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• Five profiles of students were identified • Two profiles had better divergent thinking abilities than the others • One profile predicted both, adaptive academic outcomes and creative abilities • Students with different motivations had similar achievement goal orientations Students may differ on their standards of performance, reasons for attending school, beliefs about their academic and creative abilities, and the importance they place on school and creativity. The current study employed Latent Profile Analyses to identify sub-populations of university students based on the following seven indicators: standards of perfectionsim and excellencism, academic autonomous motivation, controlled motivation and amotivation, as well as academic and creative self-concepts. From a sample of n = 184 university students, five profiles were identified. The profiles could be described as Perfectionists with controlled motivation, Excellentists with autonomous motivation, Intermediate strivers with autonomous motivation, Intermediate strivers with controlled motivation, and Low strivers. The profiles were regressed onto various academic and creative outcomes. The results of three profiles in particular offered informative comparisons. In particular, the Perfectionists and the Excellentists profiles had similar achievement goals orientations (i.e., high on performance and mastery) but different motivational profiles and different divergent thinking abilities. The Excellentists profiles was higher than all the other profiles on divergent thinking except the Low strivers. The Low strivers profile was low on all achievement goal orientations but high on divergent thinking abilities. We discuss the implications of finding creative profiles within the academic environment and situate our findings within the achievement goals literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper introduces the two-sample Anderson-Darling (AD) test of goodness of fit as a tool for comparing distributions, response time distributions in particular. We discuss the problematic use of pooling response times across participants, and alternative tests of distributions, the most common being the Kolmogorov-Smirnoff (KS) test. We compare the KS test and the AD test, presenting conclusive evidence that the AD test is more powerful: when comparing two distributions that vary (1) in shift only, (2) in scale only, (3) in symmetry only, or (4) that have the same mean and standard deviation but differ on the tail ends only, the AD test proves to detect differences better than the KS test. In addition, the AD test has a type I error rate corresponding to alpha whereas the KS test is overly conservative. Finally, the AD test requires less data than the KS test to reach sufficient statistical power. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The maximum likelihood estimation (MLE) method is the most commonly used method to estimate the parameters of the three-parameter Weibull distribution. However, it returns biased estimates. In this paper, we show how to calculate weights which cancel the biases contained in the MLE equations. The exact weights can be computed when the population parameters are known and the expected weights when they are not. Two of the three weights' expected values are dependent only on the sample size, whereas the third also depends on the population shape parameters. Monte Carlo simulations demonstrate the practicability of the weighted MLE method. When compared with the iterative MLE technique, the bias is reduced by a factor of 7 (irrespective of the sample size) and the variability of the parameter estimates is also reduced by a factor of 7 for very small sample sizes, but this gain disappears for large sample sizes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The three-parameter Weibull distribution is a commonly-used distribution for the study of reliability and breakage data. However, given a data set, it is difficult to estimate the parameters of the distribution and that, for many reasons: (1) the equations of the maximum likelihood estimators are not all available in closed form. These equations can be estimated using iterative methods. However, (2) they return biased estimators and the exact amount of bias is not known. (3) The Weibull distribution does not meet the regularity conditions so that in addition to being biased, the maximum likelihood estimators may also be highly variable from one sample to another (weak efficiency). The methods to estimate parameters of a distribution can be divided into three classes: a) the maximizing approaches, such as the maximum likelihood method, possibly followed by a bias-correction operation; b) the methods of moments; and c) a mixture gf the previous two classes of methods. We found using Monte Carlo simulations that a mixed method was the most accurate to estimate the parameters of the Weibull distribution across many shapes and sample sizes, followed by the weighted Maximum Likelihood estimation method. If the shape parameter is known to be larger than 1, the Maximum Product of Spacing method is the most accurate whereas in the opposite case, the mixed method is to be preferred. A test that can detect if the shape parameter is smaller than 1 is discussed and evaluated. Overall, the maximum likelihood estimation method was the worst, with errors of estimation almost twice as large as those of the best methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the years, the presence of knowledge partitioning (KP) in human function learning data has been used to argue that mixture-of-experts models (MOE) constitute a psychologically plausible explanation of human performance, and that the experts used by humans are always linear. These claims recently led to the proposition of the population of linear experts model (POLE). In this paper, variations of the firefighting paradigm developed by Lewandowsky and his colleagues, which initiated research about KP, were used to explore the psychological plausibility of MOE in general and POLE in particular. In a first experiment, these statements were tested by modifying the test display of the firefighting paradigm. The results showed that adding irrelevant information to the display resulted in a smaller proportion of partitioning participants. Also, some participants used non-linear experts to partition the stimulus space. This new type of KP was further explored in a second study, which included more training sessions. The results suggest that linear KP disappears with practice and that non-linear partitioning reflects the incapacity to correctly estimate the position of the function's vertex. It is concluded that MOE are adequate psychological models, but that the linearity and ubiquity claims of the POLE model need to be weakened. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ability to locate an object in the visual field is a collaboration of at least three intermingled processes: scanning multiple locations, recognizing the object sought (the target), and ending the search in cases when the target is not found. In this paper, we focus on the termination rule. Using distribution analyses, it is possible to assess the probability of termination conditional on the number of locations examined. The results show that on some trials without target, the participants carried out more comparisons than there are objects in the display; in other conditions, they carried out fewer comparisons than objects. Because there were very few errors, the premature stops were not pure guesses. We present models to account for these findings. The distributions of terminations help determine the slopes of the functions relating response time to set size. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we describe the Parallel Race Network (PRN), a race model with the ability to learn stimulus-response associations using a formal framework that is very similar to the one used by the traditional connectionist networks. The PRN assumes that the connections represent abstract units of time rather than strengths of association. Consequently, the connections in the network indicate how rapidly the information should be sent to an output unit. The decision is based on a race between the outputs. To make learning functional and autonomous, the Delta rule was modified to fit the time-based assumption of the PRN. Finally, the PRN is used to simulate an identification task and the implications of its mode of representation are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The problem of calculating error bars in within-subject designs has proven to be a difficult problem and has received much attention in recent years. Baguley ( Behavior Research Methods, 44, 158-175, ) recommended what he called the Cousineau-Morey method. This method requires two steps: first, centering the data set in a certain way to remove between-subject differences and, second, integrating a correction factor to debias the standard errors obtained from the normalized data set. However, within some statistical packages, it can be difficult to integrate this correction factor. Baguley () proposed a solution that works well in most statistical packages in which the alpha level is altered to incorporate the correction factor. However, with this solution, it is possible to plot confidence intervals, but not standard errors. Here, we propose a second solution that can return confidence intervals or standard error bars in a mean plot. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When asked to compare two stimuli, participants are on average faster to respond Same than Different , an effect coined the fast-same. The dual-process theory argues that information about similarity is processed in priority over any other type of information, causing the fast-same effect. We tested this serial architecture of cognitive processes using a double factorial paradigm, suitable for a Systems Factorial Technology (SFT) analysis. Twenty participants completed a task in which they compared two letters, which were varied on two dimensions: the similarity and the clarity of the letters. Their task was to indicate if the second letter was the Same as the second letter (ranging from identical and clear to similar and slightly blurry) or if it was Different (if the stimuli were either dissimilar or very blurry). The SFT results show that most participants processed the information in serial, but in a mixed order. In other words, for some trials, participants processed similarity first, and for some other trials, they processed clarity first. This implies that participant indeed processed information in serial in the comparison task, but that it does not cause the fast-same effect. • Participants process information about the similarity and the clarity of stimuli serially. • Participants do not process similarity in priority over clarity. • We used systems factorial technology to assess cognitive architecture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Here, we present two case studies of extremely long-term retention. In the first, Richard C. Atkinson (RCA) had learned word sequences during experiments for his dissertation. Sixty-seven years later, RCA relearned the same words either in the original order or in a scrambled order. RCA reported no conscious awareness that the words were those used in the dissertation, but his relearning was considerably better for the words in the original order. In the second case study, Denis Cousineau had searched displays of objects for the presence of a target. The targets and foils had been novel at the beginning of training, and his search rate improved markedly over about 70 sessions. After 22 years, retraining showed retention of much of this gain in rate of search, and the rate was markedly faster than search for new objects with the same structure as the trained set. We consider interpretations of these case studies for our understanding of long-term retention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The standards that a person pursue in life can be set in a rigid or flexible way. The recent literature has emphasized a distinction between high and realistic standards of excellence, from high and unrealistic standards of perfection. In two studies, we investigated the role of striving towards excellence (i.e., excellencism) and striving towards perfection (i.e., perfectionism) in relation to divergent thinking, associative thinking, and openness to experience, general self‐efficacy, and creative self‐beliefs. In Study 1, 279 university students completed three divergent thinking items, which called for creative uses of two common objects and to name original things which make noise. A measure of openness to experience was included. Results from multiple regression