Deciding what to replicate: A decision model for replication study selection under resource and knowledge constraints.

Robust scientific knowledge is contingent upon replication of original findings. However, replicating researchers are constrained by resources, and will almost always have to choose one replication effort to focus on from a set of potential candidates. To select a candidate efficiently in these cases, we need methods for deciding which out of all candidates considered would be the most useful to replicate, given some overall goal researchers wish to achieve. In this article we assume that the overall goal researchers wish to achieve is to maximize the utility gained by conducting the replication study. We then propose a general rule for study selection in replication research based on the replication value of the set of claims considered for replication. The replication value of a claim is defined as the maximum expected utility we could gain by conducting a replication of the claim, and is a function of (a) the value of being certain about the claim, and (b) uncertainty about the claim based on current evidence. We formalize this definition in terms of a causal decision model, utilizing concepts from decision theory and causal graph modeling. We discuss the validity of using replication value as a measure of expected utility gain, and we suggest approaches for deriving quantitative estimates of replication value. Our goal in this article is not to define concrete guidelines for study selection, but to provide the necessary theoretical foundations on which such concrete guidelines could be built. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

No evidence of moral licensing in a laboratory bribe-taking task.

Moral licensing posits that previous moral acts increase the probability of behaving immorally in the future. According to this perspective, rejecting bribes, even because they are too small, would create a kind of "license" for taking (presumably larger) bribes in the future. On the other hand, the desire for consistency in behavior predicts that previous rejection of bribes will increase the probability of rejection for bribes offered in the future. Using a laboratory task modeling the decision to take a bribe, we examined how resisting and succumbing to the temptation to take a bribe affects later bribe-taking. Participants (N = 297) were offered either low bribes first and high bribes later or vice versa. Low bribes were in general rejected more often and the results showed some weak, nonsignificant evidence that bribe-taking may be influenced by the order of the sizes of offered bribes. However, there was no evidence of an increased probability of taking bribes after being offered the low bribes first and thus no evidence in support of the moral licensing effect.

Seven steps toward more transparency in statistical practice.

We argue that statistical practice in the social and behavioural sciences benefits from transparency, a fair acknowledgement of uncertainty and openness to alternative interpretations. Here, to promote such a practice, we recommend seven concrete statistical procedures: (1) visualizing data; (2) quantifying inferential uncertainty; (3) assessing data preprocessing choices; (4) reporting multiple models; (5) involving multiple analysts; (6) interpreting results modestly; and (7) sharing data and code. We discuss their benefits and limitations, and provide guidelines for adoption. Each of the seven procedures finds inspiration in Merton's ethos of science as reflected in the norms of communalism, universalism, disinterestedness and organized scepticism. We believe that these ethical considerations-as well as their statistical consequences-establish common ground among data analysts, despite continuing disagreements about the foundations of statistical inference.

What makes euthanasia justifiable? The role of symptoms' characteristics and interindividual differences.

The consideration of laypeople's views of conditions under which euthanasia is justifiable is important for policy decisions. In an online survey of US respondents, we examined how patient's symptoms influence justifiability of euthanasia. Euthanasia was judged more justifiable for conditions associated with physical suffering and negative impact on other people. The weight given to physical suffering and negative impact on others in evaluation of justifiability of euthanasia also differed based on personal characteristics. The results suggest that public discourse about medical assistance in dying should take into account differences in its perceived justifiability for patients with different conditions.

Sacrificing Oneself or Another: The Difference Between Prescriptive and Normative Judgments in Moral Evaluation.

When asked whether to sacrifice oneself or another person to save others, one might think that people would consider sacrificing themselves rather than someone else as the right and appropriate course of action-thus showing an other-serving bias. So far however, most studies found instances of a self-serving bias-people say they would rather sacrifice others. In three experiments using trolley-like dilemmas, we tested whether an other-serving bias might appear as a function of judgment type. That is, participants were asked to make a prescriptive judgment (whether the described action should or should not be done) or a normative judgment (whether the action is right or wrong). We found that participants exhibited an other-serving bias only when asked whether self- or other-sacrifice is wrong. That is, when the judgment was normative and in a negative frame (in contrast to the positive frame asking whether the sacrifice is right). Otherwise, participants tended to exhibit a self-serving bias; that is, they approved sacrificing others more. The results underscore the importance of question wording and suggest that some effects on moral judgment might depend on the type of judgment.

Disfluent, But Fast.

