Internet: While eye tracking works in tightly controlled lab conditions, webcam-based eye tracking suffers from high attrition and poorer quality due to basic limitations like webcam availability, poor image quality, and reflections on glasses and the cornea. Here we present MouseView.js, an alternative to eye tracking that can be employed in web-based research. Inspired by the visual system, MouseView.js blurs the display to mimic peripheral vision, but allows participants to move a sharp aperture that is roughly the size of the fovea. Like eye gaze, the aperture can be directed to fixate on stimuli of interest. We validated MouseView.js in an online replication (N = 165) of an established free viewing task (N = 83 existing eye-tracking datasets), and in an in-lab direct comparison with eye tracking in the same participants (N = 50). Mouseview.js proved as reliable as gaze, and produced the same pattern of dwell time results. In addition, dwell time differences from MouseView.js and from eye tracking correlated highly, and related to self-report measures in similar ways. The tool is open-source, implemented in JavaScript, and usable as a standalone library, or within Gorilla, jsPsych, and PsychoJS. In sum, MouseView.js is a freely available instrument for attention-tracking that is both reliable and valid, and that can replace eye tracking in certain web-based psychological experiments.

A Web-Based Auditory and Visual Emotion Perception Task Experiment With Children and a Comparison of Lab Data and Web Data

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the significance of online research has been rising in the field of psychology. However, online experiments with child participants are rare compared to those with adults. In this study, we investigated the validity of web-based experiments with child participants 4–12 years old and adult participants. They performed simple emotional perception tasks in an experiment designed and conducted on the Gorilla Experiment Builder platform. After short communication with each participant via Zoom videoconferencing software, participants performed the auditory task (judging emotion from vocal expression) and the visual task (judging emotion from facial expression). The data collected were compared with data collected in our previous similar laboratory experiment, and similar tendencies were found. For the auditory task in particular, we replicated differences in accuracy perceiving vocal expressions between age groups and also found the same native language advantage. Furthermore, we discuss the possibility of using online cognitive studies for future developmental studies.

Imagining How Lines Were Drawn: The Appreciation of Calligraphy and the Facilitative Factor Based on the Viewer's Rating and Heart Rate.

For this study, we examined how recognizing the writing process of calligraphy influences the cognitive and affective processes related to appreciating it, with the aim of contributing to both graphonomics and the psychology of aesthetics. To this end, we conducted two Web-based experiments in which some participants were instructed to view calligraphy by tracing it with their eyes (the tracing method), while others were told to feel free to think and imagine whatever they wanted. Study 1 (N = 103) revealed that the tracing method elicits stronger admiration, inspiration, and empathy in viewers. Study 2 (N = 87) showed that the tracing method decreases the average heart rate of those who do not frequently engage in calligraphy appreciation as they gaze at calligraphy for a minute-and-a-half (during the second half of the stimulus duration); this suggests that the tracing method could keep viewers from becoming bored while looking at calligraphy. In sum, the tracing method has positive effects on viewing calligraphy. From a broader perspective, the results imply that how in detail viewers recognize the process of creating an artwork will be a key determinant of art appreciation. In addition, our findings demonstrate how we can measure cardiac activities using the emerging technology of the photoplethysmogram (PPG).

On the Correlation of Context-Aware Language Models With the Intelligibility of Polish Target Words to Czech Readers

This contribution seeks to provide a rational probabilistic explanation for the intelligibility of words in a genetically related language that is unknown to the reader, a phenomenon referred to as intercomprehension. In this research domain, linguistic distance, among other factors, was proved to correlate well with the mutual intelligibility of individual words. However, the role of context for the intelligibility of target words in sentences was subject to very few studies. To address this, we analyze data from web-based experiments in which Czech (CS) respondents were asked to translate highly predictable target words at the final position of Polish sentences. We compare correlations of target word intelligibility with data from 3-g language models (LMs) to their correlations with data obtained from context-aware LMs. More specifically, we evaluate two context-aware LM architectures: Long Short-Term Memory (LSTMs) that can, theoretically, take infinitely long-distance dependencies into account and Transformer-based LMs which can access the whole input sequence at the same time. We investigate how their use of context affects surprisal and its correlation with intelligibility.

