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Background We propose a new clinical assessment tool constructed using machine learning, called the Shoulder Arthroplasty Smart (SAS) score to quantify outcomes following total shoulder arthroplasty (TSA). Methods Clinical data from 3667 TSA patients with 8104 postoperative follow-up reports were used to quantify the psychometric properties of validity, responsiveness, and clinical interpretability for the proposed SAS score and each of the Simple Shoulder Test (SST), Constant, American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons Standardized Shoulder Assessment Form (ASES), University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), and Shoulder Pain and Disability Index (SPADI) scores. Results Convergent construct validity was demonstrated, with all 6 outcome measures being moderately to highly correlated preoperatively and highly correlated postoperatively when quantifying TSA outcomes. The SAS score was most correlated with the UCLA score and least correlated with the SST. No clinical outcome score exhibited significant floor effects preoperatively or postoperatively or significant ceiling effects preoperatively; however, significant ceiling effects occurred postoperatively for each of the SST (44.3%), UCLA (13.9%), ASES (18.7%), and SPADI (19.3%) measures. Ceiling effects were more pronounced for anatomic than reverse TSA, and generally, men, younger patients, and whites who received TSA were more likely to experience a ceiling effect than TSA patients who were female, older, and of non-white race or ethnicity. The SAS score had the least number of patients with floor and ceiling effects and also exhibited no response bias in any patient characteristic analyzed in this study. Regarding clinical interpretability, patient satisfaction anchor-based thresholds for minimal clinically importance difference and substantial clinical benefit were quantified for all 6 outcome measures; the SAS score thresholds were most similar in magnitude to the Constant score. Regarding responsiveness, all 6 outcome measures detected a large effect, with the UCLA exhibiting the most responsiveness and the SST exhibiting the least. Finally, each of the SAS, ASES, Constant, and SPADI scores had similarly large standardized response mean and effect size responsiveness. Discussion The 6-question SAS score is an efficient TSA-specific outcome measure with equivalent or better validity, responsiveness, and clinical interpretability as 5 other historical assessment tools. The SAS score has an appropriate response range without floor or ceiling effects and without bias in any target patient characteristic, unlike the age, gender, or race/ethnicity bias observed in the ceiling scores with the other outcome measures. Because of these substantial benefits, we recommend the use of the new SAS score for quantifying TSA outcomes.

Background A parental history of major depressive disorder (MDD) is an established risk factor for MDD in youth, and clarifying the mechanisms related to familial risk transmission is critical. Aberrant reward processing is a promising biomarker of MDD risk; accordingly, the aim of this study was to test behavioral measures of reward responsiveness and underlying frontostriatal resting activity in healthy adolescents both with (high-risk) and without (low-risk) a maternal history of MDD. Methods Low-risk and high-risk 12- to 14-year-old adolescents completed a probabilistic reward task (n = 74 low-risk, n = 27 high-risk) and a resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging scan (n = 61 low-risk, n = 25 high-risk). Group differences in response bias toward reward and resting ventral striatal and medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) fractional amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations (fALFFs) were examined. Computational modeling was applied to dissociate reward sensitivity from learning rate. Results High-risk adolescents showed a blunted response bias compared with low-risk adolescents. Computational modeling analyses revealed that relative to low-risk adolescents, high-risk adolescents exhibited reduced reward sensitivity but similar learning rate. Although there were no group differences in ventral striatal and mPFC fALFFs, groups differed in their relationships between mPFC fALFFs and response bias. Specifically, among high-risk adolescents, higher mPFC fALFFs correlated with a blunted response bias, whereas there was no fALFFs–response bias relationship among low-risk youths. Conclusions High-risk adolescents exhibit reward functioning impairments, which are associated with mPFC fALFFs. The blunted response bias–mPFC fALFFs association may reflect an excessive mPFC-mediated suppression of reward-driven behavior, which may potentiate MDD risk.

Background The mental health toll of a second lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic has not been yet examined. The purpose of the study was to examine psychological predictors before the second lockdown and their impact on the prediction of ICD-11 probable Adjustment Disorder (AjD) after the second lockdown.\ud \ud Methods Using a longitudinal design we surveyed a national representative sample of the Israeli population before and after the second lockdown. In wave 1, 1029 were surveyed (Response Rate (RR) = 76.17%) and in Wave 2, 764 were surveyed (RR = 74.24%). Participants answer a questionnaire tapping COVID-19 stressful related events, uncertainty, probable depression predicting ICD-11 and probable AjD.\ud \ud Results The main predictors of AjD after the second lockdown were sex (OR = 1.868; p ≤0.01), having a COVID-19 occupational related stressful event (OR = 2.855; p

Decision making in risky driving contexts is mainly guided by automatic processes. This requires the previous learning of cognitive rules and heuristics. The acquisition of safer cognitive heuristics depends on previous experience and adequate feedback to our responses. The first aim of this research was to analyze the effect of negative feedback on risk evaluation and decision processes in dangerous and harmless driving contexts. The second aim was to demonstrate the influence of prior experience upon the process of decision-making and feedback, comparing individuals with and without driving experience. One hundred and three participants (with and without driving license) were required to evaluate a set of 120 driving images with respect to the risk level of the situations and decide whether to brake or not. Half of the participants received negative feedback. The results showed that decisions were faster and more accurate than evaluations, and both were improved by the effect of feedback and previous experience in risk situations. However, the same feedback resulted in inaccurate risk evaluations and decisions in harmless situations. The cognitive processes underlying these effects point to a response bias rather than to discriminative factors. These results clarify the effect of negative feedback and previous experience on different phases of the decision-making process, showing the importance of these factors for the automatic processes and cognitive heuristics implied in driving. Our findings have potentially important applied value in the promotion of safe driving practices.

Background The objective of this longitudinal study was to examine the gender differences in college students' depression, anxiety, and stress over the four academic years, and to explore possible anxiety-related factors among first year students. Methods The study analyzed 1892 undergraduate students from 15 universities in China, with 898 females and 994 males. The students have been followed for four years and completed a survey containing the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale-21 questionnaire, students’ socio-demographic information, and their educational background, etc. Results (1) On average, both female and male college students suffered from mild anxiety in the first three years. Female students scored significantly higher in anxiety than males in the first and second years, and there was no significant gender difference in students’ average depression and stress levels. (2) A significantly larger proportion of female students experienced anxiety above the normal threshold, whereas a higher percentage of male students endured different degrees of depression; no significant gender differences were found in stress problems. (3) Anxiety had a significant positive correlation with introversion. Female freshmen's anxiety levels were also associated with their body image, drinking habits, and academic performance. Limitations Response bias may exist considering that self-reported data was used. Due to data unavailability, we only explored the anxiety-related factors in freshman year, which cannot sufficiently reflect the consistency of correlations over time. Conclusions Anxiety turned out to be the most prevalent and serious issue for college students, especially for female students; while a growing prevalence of depression was found among male students during college. It is of great significance to adopt collegiate policies reflecting the gender differentials.

