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Background: Literature collects that people with Autism Spectrum Disorder without Intellectual Disability (ASD-noID) frequently suffer co-occurring clinical problems that predict poorer adult outcome and reduce quality of life (QoL). Previous studies pose doubts about their capacity to recognize and communicate these problems, but that is an issue that, although relevant, has not yet been systematically revised. Method: A meta-analysis on 32 studies (1422 pairs of participants) was carried out to assess to what extent self-reports provided by people with ASD-noID match those provided by their parents. The articles were categorized according to the domains assessed and method. Results: Significant differences between self- and hetero-reports were found in the domains of Depression, QoL and Social skills (d= 0.406; -0.399 and -0.683, respectively), but not in Anxiety and Social anxiety. The average degree of agreement between both groups of reports was r = .40. Conclusions: Self- and hetero-reports do not provide interchangeable results on the problems of people with ASD-noID. However, a general inability to validate self-reporting cannot be attributed to them. Deeper analysis is necessary to allow to optimize the use of self-reports in this population with both clinical and research purposes. Antecedentes: La literatura recoge que en las personas con Trastorno del Espectro del Autismo sin discapacidad intelectual (TEA-noDI) concurren frecuentemente problemas clínicos que predicen peor ajuste en su vida adulta y reducen su calidad de vida (CdV). Estudios previos plantean dudas sobre la capacidad de estas personas para reconocer y comunicar estos problemas, pero esta cuestión, aunque relevante, no se ha revisado sistemáticamente. Método: Se realizó un meta-análisis sobre 32 estudios (1422 pares de participantes) para evaluar hasta qué punto los autoinformes aportados por personas con TEA-noDI coinciden con los aportados por sus padres. Los artículos se categorizaron en función de los dominios evaluados y el método. Resultados: Se encontraron diferencias significativas entre auto- y hetero-informes en los dominios de Depresión, CdV y Habilidades sociales (d = 0.406; -0.399 y -0.683, respectivamente), pero no en Ansiedad y Ansiedad social. El grado de acuerdo medio entre ambos grupos de evaluaciones fue r = .40. Conclusiones: Los autoinformes y los hetero-informes no proporcionan resultados intercambiables, pero no se puede atribuir a estas personas una incapacidad general para aportar autoinformes válidos. Se necesitan análisis más profundos que permitan optimizar el uso de autoinformes en esta población tanto con fines clínicos como de investigación.

One of the most widely used effect size indices for meta-analysis in psychology is the standardized mean difference (SMD). The most common way to synthesize a set of estimates of the SMD is to weight them by the inverse of their variances. For this, it is necessary to estimate the corresponding sampling variances. Meta-analysts have a formula for obtaining unbiased estimates of sampling variances, but they often use a variety of alternative, simpler methods. The bias and efficiency of five different methods that have been proposed and that are implemented in different computerized calculation tools are compared and assessed. The data from a set of published meta-analyses are also reanalyzed, calculating the combined estimates and their confidence intervals, as well as estimates of the specific, between-studies variance, using the five estimation methods. This test of sensitivity shows that the results of a meta-analysis can change noticeably depending on the method used to estimate the sampling variance of SMD values, especially under a random-effects model. Some practical recommendations are made about how to choose and implement the methods in calculation resources Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación 2021-22

Mixed-effects models can be used to examine the association between a categorical moderator and the magnitude of the effect size. Two approaches are available to estimate the residual between-studies variance, s 2res —namely, separate estimation within each category of the moderator versus pooled estimation across all categories. We examine, by means of a Monte Carlo simulation study, both approaches for s 2res estimation in combination with two methods, the Wald-type X 2 and F tests, to test the statistical significance of the moderator. Results suggest that the F test using a pooled estimate of s 2res across categories is the best option in most conditions, although the F test using separate estimates of s 2res is preferable if the residual heterogeneity variances are heteroscedastic.

