Consensus meetings will outperform integrative experiments.

We expect that consensus meetings, where researchers come together to discuss their theoretical viewpoints, prioritize the factors they agree are important to study, standardize their measures, and determine a smallest effect size of interest, will prove to be a more efficient solution to the lack of coordination and integration of claims in science than integrative experiments.

Development of the functional assessment of migraine scale using a patient guided approach.

PURPOSE: A better understanding of the multi-dimensional burden and impact of migraine has grown over recent years, yet the tools used to measure these concepts have not been updated to reflect such findings. Additionally, due to the increase in the number of both prophylactic and acute therapeutic options for migraine, a comprehensive assessment of treatment response is necessary. The goal of this project was to develop a patient guided outcome measure which evaluates patient identified efficacy factors when appraising migraine treatment response. METHODS: A group of patients with migraine (N = 10) were given an in-person semi-structured interview collecting information regarding a patient's perspective on meaningful response to headache and migraine treatment. Using the patient information collected during these interviews, a set of questions aimed at evaluating meaningful response were developed. Two additional groups (N = 100, 200) of patients with migraine then provided feedback on the drafted questions in an online setting. RESULTS: Interviews indicated thematic areas of interest to patients with migraine are not commonly assessed on popular measures. Over two hundred items were developed to assess thematic areas indicated by patients. Factor analysis used on the focus groups' results led to the development of an 18-item scale (Functional Assessment of Migraine Scale-Research: FAMS-R) that assesses the impact of migraine on a patient and shows the potential to measure treatment response. CONCLUSION: The FAMS portrays promising results at measuring a multi-faceted migraine treatment response and disease impact.

The lrd package: An R package and Shiny application for processing lexical data.

Recall testing is a common assessment to gauge memory retrieval. Responses from these tests can be analyzed in several ways; however, the output generated from a recall study typically requires manual coding that can be time intensive and error-prone before analyses can be conducted. To address this issue, this article introduces lrd (Lexical Response Data), a set of open-source tools for quickly and accurately processing lexical response data that can be used either from the R command line or through an R Shiny graphical user interface. First, we provide an overview of this package and include a step-by-step user guide for processing both cued- and free-recall responses. For validation of lrd, we used lrd to recode output from cued, free, and sentence-recall studies with large samples and examined whether the results replicated using lrd-scored data. We then assessed the inter-rater reliability and sensitivity and specificity of the scoring algorithm relative to human-coded data. Overall, lrd is highly reliable and shows excellent sensitivity and specificity, indicating that recall data processed using this package are remarkably consistent with data processed by a human coder.

How the Presence of Others Affects Desirability Judgments in Heterosexual and Homosexual Participants.

Mate-choice copying is a mating strategy wherein women rely on contextual information to assist in securing accurate assessments of potential mates. Mate-choice copying has been extensively studied in non-human species and has begun to be examined in humans as well. Hill and Buss (2008) found evidence of opposing effects for men and women in desirability judgments based on the presence of other opposite-sex people. The current study successfully replicated these findings with 73 and 44 heterosexual men and women, respectively. Heterosexual men exhibited the desirability diminution effect, and heterosexual women exhibited the desirability enhancement effect. The current study also extended these findings to include 73 gay men and 32 lesbian women. Findings for gay and lesbian participants were inverted compared to heterosexual participants. Gay men exhibited the desirability enhancement effect, and lesbian women exhibited the desirability diminution effect, revealing sex differences in mate-choice copying spanning different sexual orientations.

Investigating the interaction of direct and indirect relation on memory judgments and retrieval.

This study examined the interactive relationship between two measures of association (direct and indirect associations) when predicting relatedness judgments and cued-recall performance. Participants were recruited from Amazon's Mechanical Turk and were given word pairs of varying relatedness to judge for their semantic, thematic, and associative strength. After completing a distractor task, participants then completed a cued-recall task. First, we sought to expand previous work on judgments of associative memory to include semantic- and thematic-based judgments (judgments of relatedness), while also replicating bias and sensitivity findings. Next, we tested for an interaction between direct and indirect association when predicting participant judgments while also expanding upon previous work by examining that interaction when predicting recall. The interaction between direct and indirect association was significant for both judgments and recall. For low indirect association, direct association was the primary predictor of both judgment strength and recall proportions. However, this trend reversed for high indirect association, as higher levels of indirect relation decreased the effectiveness of direct relation as a predictor. Overall, our findings indicate the degree to which the processing of similarity information impacts cognitive processes such as retrieval and item judgments, while also parsing apart the underlying, interactive relationship that exists between the norms used to represent concept information.