The inclusion of attitudinal questions in surveys to determine the effects of the psychological dimension is becoming increasingly important in travel behavior research. However, the occurrence of response bias must be taken into account when determining the psychological characteristics. Especially unmotivated participants have the option to run different answer strategies in item sets that query attitudes. With this study, we analyze variations of response bias and carry out an international comparison to identify cultural differences. For this purpose, we use a standardized survey design conducted in Shanghai (China), Berlin (Germany) and San Francisco (USA) and investigate response behavior to psychological questions. Different measurement methods are used to identify certain response patterns. By modifying an existing algorithm, we combine several aspects of response bias into one indicator. Based on an ordered logit regression, we analyze factors influencing response behavior. As a central outcome, people from Shanghai and San Francisco tend to show more suspicious response behavior than people from Berlin. Since the transferability of surveys has to be seen against the background of different linguistic and cultural interpretations, we investigated these peculiarities through a qualitative follow-up study in China. We conclude that international studies must also take into account social and cultural conditions, since a mere translation of attitudinal questions is not enough. This paper underlines the importance of such studies of response behavior, especially in an international comparison, in order to allow interpretations of survey results. Hints and recommendations for further research are given.

Safety researchers often rely on employee surveys, which are susceptible to impression management. The purpose of this investigation was to estimate the prevalence of impression management in self-report measures of workplace safety constructs in three distinct samples. Results from an initial sample of research laboratory personnel indicated that impression management accounted for 28% of the variance in the relationships among safety constructs. In a second sample of research laboratory personnel, impression management was significantly related to safety constructs even after controlling for personality trait variance and accounted for more variance (35%) in the safety construct relationships than what was found in the first sample. A third sample of oil and gas personnel provided less support for the biasing effect of impression management, accounting for 11% of the variance in safety construct relationships. Overall, these data suggest that impression management accounts for up to one-third of the variance in workplace safety construct relationships. Safety researchers should seek to replicate these findings, examine interventions to reduce the prevalence and impact of impression management, and identify alternative sources or methods of assessment.

Analysis of data arising from the same-different test method can be submitted to Thurstonian-derived modelling with the goal of estimating the sensory distance between two products (thediscriminal distance δ) and the response bias for responding “same” (τ). Previously it has been proposed that it is possible to use τ estimates from same-different test data to represent the consumer-relevant effect size, and thus be used as a criterion for evaluating sensory equivalency, including with other sensory discrimination test methods, such as the tetrad test method. In this paper we explore that proposal. Additionally we investigate δ and τ as bivariate parameters that are estimated with joint uncertainty. In a central-location test, untrained assessors (n = 292) from a commercial consumer database evaluated samples of polyurethane foams by pressing on the samples by hand. All assessors completed six same-different and six tetrad tests using an experimental design to balance the order of test methods and sample presentation orders. The τ estimates obtained from the same-different test method were large compared to what is usually observed in evaluations of food and beverage products that are evaluated by mouth. Estimates of δ were also large, indicating that many foam contrasts were discriminated readily, leading to lower precision of measurement. Estimates of δ from the same-different test method were larger than estimates of δ from the tetrad test method. Bootstrap simulations visualized the bivariate uncertainty of the parameter estimates. This evidence discourages the use of the estimate of τ from same-different data to contextualize estimates of δ from the same data, and strongly discourages using τ from same-different test data to contextualize estimates for δ from the tetrad test data without adjustment for test method. Findings raise questions about whether or not Thurstonian-derived parameter estimates for the same-different and tetrad test methods lie onthe same psychological continuum.

Anhedonia (i.e., the attenuated ability to enjoy pleasurable stimuli) characterizes multiple mood disorders, but its neurophysiological underpinnings are not yet clear. Here, we measured event-related potentials in 116 adolescents and young adults engaged in an asymmetric reinforcement procedure designed to objectively characterize the anhedonic phenotype. In line with previous studies, the behavioral results showed that approximately 35% of the sample did not develop a response bias towards the more frequently rewarded stimuli (a sign of low hedonic capacity). The event-related potentials (ERPs) evoked by the reward feedback stimuli delivered during the task showed that individuals that did not develop a response bias had less cortical positivity at Fz from 224 ms to 316 ms post feedback onset compared to those that developed a response bias during the task. However, further analyses showed that this between groups difference was relatively weak, as it disappeared when we controlled for response-locked ERPs. Furthermore, the response bias observed in the asymmetric reinforcement procedure was not strongly associated with self-reported ratings of hedonic capacity. We conclude that even though the asymmetric reinforcement procedure may be used as a reward sensitivity measure in neurotypical adolescents and young adults, this task may only be able to detect clinically significant levels of anhedonia in this particular population.

We test the proposition that response bias can have two different bases; reflecting either differing beliefs about the a priori likelihood of competing response alternatives, or their relative utilities. In evidence accumulation models, these two types of bias are thought to manifest as variations in the starting point for accumulation and threshold for responding, respectively. Although these two mechanisms are indistinguishable for linear accumulators in terms of accuracy and RT, Vickers’ (1979) balance-of-evidence hypothesis predicts they have dissociable effects on confidence. We derived ten ordinal predictions from these models and confirmed them at the level of group averages using traditional ANOVA analyses of results from a new experiment that manipulated the probability of correct responses and the rewards associated with them. However, individual effects were more variable, particularly with respect to the reward manipulation. We then used Bamber’s (1979) state–trace analysis to test the predicted dissociations using Bayes factors developed by Prince, Brown and Heathcote (2012) and Davis-Stober, Morey and Heathcote (2016). Once again, we found support at the aggregate level but more equivocal results for individuals. We discuss why individual results are to be preferred over aggregate results in state–trace analysis and draw the lesson that tailored designs are needed to obtain clear results from individual state–trace analyses.

Background: The use of patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) has become a mainstay of orthopedic joint arthroplasty research. Large studies with >1000 participants are vital to orthopedic research, as they allow for comprehensive multivariable analysis. Achieving high follow-up rates minimizes potential response bias. Maintaining adequate follow-up rates becomes more challenging as sample size increases. We aimed to systematically review the present literature to determine the follow-up rates of large cohorts/registries of total joint arthroplasty patients and to identify factors associated with successful collection of PROMs. Methods: A comprehensive literature search of PubMed, EMBASE, and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials was conducted according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. Inclusion criteria were: ≥1000 participants, ≥6 months of postoperative follow-up, and use of validated PROMs postoperatively. Results: Of 720 abstracts screened, 21 studies met inclusion criteria. Only 2 studies reported achieving a PROM follow-up rate ≥80%, but neither collected PROMs preoperatively. The median rate of follow-up was 70%, and the median number of patients was 2970. Only 38% (8 of 21) of studies collected baseline PROMs prior to surgery. Conclusions: Very few studies in the present literature have collected validated PROMs on ≥1000 patients with ≥80% follow-up; these parameters are conducive to comprehensive multivariable analysis, while maintaining study validity and avoiding follow-up bias. Federal funding and a central coordinating site may be helpful in achieving follow-up in studies of this magnitude. Level of Evidence: Level III, systematic review of studies with Level of Evidence I-III. Keywords: Arthroplasty, Knee, Hip, Patient-reported outcomes

In intonation languages, pitch accents are associated with stressed syllables, therefore accentuation is a sufficient cue to the position of metrical stress in perception. This paper investigates how stress perception in German is affected by different pitch accent types (with different f0 alignments). Experiment 1 showed more errors in stress identification when f0 peaks and stressed syllables were not aligned – despite phonological association of pitch accent and stressed syllable. Erroneous responses revealed a response bias towards the syllable with the f0 peak. In a visual-world eye-tracking study (Experiment 2), listeners fixated a stress competitor with initial stress more when the spoken target, which had penultimate stress, was realized with an early-peak accent (f0 peak preceding stressed syllable), compared to a condition with the f0 peak on the stressed syllable. Hence, high-pitched unstressed syllables are temporarily interpreted as stressed – a process directly affecting lexical activation. To investigate whether this stress competitor activation is guided by the frequent co-occurrence of high f0 and lexical stress, Experiment 3 increased the frequency of low-pitched stressed syllables in the immediate input. The effect of intonation on competitor fixations disappeared. Our findings are discussed with respect to a frequency-based mechanism and their implications for the nature of f0 processing.