The Atkinson-Shiffrin theory describes and explains some of the processes involved in storing and retrieving information in human memory. Here we examine predictions of related models for search and decision processes in recognizing information in long-term memory. In some models, recognition is presumably based on a test item's familiarity judgment, and subsequent decisions follow from the sensitivity and decision parameters of signal detection theory. Other models dispense with the continuous notion of familiarity and base recognition on discrete internal states such as relative certainty that an item has or has not been previously studied, with an intermediate state of uncertainty that produces guesses. Still others are hybrid models with two criteria located along a familiarity continuum defining areas for rapid decisions based on high or low familiarities. For intermediate familiarity values, the decision can be delayed pending the results of search for, and occasional recollection of, relevant episodic information. Here we present the results from a study of human recognition memory for lists of words using both response time and error data to construct receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curves derived from three standard methods based on the same data set. Models are evaluated against, and parameters estimated from, group as well as individual subjects' behavior. We report substantially different ROC curves when they are based on variations in target-word frequency, confidence judgments, and response latencies. The results indicate that individual versus group data must be used with caution in determining the appropriate theoretical interpretation of recognition memory performance.

A reliability generalization meta-analysis was carried out to estimate the average reliability of the seven-item, 5-point Likert-type Fear of COVID-19 Scale (FCV-19S), one of the most widespread scales developed around the COVID-19 pandemic. Different reliability coefficients from classical test theory and the Rasch Measurement Model were meta-analyzed, heterogeneity among the most reported reliability estimates was examined by searching for moderators, and a predictive model to estimate the expected reliability was proposed. At least one reliability estimate was available for a total of 44 independent samples out of 42 studies, being that Cronbach’s alpha was most frequently reported. The coefficients exhibited pooled estimates ranging from .85 to .90. The moderator analyses led to a predictive model in which the standard deviation of scores explained 36.7% of the total variability among alpha coefficients. The FCV-19S has been shown to be consistently reliable regardless of the moderator variables examined.

La etiqueta p-hacking (pH) se refiere a un conjunto de prácticas oportunistas destinadas a hacer que sean significativos algunos valores p que deberían ser no significativos. Algunos han argumentado que debemos prevenir y luchar contra el pH por varias razones, especialmente debido a sus posibles efectos nocivos en la evaluación de los resultados de la investigación primaria y su síntesis meta-analítica. Nos focalizamos aquí en el efecto de un tipo específico de pH, centrado en estudios marginalmente significativos, en la estimación combinada del tamaño del efecto en el meta-análisis. Queremos saber cuánto deberíamos preocuparnos por su efecto de sesgo al evaluar los resultados de un meta-análisis. Hemos calculado el sesgo en una variedad de situaciones que parecen realistas en términos de prevalencia y de la definición operativa del pH. Los resultados muestran que en la mayoría de las situaciones analizadas el sesgo es inferior a una centésima (± 0.01), en términos de d o r. Para alcanzar un nivel de sesgo de cinco centésimas (± 0.05), tendría que haber una presencia masiva de este tipo de pH, lo que parece poco realista. Hay muchas buenas razones para luchar contra el pH, pero nuestra conclusión principal es que entre esas razones no se incluye que tenga un gran impacto en la estimación meta-analítica del tamaño del efecto. The label p-hacking (pH) refers to a set of opportunistic practices aimed at making statistically significant p values that should be non-significant. Some have argued that we should prevent and fight against pH for several reasons, especially because of its potential harmful effects on the assessment of both primary research results and their meta-analytical synthesis. We focus here on the effect of a specific type of pH, focused on marginally significant studies, on the combined estimation of effect size in meta-analysis. We want to know how much we should be concerned with its biasing effect when assessing the results of a meta-analysis. We have calculated the bias in a range of situations that seem realistic in terms of the prevalence and the operational definition of pH. The results show that in most of the situations analyzed the bias is less than one hundredth (± 0.01), in terms of d or r. To reach a level of bias of five-hundredths (± 0.05), there would have to be a massive presence of this type of pH, which seems rather unrealistic. There are many good reasons for fighting against pH, but our main conclusion is that among them is not that it has a big impact on the meta-analytical estimation of effect size.