A practical primer on processing semantic property norm data.

Semantic property listing tasks require participants to generate short propositions (e.g., [Formula: see text], [Formula: see text]) for a specific concept (e.g., DOG). This task is the cornerstone of the creation of semantic property norms which are essential for modeling, stimuli creation, and understanding similarity between concepts. Despite the wide applicability of semantic property norms for a large variety of concepts across different groups of people, the methodological aspects of the property listing task have received less attention, even though the procedure and processing of the data can substantially affect the nature and quality of the measures derived from them. The goal of this paper is to provide a practical primer on how to collect and process semantic property norms. We will discuss the key methods to elicit semantic properties and compare different methods to derive meaningful representations from them. This will cover the role of instructions and test context, property preprocessing (e.g., lemmatization), property weighting, and relationship encoding using ontologies. With these choices in mind, we propose and demonstrate a processing pipeline that transparently documents these steps, resulting in improved comparability across different studies. The impact of these choices will be demonstrated using intrinsic (e.g., reliability, number of properties) and extrinsic measures (e.g., categorization, semantic similarity, lexical processing). This practical primer will offer potential solutions to several long-standing problems and allow researchers to develop new property listing norms overcoming the constraints of previous studies.

Risk factors for keratinocyte carcinoma skin cancer in nonwhite individuals: A retrospective analysis.

BACKGROUND: Because most of the US population will consist of nonwhite individuals by the year 2043, it is essential that both physicians and patients are educated about skin cancer in nonwhite persons. OBJECTIVE: To update the epidemiology, investigate specific risk factors, and facilitate earlier diagnosis and intervention of keratinocyte carcinoma in nonwhite individuals. METHODS: Institutional review board-approved retrospective chart review of all nonwhite patients who had received a biopsy-proven diagnosis of skin cancer at Drexel Dermatology during June 2008-June 2015. RESULTS: Squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) was the most commonly diagnosed skin cancer in black and Asian populations, and basal cell carcinoma was the most common skin cancer in Hispanics. Black persons exhibited the majority of their SCC lesions in sun-protected areas, particularly the anogenital area. On average, current smokers received skin cancer diagnoses 12.27 years earlier than former smokers and 9.36 years earlier than nonsmokers. LIMITATIONS: Single-center design and interpractitioner variability of skin examination. CONCLUSION: The importance of lesions in photoprotected areas in nonwhite individuals should not go overlooked. However, emphasis should also be placed on active examination of sun-protected areas in nonwhite persons and recognition of the relationship between human papillomavirus and genital SCC lesions. Smoking cessation should be integrated in dermatologic counseling of all patients. Interventions tailored to each of these ethnic groups are needed.

English semantic feature production norms: An extended database of 4436 concepts.

A limiting factor in understanding memory and language is often the availability of large numbers of stimuli to use and explore in experimental studies. In this study, we expand on three previous databases of concepts to over 4000 words including nouns, verbs, adjectives, and other parts of speech. Participants in the study were asked to provide lists of features for each concept presented (a semantic feature production task), which were combined with previous research in this area. These feature lists for each concept were then coded into their root word form and affixes (i.e., cat and s for cats) to explore the impact of word form on semantic similarity measures, which are often calculated by comparing concept feature lists (feature overlap). All concept features, coding, and calculated similarity information is provided in a searchable database for easy access and utilization for future researchers when designing experiments that use word stimuli. The final database of word pairs was combined with the Semantic Priming Project to examine the relation of semantic similarity statistics on semantic priming in tandem with other psycholinguistic variables.

LAB: Linguistic Annotated Bibliography - a searchable portal for normed database information.

This article presents the Linguistic Annotated Bibliography (LAB) as a searchable Web portal to quickly and easily access reliable database norms, related programs, and variable calculations. These publications were coded by language, number of stimuli, stimuli type (i.e., words, pictures, symbols), keywords (i.e., frequency, semantics, valence), and other useful information. This tool not only allows researchers to search for the specific type of stimuli needed for experiments but also permits the exploration of publication trends across 100 years of research. Details about the portal creation and use are outlined, as well as various analyses of change in publication rates and keywords. In general, advances in computational power have allowed for the increase in dataset size in the recent decades, in addition to an increase in the number of linguistic variables provided in each publication.

Evaluating the effectiveness of ecological momentary assessment and intervention targeting body checking behaviors.