Cue-based memory retrieval models have come to dominate theories of how linguistic dependencies such as subject-verb agreement are formed in comprehension. A cornerstone of the arguments in favor of such models is the grammaticality asymmetry in agreement attraction—the observation that non-subject noun phrases may interfere with the computation of agreement in ungrammatical, but not grammatical, sentences. This asymmetry is most often accounted for via the interaction of categorical number marking and the dynamics of retrieval interference. In the present paper, we challenge this interpretation of the grammaticality asymmetry, and instead argue that it is an artifact of response bias. In three forced-choice judgment experiments, we show that neutralizing response bias eliminates the grammaticality asymmetry in speeded acceptability judgments. We argue that this finding, together with the response time patterns in our experiments, favors an account that attributes attraction effects to a continuous representation of number, rather than to the dynamics of cue-based retrieval. We implement a model of grammaticality judgments, which links the continuous representation of subject number to the rate of evidence accumulation in a diffusion process. This model accounts for the presence or absence of the grammaticality asymmetry through shifts in the decisional starting point (i.e. response bias). The results have implications for the representation of number in language production and comprehension, the role of memory in the processing of linguistic dependencies, and highlight the importance of monitoring for response bias effects in judgment tasks.

Narcissism can be conceptualized as a combination of maladaptive variants of Five-Factor Model facets which load onto three of the five factors—antagonism (i.e., low agreeableness), agentic extraversion, and narcissistic neuroticism. Much research examines approach and avoidance motivations in narcissism; however, few studies assess these processes beyond self-report. In this study we examined how antagonism, agentic extraversion, and narcissistic neuroticism relate to reward learning—thought to be a component of approach motivation. A sample of 73 nonpsychiatric participants (71% female) completed a behavioral computer-administered probabilistic reward learning task involving monetary winnings. Narcissism was measured using the Five-Factor Narcissism Inventory (FFNI), which is a measure of grandiose and vulnerable narcissism using meta-analytically related Five-Factor Model facets that were modified to reflect narcissistic themes. Results indicated that narcissistic neuroticism related to greater average reward learning (i.e., response bias) across the task. Examination at the facet level indicated that FFNI Need for Admiration was the only facet that related significantly to response bias. This finding suggests that vulnerable narcissists may be more responsive to positive self-relevant feedback because of an increased sensitivity and ability to learn implicitly from reward.

Several studies report sex differences in sensitivity to gendered stimuli. We assume many of these to reflect differences as to the sex to which one feels attracted rather than to biological sex per se. Investigating voice perception, a function of high social relevance, we show that the behavioural and neural (BOLD) responses to male and female voices are mediated by sex and sexual orientation. In heterosexual men and women, we found an opposite-sex effect, reflected in higher classification accuracy for and a response bias towards voices of the other sex, while the effect became apparent as same-sex effect in homosexual men and women. Overall, sexual orientation had a greater impact in women than in men and homosexual women were closer to men in their behavioural responses to female voices. The activation patterns were similar for hetero- and homosexual men, both groups showing increased activation in response to male compared to female voices in regions distributed across the temporo-parietal and insular cortex. In contrast, women had increased activation in response to voices of the desired sex. It appears that both sex and sexual orientation impact on a function as basal as voice perception. Our results underline the need to assess sexual orientation in study participants if conclusions on sex differences shall be drawn. Many of the reported sex differences in behaviour and brain function might be mediated by sexual orientation and we encourage further research into the interplay between sex and sexual orientation.

Respondent biases introduce measurement error into household statistics. There are two components of respondent bias in household surveys: asymmetric information between proxy respondent and the individual on whom they report and aggregation bias when a proxy respondent reports on a household-level outcome across multiple individuals. We estimate the effects of respondent biases in a randomized control trial in Burkina Faso. Survey treatments vary who reports for the household including a self-report, the household head and a randomly chosen adult proxy. We find no effects of respondent type on total landholdings reported for the household, but statistically significant effects of area cultivated by random proxy reports relative to self-reported land data (11% of the standard deviation). Household heads over-report production of cereals, but under-report labor relative to self-reported labor. Female respondents report lower levels of fertilizer and higher frequencies of crops including legumes and vegetables that women traditionally produce relative to male respondents. Across all production variables, respondent biases are not solely attributable to asymmetric information. Aggregation bias is an important component of proxy misreporting for household production variables which can be addressed through survey design choices. These causal estimates of respondent biases underscore the importance of proxy reporting protocols in surveys and improved reporting of proxy descriptive statistics in empirical work.

Background and objectives This study replicates and extends Houle-Johnson et al.’s (2019) findings to better understand the role of feedback modality, ambiguity and social anxiety in the recognition and recall of self-relevant feedback. Methods Participants gave a speech and were provided with positive, negative, and ambiguous feedback via written text, (n = 33) or recorded sentences (n = 31) and later completed a recognition and recall task for the feedback. Results Recognition (p = .80, ηp2 = 0) and recall (p = .09, ηp2 = 0.08) did not differ between written or recorded feedback. All participants demonstrated a negative response bias (p Limitations Task believability was relatively low across all participants. Conclusions Our findings suggest that modality does not influence memory for feedback. Moreover, social anxiety might be characterized by a negative bias in recall and response bias, but not necessarily increased accuracy in recognition of negative feedback.

Direct attitude questions occupy a central position in consumer research despite concerns over validity and reliability. Text highlighting is an alternative method where participants use highlighter functions to indicate content that they 'ike' and 'dislike' as they read a text. Jaeger et al. (2022) [Food Qual Prefer, 95, 104356] introduced this approach and the present research investigated it methodologically to further assess its potential for attitude measurement. There were two research questions (RQ) that asked whether: 1) highlighting responses are independent of text characteristics (length, content); and 2) consumers’ attitudes are altered by the process of completing the highlighting task. Data were collected in an online survey on vertical farming (VF) where 1466 UK consumers took part. For RQ1, results showed that word highlighting frequency was altered by textual context and decreased for longer texts. The sentiment scores for sentences were also altered, but the characteristics about VF that consumers responded positively and negatively to were minimally influenced by text length and content. For RQ2, results showed that completion of the text highlighting task did not influence attitudes to VF, meaning that the task of highlighting did not introduce response bias. Collectively, the findings of the present research further support that text highlighting has potential for attitude measurement.