An inductive experimental approach to developing a web-based travel survey builder: developing guidelines to design an efficient web-survey platform

ABSTRACT The household travel survey (HTS) is the most widely used passenger travel data collection method, and web-based HTS is currently the most dominant survey mode. However, there is a lack of proper understanding on how much the web-based approach can be used without over-burdening respondents. This study investigates methods to improve web-based HTS data quality and to reduce response burdens. It presents the lessons learned from the development and field experiment of a web survey builder. A particular focus is on designing and testing a trip diary interface through usability tests. These tests include a mouse-movement tracking study, mock web-based HTS experiments with responsive designs, and the use of a route planner application programming interface (API). Results show that creating responsive designs for web-surveys based on screen size can significantly increase completion rates and improve the usability. Collecting detailed routes with a route planner API suggesting most likely routes does not significantly increase respondent fatigue. However, it significantly improves data quality. Household size and the age of the survey respondent are significant contributing factors to survey drop-off rates and respondent fatigue. The paper contributes to the literature on household travel surveys by providing evidence-based design guidelines for web-survey interfaces.

Are there segmental and tonal effects on syntactic encoding? Evidence from structural priming in Mandarin

• The Mandarin Ba-SVO transitive alternation shows structural priming. • There is a lexical, but not a semantic, boost of such priming. • The phonological boost of such priming does not depend on orthographic overlap. • Syllabic overlap promotes structural priming while tonal overlap is not. • Phonological (and lexical) overlap facilitates word order encoding. Numerous studies have established that speakers tend to form utterances by reusing previously experienced sentence structures (i.e., structural priming). It was also frequently found that the repetition of lexical items enhances structural priming (i.e., lexical boost). This facilitation effect occurs not only when there is a full overlap of verbs, but also when one level of the lexical representation (semantic or phonological representation) overlaps between the prime and the target. In the current study, we further scrutinize the phonological overlap effect on structural priming. We asked whether the phonological effect is independent of orthographic overlap, and whether it is driven by overlap of segments, tone, or both. In five structural priming experiments (three lab-based, two web-based experiments), native Mandarin speakers were instructed to describe transitive pictures after receiving SVO or SOV “ba” prime sentences. In Experiment 1, prime and target verbs had lexical overlap (e.g., 脱[tuo1, to take off]-脱[tuo1] ), semantic overlap (e.g., 卸[xie4, to remove]-脱[tuo1] ), phonological overlap (e.g., 拖[tuo1, to mop]-脱[tuo1] ), or no overlap (e.g., 打[da3, to beat]-脱[tuo1] ) while similarities at other levels were carefully avoided. There were structural priming and lexical boost effects, but semantic or phonological overlap did not boost priming. In two further lab-based experiments and their large-scale online replications, verbs in prime and target had full phonological overlap (segmental + tonal, e.g., 拖[tuo1]-脱[tuo1] ), syllabic overlap only (e.g., [tuo2, to carry]-脱[tuo1] ), tonal overlap only ( 称[cheng1, to weigh]-脱[tuo1] ), or no overlap. All four experiments showed structural priming, which was boosted by full phonological overlap. The syllabic overlap exerted a significant facilitation effect on structural priming, whereas no tonal effect was found. Together, these results indicate that processing at the phonological level feeds back to syntactic encoding in sentence production, which further supports an interactive view of language production.