indicated that participants pursuing excellence tended to generate more answers and more original ones compared with those pursuing perfection. Openness to experience was positively associated to excellencism and negatively associated to perfectionism. In Study 2 (n = 401 university students), we replicated these findings and extended them to associative tasks requiring participants to generate chains of unrelated words. Additional individual differences measures included general self‐efficacy, creative self‐efficacy, and creative personal identity. The results suggested that excellencism was associated with better performance on divergent thinking and associative tasks, compared with perfectionism. Excellencism was positively associated with all four personality variables, whereas perfectionism was significantly and negatively associated with openness to experience only. Implications for the distinction between perfectionism and excellencism with respect to creative indicators are discussed. In addition, the paradoxical finding that perfection strivers had high creative self‐efficacy and creative personal identity but lower openness to experience and poorer performance on objective indicators of creative abilities is discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Smith, Redford, Gent, and Washburn (2005) have proposed a new categorization paradigm called the visual-search categorization task to study how display size affects categorization performance. Their results show that, in a wide range of conditions, category knowledge collapses as soon as multiple stimuli are simultaneously displayed in a scene. This result is surprising and important considering that humans parse and categorize objects from complex scenes on a daily basis. However, Smith et al. only studied one kind of category structure. This article presents the results of three experiments exploring the effect of display size on perceptual categorization as a function of category structure. We show that rule-based and information-integration categories are differently affected by display size in the visual search categorization task. For rule-based structures, target-present and target-absent trials are not much affected by display size. However, the effect of display size is bigger for information-integration category structures, and much more pronounced for target-absent trials than for target-present trials. A follow-up experiment shows that target redundancy (i.e., having more than one target in the display) does not improve performance with information-integration category structures. These results suggest that categories may be learned differently depending on their underlying structure, and that the resulting category representation may influence performance in the visual search categorization task. Highlights • Categorization performance collapses in the visual search categorization task. • We show that performance in the VSC task is affected by category structure. • We show that performance in the VSC task collapses only for target absent trials. • Performance in the VSC task is affected by the learned category representation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the key role that motivation plays in the creative process— with respect to engaging with content, exploring, and learning—, surprisingly few studies have investigated the relationship between academic motivation and indicators of creativity. The objective of the current study was to clarify this relationship. More specifically, we examined the role of openness to experience and academic motivation in relation to subjective and objective indicators of creative abilities. We hypothesized that openness to experience would predict greater intrinsic academic motivation, which in turn would predict better divergent thinking abilities and self-ratings in academic activities. Regression and mediation analyses with a sample of 279 college students supported the hypothesis that openness to experience was positively associated with intrinsic academic motivation. In turn, intrinsic academic motivation was related to higher creative self-ratings in academically related activities, but not to better divergent thinking abilities. Additionally, controlled academic motivation was associated with poorer divergent thinking abilities. We discuss the place of creative abilities in education and the distinction between a motivation to explore and a motivation to learn within the academic context. This paper examined the role of openness to experience and academic motivation toward the creative abilities of a population of university students. The results suggested that students with greater motivation to learn in school had no better creative abilities, as measured with divergent thinking tasks, but perceived themselves as more creative in academically related activities. This study has implications for the relationship between motivation and creative abilities in education. • Openness to experience was related to higher motivation to learn and better divergent thinking abilities. • Students with greater motivation to learn had greater creative self-ratings in academically related activities. • Motivation to learn in school was not related to better divergent thinking abilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In this study of the project DyAdd, three aspects of visual attention were investigated in adults (18–55years) with dyslexia (n =35) or attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD, n =22), and in healthy controls (n =35). Temporal characteristics of visual attention were assessed with Attentional Blink (AB), capacity of visual attention with Multiple Object Tracking (MOT), and spatial aspects of visual attention with Useful Field of View (UFOV) task. Results showed that adults with dyslexia had difficulties performing the AB and UFOV tasks, which were explained by an impaired ability to process dual targets, longer AB recovery time, and deficits in processing rapidly changing visual displays. The ADHD group did not have difficulties in any of the tasks. Further, performance in the visual attention tasks predicted variation in measures of phonological processing and reading when all of the participants were considered together. Thus, difficulties in tasks of visual attention were related to dyslexia and variation of visual attention had a role in the reading ability of the general population. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Holistic processing, which includes the integration of facial features and analysis of their relations to one another, is a hallmark of what makes faces 'special'. Various experimental paradigms purport to measure holistic processing but these have often produced inconsistent results. This has led researchers to question the nature and structure of the mechanism(s) underlying holistic processing. Using an individual differences approach, researchers have examined relations between various measures of holistic processing in an attempt to resolve these questions. In keeping with this, we examined relationships between four commonly used measures of holistic face processing in a large group of participants (N = 223): (1) The Face Inversion Effect, (2) the Part Whole Effect (PWE), (3) the Composite Face Effect, and (4) the Configural Featural Detection Task (CFDT). Several novel methodological and analytical elements were introduced, including the use of factor analysis and the inclusion of control conditions to confirm the face specificity of all of the effects measured. The four indexes of holistic processing derived from each measure loaded onto two factors, one encompassing the PWE and the CFDT, and one encompassing the CE. The 16 conditions tested across the four tasks loaded onto four factors, each factor corresponding to a different measure. These results, together with those of other studies, suggest that holistic processing is a multifaceted construct and that different measures tap into distinct but partially overlapping elements of it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Given the high prevalence of cognitive dysfunction in people with multiple sclerosis (PWMS) and the lack of availability of specialized neuropsychological services in most MS Clinics, there is a need for a brief cognitive monitoring tool that can be easily administered by MS clinic staff. Objective We aimed to establish the Brief International Cognitive Assessment for Multiple Sclerosis (BICAMS) as a feasible cognitive monitoring tool and provide Canadian data toward the international validation effort. Secondary considerations were to determine if BICAMS correlates with self-reported cognition and predicted vocational status. Methods 57 PWMS were matched to 51 healthy controls (age, sex, education). Participants completed the BICAMS battery which includes the Symbol Digit Modalities Test, and the learning trials from the California Verbal Learning Test-II and the Brief Visuospatial Memory Test-Revised. Depression, self-reported cognition, and fatigue were assessed. Participants were re-tested 15.6 (SD 2.0) days later. Results With impairment defined as “one or more abnormal tests,” 57.9% of MS sample was cognitively impaired. Participants were more likely to be impaired on the BVMT-R (43.9%). On the SDMT and CVLT-II, 28.1% and 26.3% of MS participants were impaired. Sensitivity and specificity were highest for the SDMT. The BICAMS was reliable over time (r value range from 0.69 for BVMT-R to 0.87 for SDMT) with the SDMT being most robust. There was no relationship between BICAMS and subjective cognition. The BVMT-R reliably predicted employment. Conclusions The BICAMS detected cognitive impairment to a comparable degree to more comprehensive neuropsychological batteries and is a valid measure of cognition in MS. Reliability of components varies, suggesting care be taken when interpreting serial testing results. The BICAMS is a feasible cognitive assessment tool in Canadians and yields comparable results to other cultures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Same-Different task presents two stimuli in close succession and participants must indicate whether they are completely identical or if there are any attributes that differ. While the task is simple, its results have proven difficult to explain. Notably, response times are characterized by a fast-same effect whereby Same responses are faster than Different responses even though identical stimuli should be exhaustively processed to be accurate. Herein, we examine a little more than a quarter million response times (N = 255,744) obtained from 327 participants who participated in one of 14 variants of the task involving minor changes in the stimuli or their durations. We performed distribution fitting and analyzed estimated parameters stemming from the ex-Gaussian, lognormal, and Weibull distributions to infer the cognitive processing characteristics underlying this task. The results exclude serial processing of the stimuli and do not support dual-route processing. The fast-same effect appears only through a shift of the entire response time distributions, a feature impossible to detect solely with mean response time analyses. An attention-modulated process driven by entropy may be the most adequate model of the fast-same effect. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

The low reproducibility rate in social sciences has produced hesitation among researchers in accepting published findings at their face value. Despite the advent of initiatives to increase transparency in research reporting, the field is still lacking tools to verify the credibility of research reports. In the present paper, we describe methodologies that let researchers craft highly credible research and allow their peers to verify this credibility. We demonstrate the application of these methods in a multi-laboratory replication of Bem's Experiment 1 (Bem 2011 J. Pers. Soc. Psychol. 100 , 407-425. (doi:10.1037/a0021524)) on extrasensory perception (ESP), which was co-designed by a consensus panel including both proponents and opponents of Bem's original hypothesis. In the study we applied direct data deposition in combination with born-open data and real-time research reports to extend transparency to protocol delivery and data collection. We also used piloting, checklists, laboratory logs and video-documented trial sessions to ascertain as-intended protocol delivery, and external research auditors to monitor research integrity. We found 49.89% successful guesses, while Bem reported 53.07% success rate, with the chance level being 50%. Thus, Bem's findings were not replicated in our study. In the paper, we discuss the implementation, feasibility and perceived usefulness of the credibility-enhancing methodologies used throughout the project., (© 2023 The Authors.)