Neglecting a critical auditory alarm is a major obstacle to maintaining a safe environment, especially in aviation. Earlier studies have indicated that tasks with a higher perceptual or cognitive load in the visual modality influence the processing of auditory stimuli. It is unclear, however, whether other factors, such as memory failure, active neglect, or expectancy influence the effect of cognitive load on auditory alarm detection sensitivity during aeronautical decision-making. In this study, we investigated this issue in three laboratory experiments using the technique of signal detection analysis, in which participants were asked to make a landing decision based on indicators of the instrument landing system while also trying to detect an audible alarm. We found that the sensitivity of auditory alarm detection was reduced under conditions of high cognitive load and that this effect persisted even when the auditory detection response occurred first (before the landing decision response) and when the probability of an auditory alarm was 40%. However, the sensitivity of auditory detection was not influenced by cognitive load under high expectancy conditions (60% probability of alarm presentation). Furthermore, the value of the response bias was reduced under high cognitive load conditions when the probability of an auditory alarm was low (20%). With an increase in the level of expectancy (40% and 60% probability of alarm presentation), it was found that cognitive load did not influence the response bias. These findings indicate that visual cognitive load affects the sensitivity to an auditory alarm only at a low expectancy level (20% and 40% probability of alarm presentation). The effect of cognitive load on the sensitivity to an auditory alarm was not due to memory failure or active neglect and the response bias was more sensitive to the expectancy factor.

A rich body of research points to racial biases in so-called police officer dilemma tasks: participants are generally faster and less error-prone to “shoot” (vs. not “shoot”) Black (vs. White) targets. In three experimental (and two supplemental) studies (total N = 914), we aimed at examining the cognitive processes underlying these findings under fully standardized conditions. To be able to dissect a-priori decision bias, biased information processing and motor preparation, we rendered video sequences of virtual avatars that differed in nothing but the tone of their skin. Modeling the data via drift diffusion models revealed that the threat of a social group can be explicitly learned and mapped accordingly on an a-priori response bias within the model (Study 1). Studies 2 and 3 replicated the racial shooter bias as apparent in faster reaction times in stereotype-consistent trials. This, however, appears to result from stereotype-consistent motoric preparations and execution readiness, but not from pre-judicial threat biases. The results have implications especially for automatic stereotypes in the public.

Driving behaviour is an inherently complex process affected by various factors ranging from network topography, traffic conditions and vehicle features to driver characteristics like age, experience, aggressiveness and emotional state. Among these, the effects of emotional state and stress have received considerable attention in the context of crash analysis and safety research where driving behaviour has been found to be affected by drivers’ mental state/stress, cognitive workload and distraction. However, these studies are mostly based on questionnaire surveys and self-reports which can be prone to response bias and reporting/measurement errors. The analyses are also often descriptive in nature. In a parallel stream of research, advances in sensor technologies have made it possible to observe drivers’ stress through human physiological responses, e.g. heart rate, electro-dermal activity etc. However, these studies have primarily focused on detecting stress rather than quantifying or modelling its effects on driving decisions. The present paper combines these two approaches in a single framework and investigates the gap-acceptance behaviour of drivers during an intersection crossing, using data collected using a driving simulator. The participants are deliberately subjected to stress induced by time pressure, and their stress levels are measured using two physiological indicators, namely Electrodermal Activity (skin conductance) and heart rate. In addition to statistical analyses, discrete choice models are developed to link the accept-reject choices of a driver with the driver demographics, traffic conditions and stress levels. The results of the models indicate that increased stress levels significantly increase the probabilities of accepting a gap. The improvement in model fit and safety implications derived from model estimates are also discussed. The insights from the results can be used for designing appropriate intervention strategies to improve safety.

Background Threatening and assaultive behaviors against healthcare workers are a growing national concern.1,2,3 Objective To assess the incidence and impact of aggression against healthcare workers, a safety and quality improvement project was initiated in an academic, tertiary care, urban hospital. Methods Through the Northwestern Academy of Quality and Safety Initiatives program, an invitation to complete an online survey was sent to healthcare workers. The survey inquired about prevalence, location, and type of experience of physical or verbal abuse by patients or families. Other goals were: 1) worker knowledge and use of reporting systems, 2) effect on healthcare worker engagement, and 3) report of posttraumatic symptoms. Results 34.4% of healthcare workers reported any incident of verbal or physical violence in the preceeding 12 months, with 13.5% reporting physical assault. Of those with any incident of physical or verbal violence, 60.2% endorsed at least one posttraumatic symptom, 9.4% missed work, and 30.1% had thoughts about leaving their job or career. The reported impact was the same for physical or verbal incidents. Discussion Physical and verbal abuse of healthcare workers is prevalent and has a significant impact on employee engagement and posttraumatic spectrum symptoms. These results are based on a cross-sectional survey at one institution and may have a significant selection and response bias. Conclusion Assessment of both verbal and physical aggression against healthcare workers should be standard. Front-line consulting psychiatrists and psychiatric programs for employee wellness could assess and manage this impact.

Developing impulsivity has been one of the main concerns thought to arise from the increasing popularity of video gaming. Most of the relevant literature has treated gamers as pure-genre players (i.e. those who play only a specific genre of game). However, it is not clear how impulsivity is associated with different genres of games in multi-genre gamers, given that there is increasing diversity in the games played by individuals. In this study, we compared 33 gamers to 23 non-gamers in a go/no-go task: the Continuous Performance Test (CPT). To evaluate whether or not impulsivity occurs as a trade-off between speed and accuracy, we emphasised fast performance to all participants. Then, to examine the ability to predict impulsivity from game genre-hours, we fitted separate multiple regression models to several dependent variables. As an additional measure, we also compared groups in an antisaccade task. In the CPT, gamers showed a trend towards significantly faster reaction time (RT), accompanied by higher false alarm rate (FAR) and more risk-taking response bias (β), suggesting impulsive responses. Interestingly, there was a significant negative correlation between RT and FAR across all participants, suggesting an overall speed-accuracy trade-off strategy, perhaps driven by the emphasis on speed during task instruction. Moreover, time spent on role playing games (RPG) and real-time strategy (RTS) games better predicted FAR and β than did time spent on action and puzzle games. In the antisaccade task; however, gamers showed a shorter antisaccade latency but a comparable error rate in comparison with non-gamers. There was no specific game genre which could predict performance in the antisaccade task. Altogether, there was no evidence of oculomotor impulsivity in gamers; however, the CPT results suggested the presence of impulsive responses in gamers, which might be the result of a speed-accuracy trade-off. Furthermore, there was a difference in game genres, with time spent on RPG and RTS games being accompanied by greater probability of impulsive responses. Training studies are required to investigate the causality of different video game genres on the development of impulsivity.