Sometimes the reports of primary studies that are potentially analyzable within the signal detection theory framework do not report sample statistics for its main indexes, especially the sample variance of d'. We describe a procedure for estimating the variance of d' from other sample statistics (specifically, the mean and variance of the observed rates of hit and false alarm). The procedure acknowledges that individuals can be heterogeneous in their sensitivity and/or decision criteria, and it does not adopt unjustifiable or needlessly complex assumptions. In two simulation studies reported here, we show that the procedure produces certain biases, but, when used in meta-analysis, it produces very reasonable results. Specifically, the weighted estimate of the mean sensitivity is very accurate, and the coverage of the confidence interval is very close to the nominal confidence level. We applied the procedure to 20 experimental groups or conditions from seven articles (employing recognition memory or attention tasks) that reported statistics for both the hit and false alarm rates, as well as for d'. In most of these studies the assumption of homogeneity was untenable. The variances estimated by our method, based on the hit and false alarm rates, approximate reasonably to the variances in d' reported in those articles. The method is useful for estimating unreported variances of d', so that the associated studies can be retained for meta-analyses.

Several methods of calculating the variance of the more popular parametric indexes of signal detection theory (SDT) have been proposed. Miller’s exact method and Gourevitch and Galanter’s approximate method have proved appropriate for most practical situations using yes–no detection paradigms. Those methods, specifically developed for single-point estimates, are also useful for a sample of estimates that share their parametric values of sensitivity and bias, δ and C , respectively. However, sometimes it has been observed that the empirical variances of the estimates, σ ˆ d ′ 2 and σ ˆ c 2 , exceeds by several factors the expected values calculated by the above methods. These discrepancies can be due to a number of reasons, perhaps the most likely one being that the sample of observers or participants is not actually homogeneous. We present further developments of those two methods for calculating the variance of the indexes, d ′ and c , when the samples are heterogeneous in sensitivity and/or bias. Simulation studies show that our formulas provide reasonably accurate estimates of the variance of d ′ and c .

The psychosocial impact concept improves the understanding of the effects of disasters on people and communities. However, its definition is not clear. This work explores consistencies between studies (k = 21) that refer to the psychosocial impact of disasters by way of a meta-analytic synthesis. This synthesis indicates that people are more prone to illness when they are exposed to a disaster, and less when they are protected (OR = 2.737). Please check the change conveys the intended meaning or amend Nevertheless, there are no differences in healthy responses, regardless of how protected or exposed they are (OR = 1.053). Finally, a model is proposed to explain four types of psychosocial impact: resilient, traumatic, sensitive, witness.

The evidence for an anxiety-related memory bias is contradictory. We compiled 171 articles published until October 2016 including a group with clinical or subclinical anxiety and a control group in tasks involving implicit or explicit memory using threatening stimuli. There was an anxiety-related memory bias in free recall tasks, but it was not observed in another memory task. The between-groups differences showed that the anxious group recalled more threatening stimuli than the control group (d = 0.321). When we compared the group differences (anxious vs. control participants) in the within-groups effect (threatening vs. neutral stimuli), a moderate effect size emerged (dbw = 0.714). This anxiety-related memory bias was observed with shallow processing, that is consistent with attentional biases related to anxiety. There was also evidence that high-anxious persons recall fewer positive stimuli. Future research is needed to investigate whether this result is a memory or encoding bias and explore o...

The reality of illusory conjunctions in perception has been sometimes questioned, arguing that they can be explained by other mechanisms. Most relevant experiments are based on migrations along the space dimension. But the low rate of illusory conjunctions along space can easily hide them among other types of errors. As migrations over time are a more frequent phenomenon, illusory conjunctions can be disentangled from other errors. We report an experiment in which series of colored letters were presented in several spatial locations, allowing for migrations over both space and time. The distribution of frequencies were fit by several multinomial tree models based on alternative hypothesis about illusory conjunctions and the potential sources of free-floating features. The best-fit model acknowledges that most illusory conjunctions are migrations in the time domain. Migrations in space are probably present, but the rate is very low. Other conjunction errors, as those produced by guessing or miscategorizations of the to-be-reported feature, are also present in the experiment. The main conclusion is that illusory conjunctions do exist.