Processing fluency, a metacognitive feeling of ease of cognitive processing, serves as a cue in various types of judgments. Processing fluency is sometimes evaluated by response times, with shorter response times indicating higher fluency. The present study examined existence of the opposite association; that is, it tested whether disfluency may lead to faster decision times when it serves as a strong cue in judgment. Retrieval fluency was manipulated in an experiment using previous presentation and phonological fluency by varying pronounceability of pseudowords. Participants liked easy-to-pronounce and previously presented words more. Importantly, their decisions were faster for hard-to-pronounce and easy-to-pronounce pseudowords than for pseudowords moderate in pronounceability. The results thus showed an inverted-U shaped relationship between fluency and decision times. The findings suggest that disfluency can lead to faster decision times and thus demonstrate the importance of separating different processes comprising judgment when response times are used as a measure of processing fluency.

Predictors of Bribe-Taking: The Role of Bribe Size and Personality.

Laboratory studies allow studying the predictors of bribe-taking in a controlled setting. However, presently used laboratory tasks often lack any connection to norm violation or invite participants to role-play. A new experimental task for studying the decision to take a bribe was designed in this study to overcome these problems by embedding the opportunity for bribe-taking in an unrelated task that participants perform. Using this new experimental task, we found that refraining from harming a third party by taking a bribe was associated with lower offered bribes and higher scores of the participants on the honesty-humility scale from the HEXACO personality inventory. A trial-level analysis showed that response times were longer for trials with bribes and even longer for trials in which bribes were accepted. These results suggest that taking a bribe may require overcoming automatic honest response and support the validity of the honesty-humility scale in predicting moral behavior.

Mnemonic and behavioral effects of biperiden, an M1-selective antagonist, in the rat.

RATIONALE: There is a persistent pressing need for valid animal models of cognitive and mnemonic disruptions (such as seen in Alzheimer's disease and other dementias) usable for preclinical research. OBJECTIVES: We have set out to test the validity of administration of biperiden, an M1-acetylcholine receptor antagonist with central selectivity, as a potential tool for generating a fast screening model of cognitive impairment, in outbred Wistar rats. METHODS: We used several variants of the Morris water maze task: (1) reversal learning, to assess cognitive flexibility, with probe trials testing memory retention; (2) delayed matching to position (DMP), to evaluate working memory; and (3) "counter-balanced acquisition," to test for possible anomalies in acquisition learning. We also included a visible platform paradigm to reveal possible sensorimotor and motivational deficits. RESULTS: A significant effect of biperiden on memory acquisition and retention was found in the counter-balanced acquisition and probe trials of the counter-balanced acquisition and reversal tasks. Strikingly, a less pronounced deficit was observed in the DMP. No effects were revealed in the reversal learning task. CONCLUSIONS: Based on our results, we do not recommend biperiden as a reliable tool for modeling cognitive impairment.

If It's Difficult to Pronounce, It Might Not Be Risky: The Effect of Fluency on Judgment of Risk Does Not Generalize to New Stimuli.

Processing fluency is used as a basis for various types of judgment. For example, previous research has shown that people judge food additives with names that are more difficult to pronounce (i.e., that are disfluent) to be more harmful. We explored the possibility that the association between disfluency and perceived harmfulness might be in the opposite direction for some categories of stimuli. Although we found some support for this hypothesis, an improved analysis and further studies indicated that the effect was strongly dependent on the stimuli used. We then used stimulus sampling and showed that the original association between fluency and perceived safety was not replicable with the newly constructed stimuli. We found the association between fluency and perceived safety using the newly constructed stimuli in a final study, but only when pronounceability was confounded with word length. The results cast doubt on generalizability of the association between pronounceability and perceived safety and underscore the importance of treating stimulus as a random factor.

Differences in autonomy of humans and ultrasocial insects.

The target article is built on an analogy between humans and ultrasocial insects. We argue that there are many important limitations to the analogy that make any possible inferences from the analogy questionable. We demonstrate the issue using an example of the difference between a loss of autonomy in humans and in social insects.

Is the Emotional Dog Blind to Its Choices?

Previous choice blindness studies showed that people sometimes fail to notice when their choice is changed. Subsequently, they are willing to provide reasons for the manipulated choice which is the opposite of the one they made just seconds ago. In the present study, participants first made binary judgments about the wrongness of described behaviors and then were shown an opposite answer during a second reading of some of the descriptions. Half of the participants saw the answer during the second presentation of the description and the other half saw it only after the presentation. Based on Haidt's Social intuitionist model, we hypothesized that participants in the latter group would be less likely to reconcile their intuition with the presented answer and thus they would be more likely to reject it. However, we found no difference between the groups.

Response to Comment on "Estimating the reproducibility of psychological science".