Blockchain-Based Data Sharing for Decentralized Tourism Destinations Recommendation System

One thing that tourists need to plan their tourism activities is a recommendation system. The tourism destinations recommendation system in this study has three primary nodes, namely user, server, and sensor. Each node requires the ability to share data to produce recommendations that the user expects through their mobile devices. In this paper, we propose the data-sharing system scheme uses a blockchain-based decentralized network that each node can be connected directly to each other, to support the exchange of data between them. The block architecture used in the blockchain network has three main parts, namely block information, hashes, and data. Each type of node has a different structure and direction of data communication. Where the user node sends destination assessment data to the server node, then the server node sends data from the machine learning process to the user node. The sensor sends dynamic data about popularity, traffic, and weather to the user node as consideration for finalizing the generating recommendations process. In the process of sending data, each node in the blockchain network goes through several functions, including hashing, block validation, chaining block, and broadcast. We conduct web-based experiments and analysis of the data-sharing system to illustrate the system works. The experimental results show that the system handles data circulation with an average time of mine is 84.5 ms in sending multi-criteria assessment data from the user and 119.1 ms in sending data of machine learning result from the server.

On twittizens and city residents

Abstract The present study analyses native speaker perceptions of the differences in the semantic structure of compounds and blends to specify whether the formal differences between compounds and blends are reflected on the semantic level. Viewpoints on blending vary, with some researchers considering it to be an instance of compounding (Kubozono, 1990), while others identify blending as an interim word formation mechanism between compounding and shortening (López Rúa, 2004). The semantic characteristics of English determinative blends and N+N subordinative compounds are compared by evaluating the differences in native speakers’ perceptions of the semantic relationships between constituents of the analysed structures. The results of two web-based experiments demonstrate that readers’ interpretations of both compounds and blends differ in terms of lexical indicators of semantic relations between the elements of these units. The experimental findings indicate that language users’ interpretation of both compounds and blends includes information on semantic relationships. The differences in the effect of the semantic relations on interpretations is likely to be connected to the degree of formal transparency of these units.

A new jsPsych plugin for psychophysics, providing accurate display duration and stimulus onset asynchrony.

A JavaScript framework named 'jsPsych' developed by de Leeuw (2015) is widely used for conducting Web-based experiments, and its functionality can be enhanced by using plugins. This article introduces a new jsPsych plugin which enables experimenters to set different onset times for geometric figures, images, sounds, and moving objects, and present them synchronized with the refresh of the display. Moreover, this study evaluated the stimulus onset asynchronies (SOAs) using visual and audio stimuli. The results showed that: (i) the deviations from the intended SOAs between two visual stimuli were less than 10 ms, (ii) the variability across browser-computer combinations was reduced compared with the no-plugin condition, and (iii) the variability of the SOAs between visual and audio stimuli was relatively large (about 50 ms). This study concludes that although the use of audio stimuli is somewhat limited, the new plugin provides experimenters with useful and accurate methods for conducting psychophysical experiments online. The latest version of the plugin can be downloaded freely from https://jspsychophysics.hes.kyushu-u.ac.jp under the MIT license.

I know what you're probably going to say: Listener adaptation to variable use of uncertainty expressions

Pragmatic theories of utterance interpretation share the assumption that listeners reason about alternative utterances that a speaker could have produced, but didn't. For such reasoning to be successful, listeners must have precise expectations about a speaker's production choices. This is at odds with the considerable variability across speakers that exists at all levels of linguistic representation. This tension can be reconciled by listeners adapting to the statistics of individual speakers. While linguistic adaptation is increasingly widely attested, semantic/pragmatic adaptation is underexplored. Moreover, what kind of representations listeners update during semantic/pragmatic adaptation – estimates of the speaker's lexicon, or estimates of the speaker's utterance preferences – remains poorly understood. In this work, we investigate semantic/pragmatic adaptation in the domain of uncertainty expressions like might and probably. In a series of web-based experiments, we find 1) that listeners vary in their expectations about a generic speaker's use of uncertainty expressions; 2) that listeners rapidly update their expectations about the use of uncertainty expressions after brief exposure to a speaker with a specific usage of uncertainty expressions; and 3) that listeners' interpretations of uncertainty expressions change after being exposed to a specific speaker. We present a novel computational model of semantic/pragmatic adaptation based on Bayesian belief updating and show, through a series of model comparisons, that semantic/pragmatic adaptation is best captured by listeners updating their beliefs both about the speaker's lexicon and their utterance preferences. This work has implications for both semantic theories of uncertainty expressions and psycholinguistic theories of adaptation: it highlights the need for dynamic semantic representations and suggests that listeners integrate their general linguistic knowledge with speaker-specific experiences to arrive at more precise interpretations.