Hazard perception is a multi-faceted process that requires drivers to maintain awareness of a complex driving environment. Most research studies, however, utilize behavioral responses to a small number of discrete hazardous events (e.g., response to a braking lead vehicle, vehicle lane deviations, or pedestrians) to assess a driver’s hazard perception ability. The purpose of this study was to explore how performing a texting task impacts a driver’s hazard perception ability while viewing real-world driving scenes using fSDT metrics. The results showed that texting increased perceived mental workload and reduced the participants’ ability to discriminate hazards and reduced their likelihood of responding to a hazard. The results highlight changes in the hazard perception process, suggesting that distraction causes both a loss in sensitivity and a shift in response bias. Additionally, the results indicate that these shifts are at least in part, moderated by changes in cognitive load due to the secondary task and the current driving environment. These results also highlight the complexity in which distraction can impact both the allocation of cognitive resources as well as attentional selection.

Introduction: Among young adults, use of hookah tobacco (HT) is an emerging health-risk behavior. The goals were to demonstrate that (1) the prevalence of ever-use and current use of HT increased among U.S. young adults (18–30 years old) in the period from 2010 to 2015 and (2) the patterns of HT use differed across diverse demographic subpopulations of young adults. Methods: We merged and analyzed data from the 2010–2011 and 2014–2015 Tobacco Use Supplement to the Current Population Survey. The sample (n = 55,352) was representative of the young adult population in the U.S. Two binary measures were the ever and current use of HT. The significance level was 5%. Results: The rate of current use of HT increased from 1% in 2010–11 to 2% in 2014–15 (CI = 0.6%:1.1%). The rate of ever-use increased from 7% to 12% (CI = 4.2%:5.6%). The over-time increase was not uniform: the increase was most rapid among 26–30 year-old adults, non-Hispanic Black and African American adults, and in Northeastern and Midwestern U.S. regions. HT ever-use, overall, was associated (all p’s < 0.001) with many sociodemographic factors and current tobacco-use behaviors. The rate of HT ever-use was 16% for daily and 23% for occasional cigarette smokers, 23% for users of smokeless tobacco products, 37% for cigar smokers, and 55% for smokers of regular pipe (filled with tobacco). Discussion/conclusion: HT use is becoming increasingly more popular among young adults in the U.S. Methods should target not only cessation of cigarette smoking but use of all tobacco products.

The diagnosis of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is vulnerable to the simulation or exaggeration of symptoms as it depends on the individual's self-report of symptoms. The use of symptom validity tests is recommended to detect malingering in PTSD. However, in neuroimaging research, PTSD diagnosis is often taken at face validity. To date, no neuroimaging study has compared credible PTSD patients with those identified as malingering, and the potential impacts of including malingerers along with credible patients on results is unclear. We classified male patients with combat-related PTSD as either credible (n = 37) or malingerers (n = 9) based on the Morel Emotional Numbing Test and compared structural neuroimaging and psychological questionnaire data. Patients identified as malingerers had larger gray matter volumes in the hippocampus, right inferior frontal gyrus and thalamus, and reported higher PTSD symptoms than credible PTSD patients. This is the first structural neuroimaging study to compare credible PTSD patients and malingerers. We find evidence of structural differences between these groups, in regions implicated in PTSD, inhibition and deception. These results emphasize the need for the inclusion of SVTs in neuroimaging studies of PTSD to ensure future findings are not confounded by an unknown mix of valid PTSD patients and malingerers.

Background Anhedonia is a core negative symptom of schizophrenia. Schizophrenia patients report largely intact pleasure in consuming rewards, but have impairments in generating motivated behavior to pursue rewards, and show reduced fMRI activation of the reward pathway during presentation of rewarded stimuli. A computer based task measuring the development of a response bias in favor of rewarded stimuli permits assessment of reward-induced motivation. We hypothesized that subjects with schizophrenia would be impaired on this task. Methods 58 schizophrenia subjects (SCZ) and 52 healthy controls (CON) were studied with a signal detection task to assess reward responsiveness. In multiple trials over three blocks subjects were asked to correctly identify two stimuli that were paired with unequal chance of monetary reward. The critical outcome variable was response bias, the development of a greater percent correct identification of the stimulus that was rewarded more often. Results An ANOVA on response bias with Block as a repeated-measures factor and Diagnosis as a between-group factor indicated that SCZ subjects achieved a lower bias to rewarded stimuli than CON subjects (F(1,105) = 8.82, p = 0.004, η2 = 0.078). Post hoc tests indicated that SCZ subjects had significantly impaired bias in Block 1 (p = 0.002) and Block 2 (p = 0.05), indicating that SCZ were slower to achieve normal levels of bias during the session. Conclusions SCZ subjects were slower to develop response bias to rewarded stimuli than CON subjects. This finding is consonant with the hypothesis that people with schizophrenia have a blunted capacity to modify behavior in response to reward.

Selective attention is a dynamic process that rapidly shifts processing resources to information that is most relevant to our goals. Although individuals often show spatial biases in attention, these biases can be modified by both long-term factors, such as musical training, or by momentary changes in the auditory context. The present study used a visual search task to examine the influence of these factors on spatial attention biases while increasing demands on selective attention. Experiment 1 examined the effects of musical experience on baseline spatial selective attention biases during search. Individuals with little musical experience showed a typical leftward response bias that became stronger as the number of distractors increased. However, those with more musical experience showed similar responses to targets on the left and right sides, indicating an attenuation of the typical leftward spatial attention bias. Experiment 2 examined whether the addition of low- and high-frequency tones dynamically influenced participants’ spatial attention biases during visual search. Participants showed increased orienting to and scanning of left-side distractor locations in response to low-frequency tones regardless of musical experience. The present results demonstrate that spatial attention biases are dynamic and can be shaped by both long-term experiences and momentary contextual effects.

When testing risk for psychosis, we regularly rely on self-report questionnaires. Yet, the more that people know about this condition, the more they might respond defensively, in particular with regard to the more salient positive symptom dimension. In two studies, we investigated whether framing provided by questionnaire instructions might modulate responses on self-reported positive and negative schizotypy. The O-LIFE (UK study) or SPQ (New Zealand study) questionnaire was framed in either a “psychiatric”, “creativity”, or “personality” (NZ only) context. We tested psychology students (without taught knowledge about psychosis) and medical students (with taught knowledge about psychosis; UK only). We observed framing effects in psychology students in both studies: positive schizotypy scores were lower after the psychiatric compared to the creativity instruction. However, schizotypy scores did not differ between the creativity and personality framing conditions, suggesting that the low scores with psychiatric framing reflect defensive responding. The same framing effect was also observed in medical students, despite their lower positive schizotypy scores overall. Negative schizotypy scores were not affected by framing in either study. These results highlight the need to reduce response biases when studying schizotypy, because these might blur schizotypy-behaviour relationships.