From a neuroconstructivist approach and a developmental model of high intellectual ability (HIA), it is argued that the management of intellectual resources through executive functioning (EF) is one of the factors influencing the expression of high potential. The main objective is to determine the effectiveness of measures of executive functioning used comparing schoolchildren with HIA and those of average intelligence. A meta-analysis was carried out on a selection of 17 studies for a total sample of 1518 children with either HIA or an average level of intelligence. Pooled estimates of effect size revealed a significant difference favoring the HIA individuals in the two components of EF related with WM verbal (d = 1.015), and WM visual-spatial (d = 0.709). Other components did not show significant differences: inhibition (d = &minus, 0.014), flexibility (d = 0.068), and planification (d = &minus, 0.038). The empirical heterogeneity was very high. It is concluded that these instruments show a degree of measurement impurity, which condition their validity and reliability, and that schoolchildren with HIA display better executive functioning in the components of verbal and visual-spatial working memory.

Cognitive inhibition impairment is intimately related to the forgetfulness of relevant information. This meta-analysis aims to synthesise the evidence of impaired function of cognitive inhibition processes over memory in individuals with intellectual disability (ID).Eleven studies were selected and analysed and included a total of 683 participants. The studies were categorised according to variables such as the task used, the processes involved, the sensory modalities and the method.Despite the small sample of studies, the results revealed significant difficulties with cognitive memory inhibition (CMI) tasks in individuals with ID compared with typical development (TD) individuals (d = 0.62). CMI problems were found in all life stages except the 19-45-year-old stage. In this stage, there was a smaller amount of evidence even though it included the 31-40-year-old range, during which premature aging has been observed in ID.An impairment of CMI in people with ID was observed. More studies are needed to more reliably assess the potential moderating role of age and other factors.

El meta-análisis es una metodología firmemente establecida y una parte integral del proceso de generación de conocimiento en las ciencias empíricas. El meta-análisis también se ha centrado en la metodología y se ha convertido en uno de los principales críticos de las deficiencias metodológicas. Destacamos varios puntos problemáticos sobre cómo investigamos en psicología: exceso de heterogeneidad en los resultados y dificultades para la replicación, sesgo de publicación, calidad metodológica subóptima y prácticas cuestionables de los investigadores. Estos y otros problemas condujeron a una "crisis de confianza" en psicología. Discutimos cómo la perspectiva meta-analítica y sus procedimientos pueden ayudar a afrontar la crisis. Una perspectiva más cooperativa, en lugar de competitiva, puede ayudar a cambiar para que consideremos la replicación como una contribución más valiosa. El conocimiento no puede basarse en estudios aislados. Dada la naturaleza del objeto de estudio de la psicología la unidad natural para generar conocimiento debe ser la distribución estimada del tamaño del efecto, no la decisión dicotómica sobre la significación estadística en estudios específicos. Se ofrecen algunas sugerencias sobre cómo re-dirigir la investigación y las prácticas de los investigadores, de modo que sus intereses personales y los de la ciencia en sí estén más alineados, Meta-analysis is a firmly established methodology and an inte-gral part of the process of generating knowledge across the empirical sci-ences. Meta-analysis has also focused on methodology and has become a dominant critic of methodological shortcomings. We highlight several problematic issues on how we research in psychology: excess of heteroge-neity in the results and difficulties for replication, publication bias, subop-timal methodological quality, and questionable practices of the researchers. These and other problems led to a “crisis of confidence” in psychology. We discuss how the meta-analytical perspective and its procedures can help to overcome the crisis. A more cooperative perspective, instead of a competitive one, can shift to consider replication as a more valuable con-tribution. Knowledge cannot be based in isolated studies. Given the nature of the object of study of psychology, the natural unit to generate knowledge must be the estimated distribution of the effect sizes, not the dichotomous decision on statistical significance in specific studies. We make some suggestions on how to redirect the research and the research-ers' practices, so that their personal interests and those of science as such are better aligned, This research was supported by the Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad of Spain (project reference: PSI2017-82490-P)