Spelling Errors and Shouting Capitalization Lead to Additive Penalties to Trustworthiness of Online Health Information: Randomized Experiment With Laypersons.

BackgroundThe written format and literacy competence of screen-based texts can interfere with the perceived trustworthiness of health information in online forums, independent of the semantic content. Unlike in professional content, the format in unmoderated forums can regularly hint at incivility, perceived as deliberate rudeness or casual disregard toward the reader, for example, through spelling errors and unnecessary emphatic capitalization of whole words (online shouting).ObjectiveThis study aimed to quantify the comparative effects of spelling errors and inappropriate capitalization on ratings of trustworthiness independently of lay insight and to determine whether these changes act synergistically or additively on the ratings.MethodsIn web-based experiments, 301 UK-recruited participants rated 36 randomized short stimulus excerpts (in the format of information from an unmoderated health forum about multiple sclerosis) for trustworthiness using a semantic differential slider. A total of 9 control excerpts were compared with matching error-containing excerpts. Each matching error-containing excerpt included 5 instances of misspelling, or 5 instances of inappropriate capitalization (shouting), or a combination of 5 misspelling plus 5 inappropriate capitalization errors. Data were analyzed in a linear mixed effects model.ResultsThe mean trustworthiness ratings of the control excerpts ranged from 32.59 to 62.31 (rating scale 0-100). Compared with the control excerpts, excerpts containing only misspellings were rated as being 8.86 points less trustworthy, those containing inappropriate capitalization were rated as 6.41 points less trustworthy, and those containing the combination of misspelling and capitalization were rated as 14.33 points less trustworthy (P<.001 for all). Misspelling and inappropriate capitalization show an additive effect.ConclusionsDistinct indicators of incivility independently and additively penalize the perceived trustworthiness of online text independently of lay insight, eliciting a medium effect size.

The interplay of management response and individual power in digital service environments from a bystander's perspective

PurposeThis study aims to investigate bystanders' perceptions and reactions to management responses to consumer complaints through digital service channels. Specific purposes are to examine how management response (i.e. warmth, competence) and individual differences (i.e. bystander power) work together to influence bystanders' information processing of service recovery.Design/methodology/approachThis research consists of two main studies which employed web-based experiments. Both studies used a 2 (management response: warmth vs competence) × 2 (individual power: low vs high) between-subjects design. A total of 240 participants were recruited from Amazon's Mechanical Turk platform in Study 1, and 233 participants were recruited from a market research company in Study 2.FindingsStudy 1 suggested that for the high-power group, warmth-related responses increased service perceptions (perceived diagnosticity and perceived fairness), and for low-power group, competence-related responses enhanced service perceptions. Study 2 confirmed the results of Study 1 and further demonstrated bystanders' service perceptions as the underlying mechanisms to connect the interactive effect of management response and individual power on satisfaction with complaint handling and WOM intentions.Practical implicationsThe current research demonstrates how companies can effectively manage customers' experiences (i.e. bystanders' experiences) with service recovery management on digital platforms by demonstrating effective management responses to consumer complaints through digital service channels.Originality/valueTo the best of our knowledge, this is the first study that explores bystanders' individual characteristics related to the information processing of service recovery through digital service channels.