Introduction: Exact tests on proportions exist for single-group and two-group designs, but no general test on proportions exists that is appropriate for any experimental design involving more than two groups, repeated measures, and/or factorial designs., Method: Herein, we extend the analysis of proportions using arcsine transform to any sort of design. The resulting framework, which we have called Analysis of Proportions Using Arcsine Transform (ANOPA), is completely analogous to the analysis of variance for means of continuous data, allowing the examination of interactions, main and simple effects, post-hoc tests, orthogonal contrasts, et cetera., Result: We illustrate the method with a few examples (single-factor design, two-factor design, within-subject design, and mixed design) and explore type I error rates with Monte Carlo simulations. We also examine power computation and confidence intervals for proportions., Discussion: ANOPA is a complete series of analyses for proportions, applicable to any design., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2023 Laurencelle and Cousineau.)

The goal of the current study was to measure the processing demands on the stages of information processing with internal and external foci of attention. Participants completed simple and two-choice reaction time tasks with internal and external foci of attention. Donders' subtraction method was used to isolate the cumulative duration of stages unique to simple and choice reaction time tasks. Mean reaction time was comparable with internal and external foci of attention in simple and two-choice reaction time tasks. These results suggest that processing demands were comparable with internal and external foci of attention. We hypothesize that there was not a processing advantage for an external focus in simple reaction time because the required movements had low movement complexity.

The same-different task is a classic paradigm that requires participants to judge whether two successively presented stimuli are the same or different. While this task is simple, with results that have been replicated many times, response times (RTs) and accuracy for both same and different decisions remain difficult to model. The biggest obstacle in modeling the task lies within its effect referred to as the fast-same phenomenon whereby participants are much faster at responding "same" than "different," while most standard cognitive models predict the opposite. In this study, we investigated whether this effect is the result of identity priming activated by the first stimulus. We ran four variants of the same-different task in which identity priming is intended to be attenuated or cancelled in half of the trials. Results for all four variants show that a complete visual match between both stimuli is necessary to observe a fast-same effect and that hampering this relation attenuates same RTs while different RTs remained relatively unchanged. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

There have been many empirical endeavors to explain the fact that participants correctly identify same stimuli faster than different stimuli. Despite a large body of literature, a conclusive and unanimous consensus to explain this effect is lacking. The present study offers a new perspective on the same-different task using best-fitting parametric values of 2 sequential sampling models (linear ballistic accumulator [LBA] and drift-diffusion model [DDM]) to evaluate the contribution of 3 theoretical concepts (starting point, accumulation rate, and base time) to the fast-same effect. Eighteen participants were recruited to perform 3 tasks in which they compared letter strings (a) in a normal setting, the control task ; (b) with lower contrast, the contrast task ; and (c) based on nominal identity, the case task . Both the LBA and the DDM suggests that participants have faster base time in the same condition compared with the different condition. They also suggest that the number of letters and the number of differences influence the accumulation rate. These results suggest that the cognitive processes do not accumulate information as efficiently when the workload is increased. Finally, the limited predictive power of the best-fitting models suggests that better theoretical grounds are needed to identify fundamental cognitive concepts underlying same-different judgments. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Participants are faster to decide that two stimuli are identical than to decide that they are different. Opposing theories suggested that this fast-same effect is either due (a) to a response bias toward similarity or (b) to facilitation caused by the repetition of the stimuli attributes. Although both theories predict the fast-same effect in a conventional same-different task, they make distinct predictions for tasks in which response bias is removed. In such tasks, the bias theory predicts that the fast-same would disappear whereas the facilitation theory predicts that the fast-same would remain. We tested those hypotheses using a same-different task in which participants had to indicate if all the attributes of the stimuli were matching or all were mismatching by pressing one response key, or if some attributes were matching and some were mismatching, by pressing another response key. We call this an exclusive-OR same-different task. Results show that participants were much faster in the "all-matching" condition compared with the "all-mismatching" condition, therefore supporting the facilitation theory. A fit of the linear ballistic accumulator model to the observed data provide additional supports that the fast-same effect is not caused by bias, but by a faster accumulation rate of evidence in the "all-matching" condition. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Two themes have puzzled the research on developmental and learning disorders for decades. First, some of the risk and protective factors behind developmental challenges are suggested to be shared and some are suggested to be specific for a given condition. Second, language-based learning difficulties like dyslexia are suggested to result from or correlate with non-linguistic aspects of information processing as well. In the current study, we investigated how adults with developmental dyslexia or ADHD as well as healthy controls cluster across various dimensions designed to tap the prominent non-linguistic theories of dyslexia. Participants were 18-55-year-old adults with dyslexia ( n = 36), ADHD ( n = 22), and controls ( n = 35). Non-linguistic theories investigated with experimental designs included temporal processing impairment, abnormal cerebellar functioning, procedural learning difficulties, as well as visual processing and attention deficits. Latent profile analysis (LPA) was used to investigate the emerging groups and patterns of results across these experimental designs. LPA suggested three groups: (1) a large group with average performance in the experimental designs, (2) participants predominantly from the clinical groups but with enhanced conditioning learning, and (3) participants predominantly from the dyslexia group with temporal processing as well as visual processing and attention deficits. Despite the presence of these distinct patterns, participants did not cluster very well based on their original status, nor did the LPA groups differ in their dyslexia or ADHD-related neuropsychological profiles. Remarkably, the LPA groups did differ in their intelligence. These results highlight the continuous and overlapping nature of the observed difficulties and support the multiple deficit model of developmental disorders, which suggests shared risk factors for developmental challenges. It also appears that some of the risk factors suggested by the prominent non-linguistic theories of dyslexia relate to the general level of functioning in tests of intelligence., (Copyright © 2020 Laasonen, Lahti-Nuuttila, Leppämäki, Tani, Wikgren, Harno, Oksanen-Hennah, Pothos, Cleeremans, Dye, Cousineau and Hokkanen.)

Participants tend to match identical pairs of stimuli faster than different pairs. Despite many endeavours to explain this fast-same effect, there is still no theoretical consensus. A potential reason for the lack of consensus is that the cognitive architecture and capacity underlying such phenomenon is assumed and not formally tested. For example, the dual-process approach suggests that Same responses arise from a parallel treatment, whereas Different responses arise from a serial treatment. It also suggests that in both conditions, the capacity of the process is unaffected by workload (unlimited capacity). Alternative approaches argue that the fast-same effect can be explained by parallel or coactive architectures with channels working in either limited or super capacity. In this study, we formally assess the architecture (three possibilities: serial, parallel and coactive) and the capacity (three possibilities: unlimited, limited and super-capacity) of the cognitive system in a Same-Different task using Systems Factorial Technology (SFT). We recruited twenty participants to perform a double-factorial task lasting four sessions. Because of the lack of effectiveness of the blurring manipulation, we cannot draw a strong conclusion about the cognitive architecture. As for the capacity, the results show that it is mostly limited for the majority of participants. However, between 300 and 500 ms, participants tend to have a much stronger processing capacity in the Same condition compared to the Different condition. This short but strong burst of activity for identical stimuli might explain the fast-same effect.

Assessing global interrater agreement is difficult as most published indices are affected by the presence of mixtures of agreements and disagreements. A previously proposed method was shown to be specifically sensitive to global agreement, excluding mixtures, but also negatively biased. Here, we propose two alternatives in an attempt to find what makes such methods so specific. The first method, R B , is found to be unbiased while at the same time rejecting mixtures, is detecting agreement with good power and is little affected by unequal category prevalence as soon as there are more than two categories., Competing Interests: Declaration of Conflicting Interests: The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Cluster randomized sampling is 1 method for sampling a population. It requires recruiting subgroups of participants from the population of interest (e.g., whole classes from schools) instead of individuals solicited independently. Here, we demonstrate how clusters affect the standard error of the mean. The presence of clusters influences 2 quantities, the variance of the means and the expected variance. Ignoring clustering produces spurious statistical significance and reduces statistical power when effect sizes are moderate to large. Here, we propose a correction factor. It can be used to estimate standard errors and confidence intervals of the mean under cluster randomized sampling. This correction factor is easy to integrate into regular tests of means and effect sizes. It can also be used to determine sample size needed to reach a prespecified power. Finally, this approach is an easy-to-use alternative to linear mixed modeling and hierarchical linear modeling when there are only 2 levels and no covariates., ((c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).)