Vigilance is generally understood as the ability to detect infrequent critical events through long time periods. In tasks like the Sustained Attention to Response Task (SART), participants tend to detect fewer events across time, a phenomenon known as vigilance decrement. However, vigilance might also involve sustaining a tonic arousal level. In the Psychomotor Vigilance Test (PVT), the vigilance decrement corresponds to an increment across time in both mean and variability of reaction time. New Method: The present study aimed to develop a single task Attentional Networks Test for Interactions and Vigilance executive and arousal components (ANTI-Vea) to simultaneously assess both components of vigilance (i.e., the executive vigilance as in the SART, and the arousal vigilance as in the PVT), while measuring the classic attentional functions (phasic alertness, orienting, and executive control). Results: In Experiment #1, the executive vigilance decrement was found as an increment in response bias. In Experiment #2, this result was replicated, and the arousal vigilance decrement was simultaneously observed as an increment in reaction time. Comparison with Existing Method: The ANTI-Vea solves some issues observed in the previous ANTI-V task with the executive vigilance measure (e.g., a low hit rate and no vigilance decrement). Furthermore, the new ANTI-Vea task assesses both components of vigilance together with others typical attentional functions. Conclusions: The new attentional networks test developed here may be useful to provide a better understanding of the human attentional system. The role of sensitivity and response bias in the executive vigilance decrement are discussed. Fil: Luna, Fernando Gabriel. Universidad de Granada; España. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Instituto de Investigaciones Psicológicas. - Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto de Investigaciones Psicológicas; Argentina Fil: Marino, Julián Carlos. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Psicología. Laboratorio de Psicología Cognitiva; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Instituto de Investigaciones Psicológicas. - Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto de Investigaciones Psicológicas; Argentina Fil: Roca, Javier. Universidad de Valencia; España Fil: Lupiáñez, Juan. Universidad de Granada; España

One possible hypothesis for personality differentiation is the higher reliability of high-ability individuals in typical response measures. This differential reliability has been explained as resulting from different verbal abilities as a consequence of the difficulties that low-ability individuals have in understanding items, or as the effect of response bias, or due to higher precision in the answers of high-ability individuals. The lack of an estimation of individual reliability has made it difficult to test these hypotheses. However, recent psychometric advances have made it possible to measure person reliability and thus address the issue. The present study analyses the relationships between person reliability measures and the response bias of different personality measures in measurements of intelligence in a sample of 532 adolescents. The results show that person reliability is more closely related to general intelligence than to specific abilities and that the results for low-ability individuals cannot be explained by verbal deficits or by higher levels of acquiescence or social desirability. The differential reliability of measures across ability levels therefore seems to be related to higher levels of traitedness in high-ability individuals, i.e. traits are represented in them with greater strength and clarity.

Past literature suggested that not everyone is politically sophisticated. In the current research, it is proposed that an experimental manipulation of abstract mindset would decrease variation in responses to political attitude scales and render individuals more internally consistent in their political attitudes. Three hypotheses are proposed: (1) Abstract mindset would lower within-subject standard deviations (SDs) and increase Cronbach's alphas in responses to political attitude scales; (2) decrease in SDs could not be attributed to a response bias; and (3) abstract mindset would lower SDs even after controlling for differences in mean scores on those scales. In seven experiments, five different paradigms were used to manipulate abstractness and four different political scales were used as dependent measures on samples from two distinct cultures (US and Turkey). Analyses of individual studies and an aggregate analysis of combined data supported all hypotheses and showed that abstract mindset decreases SDs and increases Cronbach's alpha scores in self-reported political attitudes. Results suggest that abstract mindset enhances apparent political sophistication by highlighting core political beliefs behind different attitudinal statements. Implications for construal level theory and political sophistication research are discussed.

Background Abnormally biased perceptual judgment is a feature of many psychiatric disorders. Thus, individuals with social anxiety disorder are biased to recall or interpret social events negatively. Cognitive behavioral therapy addresses such bias by teaching patients, via verbal instruction, to become aware of and change pathological misjudgment. The present study examined whether targeting verbal instruction to specific decision parameters that influence perceptual judgment may affect changes in anger perception. Method We used a signal detection framework to decompose anger perception into three decision parameters (base rate of encountering anger vs. no-anger, payoff for correct vs. incorrect categorization of face stimuli, and perceptual similarity of angry vs. not-angry facial expressions). We created brief verbal instructions that emphasized each parameter separately. Participants with social anxiety disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, and healthy controls, were assigned to one of the three instruction conditions. We compared anger perception pre-vs. post-instruction. Results Base rate and payoff instructions affected response bias over and above practice effects, across the three groups. There was no interaction with diagnosis. Discussion The ability to target specific decision parameters that underlie perceptual judgment suggests that cognitive behavioral therapy might be improved by tailoring it to patients’ individual parameter “estimation” deficits.

What if probabilistic-based sampling does not result in a representative sample? How can researchers overcome low respondent engagement and hypothetical choices that are perceived as being socially desirable? These questions are relevant regardless of the way primary data collection is conducted. A statistically sound sampling strategy still depends on individuals volunteering their participation. Even with extrinsic rewards, there is no guarantee the respondent will contribute an honest effort. This research reports on the data collection for a study investigating the acceptance of electric vehicles (EV) in Australia. Complementing the Western Australian Electric Vehicle Trial, this research focuses on household preferences and attitudes towards EV. The data set represents the last stage of data collection with four surveys (initially delivered to trial participants and later aimed at the broader community). An initial sample showed high interest in EV and environmentally friendly technologies, but higher education levels and higher socioeconomic status households were overrepresented. To compensate for the bias, a second sample was collected from an online panel (PureProfile). Although neither sample is representative of the population, the results from the pooled data are deemed more appropriate for understanding drivers of EV uptake in Western Australia and informing policy making accordingly.

Perception during action is optimized by sensory predictions about the likely consequences of our movements. Influential theories in social cognition propose that we use the same predictions during interaction, supporting perception of similar reactions in our social partners. However, while our own action outcomes typically occur at short, predictable delays after movement execution, the reactions of others occur at longer, variable delays in the order of seconds. To examine whether we use sensorimotor predictions to support perception of imitative reactions, we therefore investigated the temporal profile of sensory prediction during action in two psychophysical experiments. We took advantage of an influence of prediction on apparent intensity, whereby predicted visual stimuli appear brighter (more intense). Participants performed actions (e.g., index finger lift) and rated the brightness of observed outcomes congruent (index finger lift) or incongruent (middle finger lift) with their movements. Observed action outcomes could occur immediately after execution, or at longer delays likely reflective of those in natural social interaction (1800 or 3600 ms). Consistent with the previous literature, Experiment 1 revealed that congruent action outcomes were rated as brighter than incongruent outcomes. Importantly, this facilitatory perceptual effect was found irrespective of whether outcomes occurred immediately or at delay. Experiment 2 replicated this finding and demonstrated that it was not the result of response bias. These findings therefore suggest that visual predictions generated during action are sufficiently general across time to support our perception of imitative reactions in others, likely generating a range of benefits during social interaction.

The dilemma between information gathering (exploration) and reward seeking (exploitation) is a fundamental problem for reinforcement learning agents. How humans resolve this dilemma is still an open question, because experiments have provided equivocal evidence about the underlying algorithms used by humans. We show that two families of algorithms can be distinguished in terms of how uncertainty affects exploration. Algorithms based on uncertainty bonuses predict a change in response bias as a function of uncertainty, whereas algorithms based on sampling predict a change in response slope. Two experiments provide evidence for both bias and slope changes, and computational modeling confirms that a hybrid model is the best quantitative account of the data.