In the last two decades, empirical evidence has shown that personality traits could be related to the characteristics of written language. This study describes a meta-analysis that synthesizes 23 independent estimates of the correlations between the Big Five major personality traits, and some computationally obtained indicators from written language. The results show significant combined estimates of the correlations, albeit small to moderate according to Cohen's conventions to interpret effect sizes, for the five traits (between r = 0.26 for agreeableness and neuroticism, and 0.30 for openness). These estimates are moderated by the type of information in the texts, the use of prediction mechanisms, and the source of publication of the primary studies. Generally, the same effective moderators operate for the five traits. It is concluded that written language analyzed through computational methods could be used to extract relevant information of personality. But further research is still needed to consider it as predictive or explanatory tool for individual differences.

Se presenta la metodolog a del meta-an lisis como herramienta para la investigaci n educativa. Un meta-an lisis implica una s ntesis cuantitativa de la evidencia acumulada sobre una pregunta de investigaci n previa - mente de nida. La respuesta se basar en la informaci n contenida en los estudios previamente publicados (estudios primarios). Las principales ca - racter sticas del meta-an lisis son la precisi n, la objetividad y la replica - bilidad. Su aplicaci n permite obtener una estimaci n combinada del ta - ma o del efecto. Tambi n permite evaluar la heterogeneidad observada en un campo de estudio. Ello permite a su vez formular nuevas hip tesis que incorporan el papel de variables que no se hab an tenido en cuenta hasta el momento. Un meta-an lisis comienza con la formulaci n del problema. A continuaci n se lleva a cabo la localizaci n de estudios relacionados con ella. En la fase de codi caci n se caracterizan los trabajos recogidos en la fase anterior. Finalmente, un an lisis estad stico conduce a los resultados, que se presentar n en una publicaci n que asegure la replicabilidad del estudio. Entre las herramientas gr cas asociadas al meta-an lisis des - taca el llamado Forest Plot , que permite presentar de forma conjunta las estimaciones puntuales y de intervalo de los estudios seleccionados para el meta-an lisis. Aunque el potencial del meta-an lisis es evidente, tam - bi n presenta algunas debilidades derivadas de la falta de acotaci n de los constructos estudiados o de la existencia de un sesgo en la publicaci n de resultados, sobre todo de los estad sticamente signi cativos. La valoraci n general que se hace del papel del meta-an lisis en la investigaci n en edu - caci n es positiva aunque tambi n se se alan reas de mejora. Se indican algunos recursos, tanto bibliogr cos como de software , que permiten a los investigadores interesados adentrarse en esta herramienta tan til en el campo de la investigaci n educativa.

In experimental psychology, a unique model of general processing is often sought to represent the behaviors of all individuals. We address the question of whether seeking this objective - a unique model - is the most fruitful scientific strategy by studying a specific case example. In order to approach an answer to such a question, we compared the conventional approach in experimental psychology with analyses at the individual level by applying a specific mathematical modeling approach. A sample of 1159 individuals completed an experimental task based on managing conflict (a type of Simon task). Key findings revealed that at least four models are required to properly account for individuals' performance. Interestingly, four out of ten participants failed to show stimulus-response congruency effects in the experimental task, whereas the remaining 60% followed distinguishable theoretical models (consistent with conflict-monitoring theory and/or priming and episodic memory effects). The reported findings suggest that individuals' psychological characteristics might help to explain some of the reproducibility issues that are currently of great concern in psychology. These findings, along with further recent research, support the view that general and differential psychological approaches work better together for addressing relevant theoretical issues in psychological research.