This study investigated the efficacy of using ecological momentary assessment and intervention (EMA/EMI) to target body checking behaviors. Body checking has been shown to increase body dissatisfaction and play a role in eating disorders, but few treatments specifically targeting body checking have been empirically evaluated. Forty-four female undergraduates who reported engaging in frequent body checking behaviors participated in a five-day study wherein they were assessed five times a day via smart phone. On the final two days of the study, intervention messages were sent containing cognitive-behavioral strategies for decreasing body checking. Body checking behaviors increased within each day, but decreased across the five day intervention period. Pretest to posttest analyses found healthy improvements in a number of body image related constructs. These results highlight that 1) body checking appears to increase throughout the day, and 2) targeting body checking behaviors through brief EMA/EMI may be a useful clinical tool.

Methods to detect low quality data and its implication for psychological research.

Web-based data collection methods such as Amazon's Mechanical Turk (AMT) are an appealing option to recruit participants quickly and cheaply for psychological research. While concerns regarding data quality have emerged with AMT, several studies have exhibited that data collected via AMT are as reliable as traditional college samples and are often more diverse and representative of noncollege populations. The development of methods to screen for low quality data, however, has been less explored. Omitting participants based on simple screening methods in isolation, such as response time or attention checks may not be adequate identification methods, with an inability to delineate between high or low effort participants. Additionally, problematic survey responses may arise from survey automation techniques such as survey bots or automated form fillers. The current project developed low quality data detection methods while overcoming previous screening limitations. Multiple checks were employed, such as page response times, distribution of survey responses, the number of utilized choices from a given range of scale options, click counts, and manipulation checks. This method was tested on a survey taken with an easily available plug-in survey bot, as well as compared to data collected by human participants providing both high effort and randomized, or low effort, answers. Identified cases can then be used as part of sensitivity analyses to warrant exclusion from further analyses. This algorithm can be a promising tool to identify low quality or automated data via AMT or other online data collection platforms.

Meaning, Resilience, and Traumatic Stress After the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill: A Study of Mississippi Coastal Residents Seeking Mental Health Services.

The present study examines the relationship between resilience, perceived meaning in life, and traumatic stress symptoms among coastal residents of Mississippi directly affected by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill (also known as the Gulf oil spill). The study was conducted as part of a larger project that assessed the spill's effect on the mental health of individuals seeking therapeutic services. Multiple regression analyses were conducted to determine if resilience and perceived meaning are significant predictors of scores from a measure of posttraumatic stress. Descriptive data, reliability coefficients, and correlations were also calculated. Higher levels of resilience and meaning together were predictive of fewer posttraumatic stress symptoms after controlling for the effect of the spill. Resilience and meaning appeared to be similar predictors of lower posttraumatic stress scores, and meaning appears to be an important facet of what makes a person resilient.

Assessment of Meaning in Adolescents Receiving Clinical Services in Mississippi Following the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill: An Application of the Purpose in Life Test-Short Form (PIL-SF).

OBJECTIVES: This study's purpose was to assess perceived meaning in adolescents. Specifically, our goals were to examine the psychometric properties of the Purpose in Life test-Short Form (PIL-SF) and its ability to predict psychological outcomes in an adolescent sample. METHOD: Aspects of well-being (self-efficacy, life satisfaction, and resilience) and psychological distress (posttraumatic stress, depression, anxiety, and general stress) were assessed in a sample of adolescents (N = 91; 58.2% female; mean age = 14.89) receiving clinical services following the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill. RESULTS: Meaning was positively associated with life satisfaction, self-efficacy, and resilience, and negatively associated with posttraumatic stress and depression. Meaning was not significantly related to anxiety or general stress. Females reported significantly more meaning than males, while no significant differences were noted by race/ethnicity. CONCLUSIONS: The PIL-SF is a useful measure with adolescents. Moreover, meaning is an important concept to consider with respect to disasters.

Measuring resilience with the RS-14: a tale of two samples.

The purpose of this study was to systematically examine the psychometric properties of the 14-item Resilience Scale (RS-14; Wagnild, 2009a). Exploratory and confirmatory factor-analytic methods were employed, including an analysis of measurement invariance models by sex and race/ethnicity. Descriptive statistics, reliability, and validity data were also calculated. Analyses were based on 2 samples, one made up of individuals seeking mental health services following the 2010 Gulf oil spill (N = 1,032) and the other made up of university students (N = 1,765). For both samples, all items loaded (>.30) onto 1 factor, indicating cohesive structure for a 1-factor model explaining 53.2% of the variance in the clinical sample and 67.6% of the variance in the undergraduate sample. Further, the examination of measurement invariance indicated that the RS-14 was similarly structured for sex and race/ethnicity. Reliability coefficients exceeded.90 for both samples and also when data were examined by comparison groups. The RS-14 correlated significantly and as expected with measures of positive concepts (such as perceived meaning in life and satisfaction with life) and indexes of psychological distress (such as depression, anxiety, stress, and posttraumatic stress). These data support the utility of the RS-14 with clinical and undergraduate student samples. Implications for these data are discussed.