Implicit moral evaluations—spontaneous, unintentional judgments about the moral status of actions or persons—are thought to play a pivotal role in moral experience, suggesting a need for research to model these moral evaluations in clinical populations. Prior research reveals that the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) is a critical area underpinning affect and morality, and patients with vmPFC lesions show abnormalities in moral judgment and moral behavior. We use indirect measurement and multinomial modeling to understand differences in implicit moral evaluations among patients with vmPFC lesions. Our model quantifies multiple processes of moral judgment: implicit moral evaluations in response to distracting moral transgressions (Unintentional Judgment), accurate moral judgments about target actions (Intentional Judgment), and a directional tendency to judge actions as morally wrong (Response Bias). Compared to individuals with non-vmPFC brain damage and neurologically healthy comparisons, patients with vmPFC lesions showed a dual deficit in processes of moral judgment. First, patients with vmPFC lesions showed reduced Unintentional Judgment about moral transgressions, but not about non-moral negative affective distracters. Second, patients with vmPFC lesions showed reduced Intentional Judgment about target actions. These findings highlight the utility of a formal modeling approach in moral psychology, revealing a dual deficit in multiple component processes of moral judgment among patients with vmPFC lesions.

This study aims to investigate whether the Thurstonian Item Response Theory (TIRT), a recently developed normative scoring method, yields better validity evidence than the traditional partially ipsative scoring methods for multidimensional forced choice measures. For this purpose, we compared the construct- and criterion-related validity evidence of three different scoring methods for MFC measures, including 1) a partially ipsative method based on classical test theory (PI-CTT), 2) an analogous partially ipsative method using the graded item response theory (PI-IRT), and 3) the TIRT method. We also included in our analyses the validity evidence for a single-statement (SS) Big Five personality measures. Overall, the validity evidence for the three types of MFC scoring methods was comparable to the validity evidence for the traditional summative scoring (SS-CTT) method. Interestingly enough, the PI-CTT scoring method, the simplest method for MFC scoring, was about as effective as the more complex TIRT method. We discuss practical implications of the results and offer suggestions for future research.

Previous reviews exploring facial affect processing among forensic samples have focused on the presence of psychopathy and/or have not distinguished on the basis of offence type. In order to develop understandings about etiological processes implicated in different types of antisocial behavior, the principle aim of this review was to systematically explore facial affect processing in incarcerated violent offenders, relative to other non-violent offenders, sexual offenders, and non-offenders. Following a systematic search of electronic databases and subsequent manual search, eight studies were assessed as meeting inclusion criteria, of which seven obtained a quality score deemed acceptable for review. These studies examined recognition accuracy, sensitivity and response bias for seven emotion categories (including neutral) in incarcerated male offenders with a history of violence. Findings supported the presence of generally impaired facial affect processing among violent offenders, including deficits in fear, anger, and disgust. Overall the findings of the review did not support the presence of a hostile attribution bias among violent offenders. The review also highlights differences in sample composition, stimuli, and study designs in emotion recognition research. Recommendations are made for future work on facial affect processing in clinically relevant groups.

Contains fulltext : 237106.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Open Access) In decision-making with uncertain outcomes people may rely on external cues, such as expert advice, even if this information has no predictive value. While the fronto-parietal event-related potential (ERP) components feedback-related negativity (FRN) and P3 are associated with both reward/punishment feedback processing, the relationship between ERP modulation and expert advice during decision making remains unclear. In this double-blind sham-controlled within-subject study transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) at an intensity of 1 mA was applied to the frontal cortex in twenty-four healthy volunteers. The aim was to decrease reliance on expert advice by targeting FRN, P3a and P3b components. Following administration of frontal delta (2.5 Hz), theta (5 Hz) and sham tACS, ERPs and advice-guided decision making were evaluated. Results showed a tentative behavioral effect of delta tACS in the response bias. In contrast, theta tACS significantly lowered P3b and P3a amplitudes, but no effects of tACS were observed for the FRN. Effects on electrophysiology and advice following behavior were uncorrelated. Our findings suggest that theta tACS may modulate electrocortical signals and delta tACS advice following, yet the relationship between both remains unresolved. 11 p.

The Perceptual Awareness Scale (PAS) is often used to probe conscious experience, but the assumptions behind the scale and its validity are rarely tested. Using a continuous colour estimation task to assess perceptual quality, we focus on how well PAS follows perceptual quality and how the presence of the estimation task affects PAS ratings. We varied the number and presentation time of stimuli in a simultaneous presentation and target position in a sequential presentation. In all experiments, PAS rating closely followed colour precision. However, it was affected by task-induced response bias, even when the possible task difficulty was judged, without performing the task itself. Still, this bias was only observed on the absolute rating level rather than the scale's ability to capture changes in perceptual quality. Reported studies shed light on factors influencing scales outside of the scale formulation and construction.

Summary Decision makers in contexts as diverse as medical, judicial, and political decision making are known to differ substantially in response bias and accuracy, and these differences are a major factor undermining the reliability and fairness of the respective decision systems. Using theoretical modeling and empirical testing across five domains, we show that collective systems based on pooling decisions robustly overcome this important but as of now unresolved problem of experts' heterogeneity. In breast and skin cancer diagnostics and fingerprint analysis, we find that pooling the decisions of five experts reduces the variation in sensitivity among decision makers by 52%, 54%, and 41%, respectively. Similar reductions are achieved for specificity and response bias, and in other domains. Thus, although outcomes in individual decision systems are highly variable and at the mercy of individual decision makers, collective systems based on pooling decrease this variation, thereby promoting reliability, fairness, and possibly even trust., Graphical abstract, Highlights • Professional decision makers typically differ in their response bias and accuracy • Such differences undermine the reliability and fairness of decision systems • Pooling decisions reduces such variation in response bias and accuracy • This occurred in cancer diagnostics, fingerprint analysis, and forecasting, decision science; psychology

Our brain codes manipulable tools as possibilities for action, particularly for those surrounding the body. Recent studies showed people would adjust their motor program when observing others around their own bodies (i.e. in the personal space). However, it remained unclear whether representing a personal space invader can automatically trigger motor coding. To address this, we devised an interaction task to measure the activation of pushing movements in facing a stranger approaching into personal space. The LRP (lateralized readiness potential) analyses revealed that observing a stranger in personal space caused an initial LRP bias associated with pushing movements, and an LRP deflection before responding of pull, suggesting representing personal space invaders activated the motor coding of push. The behavioral results showed the personal space intrusion prolonged the reaction time of participants’ subsequent instructed pulling responses. The results of experiment 2 confirmed the behavioral observation of experiment 1 and further revealed the relationship between the response bias of push and social anxiety. Together, the present study demonstrates representing a stranger in personal space activated coding of defensive hand movements and biased subsequent motor responses.