Subgroup analyses allow to examining the influence of a categorical moderator on the effect magnitude in meta-analysis. We conducted a simulation study using a dichotomous moderator, and compared the impact of pooled versus separate estimates of the residual between-studies variance on the statistical performance of the QB(P) and QB(S) tests for subgroup analyses assuming a mixed-effects model. Our results suggested that a similar performance can be expected as long as there are at least 20 studies and these are approximately balanced across categories. Conversely, when subgroups were unbalanced, the practical consequences of having heterogeneous residual between-studies variances were more evident, with both tests leading to the wrong statistical conclusion more often than in the conditions with balanced subgroups. A pooled estimate should be preferred for most scenarios, unless the residual between-studies variances are clearly different and there are enough studies in each category to get precise separate estimates.

Since heterogeneity between reliability coefficients is usually found in reliability generalization studies, moderator analyses constitute a crucial step for that meta-analytic approach. In this study, different procedures for conducting mixed-effects meta-regression analyses were compared. Specifically, four transformation methods for the reliability coefficients, two estimators of the residual between-studies variance, and two methods for testing regression coefficients significance were combined in a Monte Carlo simulation study. The different methods were compared in terms of bias and mean square error (MSE) of the slope estimates, and Type I error and statistical power rates for the slope statistical tests. The results of the simulation study did not vary as a function of the residual variance estimator. All transformation methods provided negatively biased estimates, but both bias and MSE were reasonably small in all cases. In contrast, important differences were found regarding statistical tests, with the method proposed by Knapp and Hartung showing a better adjustment to the nominal significance level and higher power rates than the standard method.

Though moral intuitions and choices seem fundamental to our core being, there is surprising new evidence that people resolve moral dilemmas differently when they consider them in a foreign language (Cipolletti et al., 2016; Costa et al., 2014a; Geipel et al., 2015): People are more willing to sacrifice 1 person to save 5 when they use a foreign language compared with when they use their native tongue. Our findings show that the phenomenon is robust across various contexts and that multiple factors affect it, such as the severity of the negative consequences associated with saving the larger group. This has also allowed us to better describe the phenomenon and investigate potential explanations. Together, our results suggest that the foreign language effect is most likely attributable to an increase in psychological distance and a reduction in emotional response. This research was partially funded by grants from the Spanish Government (PSI2011-23033, Consolider Ingenio 2010 CSD2007-00048, and Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness PSI2014-52181-P), from the Catalan Government (SGR 2009-1521), from the European Research Council under the European Community's Seventh Framework (FP7/2007-2013 Cooperation grant agreement 613465-AThEME), from the John Templeton Foundation and the National Science Foundation #1520074 to the University of Chicago. Joanna D. Corey was supported by a grant from the Catalan Government (FI-DGR).

This meta-analytic review explores the effects of self-assessment on students' selfregulated learning (SRL) and self-efficacy. A total of 19 studies were included in the four different meta-analyses conducted with a total sample of 2305 students. The effects sizes from the three meta-analyses addressing effects on different measures of SRL were 0.23, 0.65, and 0.43. The effect size from the meta-analysis on self-efficacy was 0.73. In addition, it was found that gender (with girls benefiting more) and certain self-assessment components (such as self-monitoring) were significant moderators of the effects on selfefficacy. These results point to the importance of self-assessment interventions to promote students’ use of learning strategies and its effects on motivational variables such as self-efficacy, First author funded by the Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad via Spanish Ramon y Cajal programme (Referencia RYC-2013-13469)