Gilbert et al. conclude that evidence from the Open Science Collaboration's Reproducibility Project: Psychology indicates high reproducibility, given the study methodology. Their very optimistic assessment is limited by statistical misconceptions and by causal inferences from selectively interpreted, correlational data. Using the Reproducibility Project: Psychology data, both optimistic and pessimistic conclusions about reproducibility are possible, and neither are yet warranted.

Temporal and spatial strategies in an active place avoidance task on Carousel: a study of effects of stability of arena rotation speed in rats.

The active place avoidance task is a dry-arena task used to assess spatial navigation and memory in rodents. In this task, a subject is put on a rotating circular arena and avoids an invisible sector that is stable in relation to the room. Rotation of the arena means that the subject's avoidance must be active, otherwise the subject will be moved in the to-be-avoided sector by the rotation of the arena and a slight electric shock will be administered. The present experiment explored the effect of variable arena rotation speed on the ability to avoid the to-be-avoided sector. Subjects in a group with variable arena rotation speed learned to avoid the sector with the same speed and attained the same avoidance ability as rats in a group with a stable arena rotation speed. Only a slight difference in preferred position within the room was found between the two groups. No difference was found between the two groups in the dark phase, where subjects could not use orientation cues in the room. Only one rat was able to learn the avoidance of the to-be-avoided sector in this phase. The results of the experiment suggest that idiothetic orientation and interval timing are not crucial for learning avoidance of the to-be-avoided sector. However, idiothetic orientation might be sufficient for avoiding the sector in the dark.

Nogo-A-deficient Transgenic Rats Show Deficits in Higher Cognitive Functions, Decreased Anxiety, and Altered Circadian Activity Patterns.

Decreased levels of Nogo-A-dependent signaling have been shown to affect behavior and cognitive functions. In Nogo-A knockout and knockdown laboratory rodents, behavioral alterations were observed, possibly corresponding with human neuropsychiatric diseases of neurodevelopmental origin, particularly schizophrenia. This study offers further insight into behavioral manifestations of Nogo-A knockdown in laboratory rats, focusing on spatial and non-spatial cognition, anxiety levels, circadian rhythmicity, and activity patterns. Demonstrated is an impairment of cognitive functions and behavioral flexibility in a spatial active avoidance task, while non-spatial memory in a step-through avoidance task was spared. No signs of anhedonia, typical for schizophrenic patients, were observed in the animals. Some measures indicated lower anxiety levels in the Nogo-A-deficient group. Circadian rhythmicity in locomotor activity was preserved in the Nogo-A knockout rats and their circadian period (tau) did not differ from controls. However, daily activity patterns were slightly altered in the knockdown animals. We conclude that a reduction of Nogo-A levels induces changes in CNS development, manifested as subtle alterations in cognitive functions, emotionality, and activity patterns.

Nogo-A downregulation impairs place avoidance in the Carousel maze but not spatial memory in the Morris water maze.

Nogo-A protein is an important inhibitor of axonal growth, which also regulates neuronal plasticity in the CNS. Mutations in the gene encoding Nogo-A or abnormalities in Nogo-A expression are linked to neuropsychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia. The present study assesses the impact of constitutively reduced expression of Nogo-A on place navigation in a novel transgenic rat model. Two spatial paradigms were used: (1) A battery of tests in the Carousel maze requiring continuous processing of spatial information with increasing demands for the segregation of reference frames and behavioral flexibility and (2) a delayed-matching-to-place version of the Morris water maze (MWM), which requires place navigation and is sensitive to deficits in one-trial-encoded place representation. The Carousel maze testing revealed a subtle but significant impairment in management of reference frames. Matching-to-place learning in the Morris water maze was unaffected, suggesting an intact representation of an unmarked goal. Our results show that Nogo-A deficiency leads to cognitive deficit in processing of the reference frames. Such a deficit may be the result of neuro-developmental alterations resulting from Nogo-A deficiency.

Synergistic effects of dopamine D2-like receptor antagonist sulpiride and ß-blocker propranolol on learning in the carousel maze, a dry-land spatial navigation task.

Spatial navigation attracts the attention of neuroscientists as an animal analogue of human declarative memory. The Carousel maze is a dry-land navigational paradigm, which proved to be useful in studying neurobiological substrates of learning. The task involves avoidance of a stable sector on a rotating arena and is highly dependent upon the hippocampus. The present study aims at testing hypothesis that sulpiride (a centrally-active dopamine D2-like receptor antagonist) and propranolol (a beta-blocker) impair spatial learning in the Carousel maze after combined systemic administration. These doses were previously shown to be subthreshold in this task. Results showed that both substances affected behavior and significantly potentiated their negative effects on spatial learning. This suggests central interaction of both types of receptors in influencing acquisition of this dynamic-environment task.