The Deese-Roediger-McDermott (DRM) paradigm examines false memory by introducing words associated with a non-presented 'critical lure' as memoranda, which typically causes the lures to be remembered as frequently as studied words. Our prior work has shown enhanced veridical memory and reduced misinformation effects when arousal is induced after learning (i.e., during memory consolidation). These effects have not been examined in the DRM task, or with signal detection analysis, which can elucidate the mechanisms underlying memory alterations. Thus, 130 subjects studied and then immediately recalled six DRM lists, one after another, and then watched a 3-min arousing (n=61) or neutral (n=69) video. Recognition tested 70min later showed that arousal induced after learning led to better delayed discrimination of studied words from (a) critical lures, and (b) other non-presented 'weak associates.' Furthermore, arousal reduced liberal response bias (i.e., the tendency toward accepting dubious information) for studied words relative to all foils, including critical lures and 'weak associates.' Thus, arousal induced after learning effectively increased the distinction between signal and noise by enhancing access to verbatim information and reducing endorsement of dubious information. These findings provide important insights into the cognitive mechanisms by which arousal modulates early memory consolidation processes.

Background Social desirability response bias may lead to inaccurate self-reports and erroneous study conclusions. The present study examined the relationship between social desirability response bias and self-reports of mental health, substance use, and social network factors among a community sample of inner-city substance users. Methods The study was conducted in a sample of 591 opiate and cocaine users in Baltimore, Maryland from 2009 to 2013. Modified items from the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale were included in the survey, which was conducted face-to-face and using Audio Computer Self Administering Interview (ACASI) methods. Results There were highly statistically significant differences in levels of social desirability response bias by levels of depressive symptoms, drug use stigma, physical health status, recent opiate and cocaine use, Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) scores, and size of social networks. There were no associations between health service utilization measures and social desirability bias. In multiple logistic regression models, even after including the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) as a measure of depressive symptomology, social desirability bias was associated with recent drug use and drug user stigma. Social desirability bias was not associated with enrollment in prior research studies. Conclusions These findings suggest that social desirability bias is associated with key health measures and that the associations are not primarily due to depressive symptoms. Methods are needed to reduce social desirability bias. Such methods may include the wording and prefacing of questions, clearly defining the role of “study participant,” and assessing and addressing motivations for socially desirable responses.

Text messages are increasingly used in the delivery of health education programs. One appealing aspect of this approach is the possibility of remotely collecting participant data to use in program tailoring or evaluation. The purpose of the present study is to test the feasibility of using text messages to collect participant data. Using data from 33 texted evaluation questions sent through the Text2BHealthy nutrition education program for low-income parents (n=108-1521) response rates under different incentive and prompting strategies were examined. Response rates are generally low across a pilot year and three program years, ranging from 10-55%. While incentives seemed to be ineffective at improving response rates, results indicate that prompting participants to respond may increase response rates. Individuals who respond to an initial question are highly likely to respond to a follow-up question (88-99%) and to report positive behaviors (68-100%). Responses received through text may be unrepresentative and positively biased. Text messages may be a supplemental data collection strategy in nutrition education programs, but low response rates and response bias undermine data quality.

Online reviews suffer from self-selection biases. One of these is under-reporting bias: those who have an extreme experience, either positive or negative, are more likely to review a product than those who have a moderate experience, and consequently are overrepresented in the sample of reviews. In this paper we study whether under-reporting bias decreases the effectiveness of the mean star-rating as a criterion for choosing between competing products of different but unobservable qualities. We formulate a model of consumer choice and the decision to review, and simulate this model in a variety of scenarios. We find that if under-reporting bias decreases the effectiveness of the mean star-rating, this is usually only for products that are of either extremely poor or extremely good quality. Even in these cases, the effectiveness is reduced only when the extent of bias is extreme and the variance in quality is low. Otherwise, the presence of under-reporting bias generally does not decrease, and in fact, often enhances the effectiveness of the mean star-rating as a measure of relative quality.

Background Complication rates in complex spine surgery range from 25% to 80% in published studies. Numerous studies have shown that surgeons are not able to accurately predict whether patients are likely to face post-operative complications, in part due to biases based on individual experience. The purpose of this study was to develop and evaluate a predictive risk model and decision support system that could accurately predict the likelihood of 30-day postoperative complications in complex spine surgery based on routinely measured preoperative variables. Methods Preoperative and postoperative data were collected for 136 patients by reviewing medical records. Logistic regression analysis (LRA) was applied to develop the predictive algorithm based on patient demographic parameters, including age, gender, and co-morbidities, including obesity, diabetes, hypertension and anemia. We additionally compared the performance of the predictive model to a spine surgeon’s ability to predict patient complications using signal detection theory statistics representing sensitivity and response bias (A′ and B″ respectively). We developed a decision support system tool, based on the LRA predictive algorithm, that was able to provide a numeric probabilistic likelihood statistic representing an individual patient’s risk of developing a complication within the first 30 days after surgery. Results The predictive model was significant (χ 2 = 16.242, p Conclusions The application of technology and data-driven tools to advanced surgical practice has the potential to improve decision making quality, service quality and patient safety.

Previous research suggests that 9-month-old infants will develop a response bias in the A-not-B search paradigm after only observing an experimenter search for a hidden object on A-trials. In the current experiment, we tested whether infants would persist in making errors when only the hands-and-arms of the experimenter were visible. Three different conditions were included: (1) the experimenter was silent while hiding and finding the object, (2) the experimenter communicated with the infant via infant-directed speech, or (3) the body of the experimenter was visible during the training phase before his head and body were occluded during the test phase. Unlike previous studies, the results revealed that a significant proportion of infants searched correctly when the body of the experimenter was not visible, and only the combination of infant-directed speech and familiarization with a fully-specified body resulted in a majority of infants committing search errors. These results are interpreted as suggesting that the likelihood of infants committing search errors is dependent on their motor simulation of the experimenter’s reaching. The strength of this simulation is graded by the similarity between the observed action and the motor representation.

Background Eating pathology among bariatric surgery candidates is common and associated with adverse outcomes. However, its assessment is complicated by the inconsistent use of standardized measures. We addressed this by examining the use of the Eating Disorder Diagnostic Scale (EDDS) in a large bariatric sample (N = 343). Objectives To evaluate the EDDS among bariatric surgery candidates via examination of: (1) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fourth edition, text revision (DSM-IV-TR) and fifth edition (DSM-5) rates of binge eating disorder, bulimia nervosa, and maladaptive eating behaviors, and (2) the relationship between response biases and self-reported eating disorder symptoms. Setting Participants were bariatric surgery candidates at a large public hospital in the Midwest. Methods As part of a larger preoperative evaluation, 343 patients seeking bariatric surgery completed the EDDS and measures of problematic response bias. Results Approximately 16% of the sample met full threshold criteria for binge eating disorder using DSM-5 criteria. Using the DSM-IV-TR, rates were lower but still substantial at 13%. Rates for bulimia nervosa were 8% (DSM-5) and 6% (DSM-IV-TR). The majority (66.1%) of participants reported at least one binge-eating episode per week. The most commonly used compensatory behavior was fasting (20.4%), followed by excessive exercise (11.7%), laxative use (5.6%), and vomiting (1.8%). An inverse relationship between severity of the eating symptomatology and problematic response bias emerged. Conclusion The EDDS shows promise as a screening tool that uses diagnostic criteria to provide rates of binge eating and eating psychopathology among surgical candidates. Our findings suggest that subsequent validation studies of this measure are needed, should address potential response bias concerns, and should employ clear definitions of binge eating to promote standardization of eating pathology assessment in the bariatric population.