This article has been published in a revised form in The Spanish Journal of Psychology http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/sjp.2016.39. This version is free to view and download for private research and study only. Not for re-distribution, re-sale or use in derivative works, The present study describes a meta-analytic review of museum visitors' behavior. Although there is a large number of visitor studies available, their cumulative importance has not been determined due to the lack of rigorous methods to determine common causes of visitors' behaviors. We analyzed Serrell's (1998) database of 110 studies, defining a number of variables that measure visitors' behaviors in exhibition spaces which exceeded the most typical and obvious ones. We defined four indexes of effect size and obtained their combined estimates: average time per feature [ATF● = 0.43 (0.49; 0.37)], percentage of diligent visitors [dv● = 30% (0.39; 0.23)], inverse of velocity [Iv● = 4.07 min/100m2 (4.55; 3.59)], and stops per feature [SF● = 0.35 (0.38; 0.33)], and we analyzed the role of relevant moderating variables. Key findings indicate, for example, that the visiting time for each display element relates to the size of the exhibition and its newness, and visitor walking speed is higher in large exhibit areas. The indexes obtained in this study can be understood as references to be used for comparison with new evaluations. They may help to predict people's behavior and appreciation of new exhibitions, identifying important problems in museum designs, and providing new research tools for this field

In Reliability Generalization (RG) meta-analyses, the importance of bearing in mind the problems of range restriction or biased sampling and their influence on reliability estimation has often been highlighted. Nevertheless, the presence of heterogeneous variances in the included studies has been diagnosed in a subjective way and has not been taken into account in later analyses. Procedures to detect the presence of a variety of sampling schemes and to manage them in the analyses are proposed. The procedures are further explained with an example, by applying them to 25 estimates of Cronbach’s alpha coefficient in the Hamilton Scale for Depression.

The effects of memory load in visual search (VS) have shown a diversity of results from the absence through beneficial and detrimental effects of a concurrent memory load in VS performance. One of the hypotheses intended to explain the heterogeneity of results follows the idea proposed by certain models in the context of VS that the contents of working memory (WM) can modulate the attentional processes involved in VS (Desimone & Duncan, 1995; Duncan & Humphreys, 1989). In four experiments, we manipulated the similarity of information maintained in WM and those materials playing the role of target and distractors in the VS task. The results showed a beneficial effect in the first two experiments, where the materials in WM matched the target in VS. However, when they matched the distractors in the attentional task there is no effect in the slope of the search function. Present results strengthen those theories supporting that visual working memory is fractionated to allow for maintenance of items not essent...

The aim of this study was to examine and identify the psychological, clinical and sociodemographic factors associated with emotional well-being by type of caregiver. A cross-sectional study was conducted among 185 primary caregivers and 92 secondary caregivers of patients with an eating disorder using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, the Experience of Caregiving Inventory and the Eating Disorders Symptom Impact Scale. According to a multiple regression analysis, a total of four models were obtained accounting for 42%-47% of the variance in emotional well-being. The variable that accounted for most of the variance of emotional well-being in three of the models was the impact of nutrition. Improving aspects of the relationships with the patients reduced anxiety and depression levels in primary caregivers. Similarly, a positive personal experience reduced depression in secondary caregivers. A higher education level was associated with decreased anxiety levels in both types of caregivers. Specific family interventions including both types of caregivers may be useful for providing emotional and adaptive personal coping skills.

A meta-analysis of the reliability of the scores from a specific test, also called reliability generalization, allows the quantitative synthesis of its properties from a set of studies. It is usually assumed that part of the variation in the reliability coefficients is due to some unknown and implicit mechanism that restricts and biases the selection of participants in the studies' samples. Sometimes this variation has been reduced by adjusting the coefficients by a formula associated with range restrictions. We propose a framework in which that variation is included (instead of adjusted) in the models intended to explain the variability and in which parallel analyses of the studies' means and variances are performed. Furthermore, the analysis of the residuals enables inferences to be made about the nature of the variability accounted for by moderator variables. The meta-analysis of the 3 studies' statistics-reliability coefficient, mean, and variance--allows psychometric inferences about the test scores. A numerical example illustrates the proposed framework.

Age differences in emotional experience are assessed through self-report scales or questionnaires referring to a specific period of varying length, and examining different parameters of emotional response. A recent meta-analysis suggests that the type of instrument and parameter used could account for some of the inconsistencies in the results. The present study shows comparisons between emotional experience in samples of younger (N = 120, aged 20-27) and older (N = 103, aged 55-75) participants. An Emotional Self-Monitoring record was administered every day for a week. The results show that emotional expression was highly stable over time. However, they also show that some theoretical assumptions about individual age differences in emotional experience and age depend on the parameters on which the analysis is based (occurrence, frequency and intensity, and emotional balance).