Individual differences in reaction times and web-based experiments

Individual differences in reaction times and web-based experiments

Advantages and disadvantages of conducting Web-based experiments and the knowledge required to create the programs

Advantages and disadvantages of conducting Web-based experiments and the knowledge required to create the programs

Conducting Web-Based Experiments for Numerical Cognition Research.

It is becoming increasingly popular and straightforward to collect data in cognitive psychology through web-based studies. In this paper, I review issues around web-based data collection for the purpose of numerical cognition research. Provided that the desired type of data can be collected through a web-browser, such online studies offer numerous advantages over traditional forms of physical lab-based data collection, such as gathering data from larger sample sizes in shorter time-windows and easier access to non-local populations. I then present results of two replication studies that employ classical paradigms in numerical cognition research: the number-size congruity paradigm and comparison to a given standard, which also included a masked priming manipulation. In both replications, reaction times and error rates were comparable to original, physical lab-based studies. Consistent with the results of original studies, a distance effect, a congruity effect, and a priming effect were observed. Data collected online thus offers a level of reliability comparable to data collected in a physical lab when it comes to questions in numerical cognition.

Competitive Frames and Accuracy Motivations

Abstract. To examine the psychological mechanisms involved in value framing effects, the present study extends previous research on competitive frames and tests the mediating role of ambivalence in value framing effects. The current research delves into the nuances of value framing effects and helps explain processes such as applicability. Two web-based experiments were conducted using value frames related to two different issues, civil liberties and gay rights. Findings from moderated-mediation models indicate that when individuals are exposed to competitive frames they feel ambivalent. Because of this ambivalence, participants were more willing to seek information and showed increased online information-seeking behavior. However, these findings are true only in cases of individuals who are motivated to process the information. Implications are discussed.

The Potential of Blockchain Technology for Health Information Exchange: Experimental Study From Patients' Perspectives.

BackgroundNowadays, a number of mechanisms and tools are being used by health care organizations and physicians to electronically exchange the personal health information of patients. The main objectives of different methods of health information exchange (HIE) are to reduce health care costs, minimize medical errors, and improve the coordination of interorganizational information exchange across health care entities. The main challenges associated with the common HIE systems are privacy concerns, security risks, low visibility of system transparency, and lack of patient control. Blockchain technology is likely to disrupt the current information exchange models utilized in the health care industry.ObjectiveLittle is known about patients’ perceptions and attitudes toward the implementation of blockchain-enabled HIE networks, and it is still not clear if patients (as one of the main HIE stakeholders) are likely to opt in to the applications of this technology in HIE initiatives. Thus, this study aimed at exploring the core value of blockchain technology in the health care industry from health care consumers’ views.MethodsTo recognize the potential applications of blockchain technology in health care practices, we designed 16 information exchange scenarios for controlled Web-based experiments. Overall, 2013 respondents participated in 16 Web-based experiments. Each experiment described an information exchange condition characterized by 4 exchange mechanisms (ie, direct, lookup, patient-centered, and blockchain), 2 types of health information (ie, sensitive vs nonsensitive), and 2 types of privacy policy (weak vs strong).ResultsThe findings show that there are significant differences in patients’ perceptions of various exchange mechanisms with regard to patient privacy concern, trust in competency and integrity, opt-in intention, and willingness to share information. Interestingly, participants hold a favorable attitude toward the implementation of blockchain-based exchange mechanisms for privacy protection, coordination, and information exchange purposes. This study proposed the potentials and limitations of a blockchain-based attempt in the HIE context.ConclusionsThe results of this research should be of interest to both academics and practitioners. The findings propose potential limitations of a blockchain-based HIE that should be addressed by health care organizations to exchange personal health information in a secure and private manner. This study can contribute to the research in the blockchain area and enrich the literature on the use of blockchain in HIE efforts. Practitioners can also identify how to leverage the benefit of blockchain to promote HIE initiatives nationwide.