We don't know what you did last summer. On the importance of transparent reporting of reaction time data pre-processing.

In behavioral, cognitive, and social sciences, reaction time measures are an important source of information. However, analyses on reaction time data are affected by researchers' analytical choices and the order in which these choices are applied. The results of a systematic literature review, presented in this paper, revealed that the justification for and order in which analytical choices are conducted are rarely reported, leading to difficulty in reproducing results and interpreting mixed findings. To address this methodological shortcoming, we created a checklist on reporting reaction time pre-processing to make these decisions more explicit, improve transparency, and thus, promote best practices within the field. The importance of the pre-processing checklist was additionally supported by an expert consensus survey and a multiverse analysis. Consequently, we appeal for maximal transparency on all methods applied and offer a checklist to improve replicability and reproducibility of studies that use reaction time measures.

English semantic word-pair norms and a searchable Web portal for experimental stimulus creation.

As researchers explore the complexity of memory and language hierarchies, the need to expand normed stimulus databases is growing. Therefore, we present 1,808 words, paired with their features and concept-concept information, that were collected using previously established norming methods (McRae, Cree, Seidenberg, & McNorgan Behavior Research Methods 37:547-559, 2005). This database supplements existing stimuli and complements the Semantic Priming Project (Hutchison, Balota, Cortese, Neely, Niemeyer, Bengson, & Cohen-Shikora 2010). The data set includes many types of words (including nouns, verbs, adjectives, etc.), expanding on previous collections of nouns and verbs (Vinson & Vigliocco Journal of Neurolinguistics 15:317-351, 2008). We describe the relation between our and other semantic norms, as well as giving a short review of word-pair norms. The stimuli are provided in conjunction with a searchable Web portal that allows researchers to create a set of experimental stimuli without prior programming knowledge. When researchers use this new database in tandem with previous norming efforts, precise stimuli sets can be created for future research endeavors.

The role of personality, authoritarianism and cognition in the United Kingdom's 2016 referendum on European Union membership.

Introduction: The results of the United Kingdom's 2016 referendum on European Union (EU) membership have highlighted deep societal divides. In six studies, we examined the role of personality traits, cognition and cognitive biases in relation to referendum voters' choices. Methods: A total of 11,225 participants completed questionnaires and controlled experiments, which assessed differences in personality traits, levels of authoritarianism, numeracy, thinking styles, and susceptibility to cognitive biases including ideologically motivated numeracy and reasoning, framing, and the Dunning-Kruger effect. Results: Participants expressing an intent to vote to leave the EU reported significantly higher levels of authoritarianism and conscientiousness, and lower levels of openness and neuroticism than voters expressing an intent to vote to remain in the EU. When compared with Remain voters, Leave voters displayed significantly lower levels of numeracy and appeared more reliant on impulsive System 1 thinking. In the experimental studies, voters on both sides were found to be susceptible to the cognitive biases tested, with a general trend for Leave voters to show more bias than Remain voters. Discussion: These results raise important questions regarding the use and framing of numerical and non-numerical data for public consumption.

The Functional Assessment of Migraine Scale development datasets.

The Functional Assessment of Migraine Scale (FAMS) is a newly developed questionnaire that allows patients to indicate their response to migraine treatment [1]. The datasets provided in this article were collected on patients with migraine using survey methodology in two rounds of data collection. In the first dataset (n = 100), patients were shown 210 proposed questions for the FAMS and rated their usefulness and/or relevance for assessing their treatment response [2]. Using factor analyses, the best items were selected for the second data collection (n = 200). Patients completed the final proposed 72 items along with two other popular measures of migraine assessment [3]. Both datasets include demographic and migraine related information (gender, race, medication, number of headache and migraine days). These data provide a wealth of information about the number and types of medications a patient with migraine may take, coupled with information about their perceived response to treatment with those medications. Because the FAMS was developed to assess a wide range of concerns voiced by patients, this data offers new insights into a large health population beyond the normal scope of research studies.