Loach and Marí-Beffa (Vis Cogn, 10:513-526, 2003) observed that a distractor stimulus, presented immediately after a behaviorally relevant target stimulus, negatively primed a related probe stimulus indicating that the distractor had been inhibited. They argued that "post-target inhibition" may be a mechanism for preventing interference from temporally proximal stimuli; interference that could potentially result in a binding/intrusion error. In order to test this hypothesis, the authors carried out two rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) experiments in which participants had to report either the identity (Experiment 1) or color (Experiment 2) of a target letter surrounded by distractor letters. In Experiment 1, a close relationship between priming and errors was observed. When a distractor stimulus showed evidence of being inhibited the participant was less likely to commit a binding error. The opposite was true when a distractor stimulus showed evidence of being facilitated. The results of Experiment 2 showed limited evidence of the same relationship.

Sequential rules are explored in the context of null hypothesis significance testing. Several studies have demonstrated that the fixed-sample stopping rule, in which the sample size used by researchers is determined in advance, is less practical and less efficient than sequential stopping rules. It is proposed that a sequential stopping rule called CLAST (composite limited adaptive sequential test) is a superior variant of COAST (composite open adaptive sequential test), a sequential rule proposed by Frick (1998). Simulation studies are conducted to test the efficiency of the proposed rule in terms of sample size and power. Two statistical tests are used: the one-tailed t test of mean differences with two matched samples, and the chi-square independence test for twofold contingency tables. The results show that the CLAST rule is more efficient than the COAST rule and reflects more realistically the practice of experimental psychology researchers.

In meta-analysis, the usual way of assessing whether a set of single studies is homogeneous is by means of the Q test. However, the Q test only informs meta-analysts about the presence versus the absence of heterogeneity, but it does not report on the extent of such heterogeneity. Recently, the I(2) index has been proposed to quantify the degree of heterogeneity in a meta-analysis. In this article, the performances of the Q test and the confidence interval around the I(2) index are compared by means of a Monte Carlo simulation. The results show the utility of the I(2) index as a complement to the Q test, although it has the same problems of power with a small number of studies.

En la aplicación de la regla del "fuera de juego" en fútbol los árbitros y asistentes cometen con cierta frecuencia errores de apreciación. Recientemente Botella y Palacios (2002) han propuesto una explicación de estos errores basada en la psicología de la atención. Desde esta perspectiva la tarea se analiza como una tarea de Juicios de Orden Temporal, en la que el observador debe decidir acerca de cuál de dos eventos se produjo antes. Profundizamos en esta línea analizando los efectos de dos factores hasta ahora inexplorados: la experiencia del observador y el feedback después de cada ensayo. Para el estudio de la experiencia se seleccionaron dos grupos, uno de novatos (estudiantes) y otro de expertos (árbitros y árbitros asistentes de primera y segunda división). Para el estudio del feedback se empleó un diseño ABA de retirada en el que se analiza en la fase B el efecto de la introducción del feedback y en la segunda fase A la permanencia de estos efectos tras retirar el feedback. Los resultados muestran que en la primera fase la tasa de aciertos es igual en los dos grupos, pero la distribución de errores es diferente; mientras los novatos muestran una relación de 3:1 entre falsas alarmas y omisiones, en los expertos estos dos tipos de errores se distribuyen aproximadamente igual. Al introducir el feedback los novatos pasan a comportarse como los expertos, mientras que éstos permanecen estables. Al retirar el feedback el rendimiento de ambos grupos permanece como en la fase B. Este patrón de resultados se interpreta en el sentido de que en los novatos hay una especie de ángulo ciego que sesga el tipo de errores. La introducción del feedback hace visible este ángulo pero su retirada no afecta al rendimiento, que se mantiene como en la fase B.