Co-occurring dominance and ideal point processes: A general IRTree framework for multidimensional item responding.

Responding to rating scale items is a multidimensional process, since not only the substantive trait being measured but also additional personal characteristics can affect the respondents' category choices. A flexible model class for analyzing such multidimensional responses are IRTree models, in which rating responses are decomposed into a sequence of sub-decisions. Different response processes can be involved in item responding both sequentially across those sub-decisions and as co-occurring processes within sub-decisions. In the previous literature, modeling co-occurring processes has been exclusively limited to dominance models, where higher trait levels are associated with higher expected scores. However, some response processes may rather follow an ideal point rationale, where the expected score depends on the proximity of a person's trait level to the item's location. Therefore, we propose a new multidimensional IRT model of co-occurring dominance and ideal point processes (DI-MIRT model) as a flexible framework for parameterizing IRTree sub-decisions with multiple dominance processes, multiple ideal point processes, and combinations of both. The DI-MIRT parameterization opens up new application areas for the IRTree model class and allows the specification of a wide range of theoretical assumptions regarding the cognitive processing of item responding. A simulation study shows that IRTree models with DI-MIRT parameterization provide excellent parameter recovery and accurately reflect co-occurring dominance and ideal point processes. In addition, a clear advantage over traditional IRTree models with purely sequential processes is demonstrated. Two application examples from the field of response style analysis highlight the benefits of the general IRTree framework under real-world conditions.

Problems of Domain Factors with Small Factor Loadings in Bi-Factor Models.

Many measurement designs produce domain factors with small variances and factor loadings. The current study investigates the cause, prevalence, and problematic consequences of such domain factors. We collected a meta-analytic sample of empirical applications, conducted a simulation study on statistical power and estimation precision, and provide a reanalysis of an empirical example. The meta-analysis shows that about a quarter of all standardized domain factor loadings is in the range of -.2<λ<.2 and about a third of all domains is measured by five or fewer indicators, resulting in small factor variances. The simulation study examines the associated difficulties concerning statistical power, trait recovery, irregular estimates, and estimation precision for a range of such realistic cases. The empirical example illustrates the challenge to develop measures that produce clearly interpretable domain factors. Study planning and interpretation need to take the (expected) sum of squared factor loadings per domain factor into account. This is relevant even if influences of domain factors are desired to be small, and equally applies to different model variants. We propose several strategies for how researchers may better unlock the bifactor model's full potential and clarify its interpretation.

Agency effects on the binding of event elements in episodic memory.

Representing events in episodic memory in a coherent manner requires that their constituent elements are bound together. So far, only few moderators of these binding processes have been identified. Here we investigate whether the presence of an agentic element in an event facilitates binding. The results from six experiments provided no evidence for a facilitating effect of agency on the binding of event elements. In addition, binding effects were only found when event elements were presented simultaneously, but not when they were presented sequentially pairwise, contrary to previous findings. The results suggest that the presence of an agentic element in an event does not, or only to a very limited extent, contribute to the formation of coherent memory representations and that additional processes may be required when binding event elements across temporarily divided encoding episodes. These findings add to a growing body of research regarding moderators and processes relevant for the binding of event elements in episodic memory. Explanations of these findings and directions for future research are discussed.

Item-Specific Factors in IRTree Models: When They Matter and When They Don't.

Lyu et al. (Psychometrika, 2023) demonstrated that item-specific factors can cause spurious effects on the structural parameters of IRTree models for multiple nested response processes per item. Here, we discuss some boundary conditions and argue that person selection effects on item parameters are not unique to item-specific factors and that the effects presented by Lyu et al. (Psychometrika, 2023) may not generalize to the family of IRTree models as a whole. We conclude with the recommendation that IRTree model specification should be guided by theoretical considerations, rather than driven by data, in order to avoid misinterpretations of parameter differences.

Dynamic Response Strategies: Accounting for Response Process Heterogeneity in IRTree Decision Nodes.

It is essential to control self-reported trait measurements for response style effects to ensure a valid interpretation of estimates. Traditional psychometric models facilitating such control consider item responses as the result of two kinds of response processes-based on the substantive trait, or based on response styles-and they assume that both of these processes have a constant influence across the items of a questionnaire. However, this homogeneity over items is not always given, for instance, if the respondents' motivation declines throughout the questionnaire so that heuristic responding driven by response styles may gradually take over from cognitively effortful trait-based responding. The present study proposes two dynamic IRTree models, which account for systematic continuous changes and additional random fluctuations of response strategies, by defining item position-dependent trait and response style effects. Simulation analyses demonstrate that the proposed models accurately capture dynamic trajectories of response processes, as well as reliably detect the absence of dynamics, that is, identify constant response strategies. The continuous version of the dynamic model formalizes the underlying response strategies in a parsimonious way and is highly suitable as a cognitive model for investigating response strategy changes over items. The extended model with random fluctuations of strategies can adapt more closely to the item-specific effects of different response processes and thus is a well-fitting model with high flexibility. By using an empirical data set, the benefits of the proposed dynamic approaches over traditional IRTree models are illustrated under realistic conditions.

The binding structure of event elements in episodic memory and the role of animacy.

Experienced events consist of several elements which need to be bound together in memory to represent the event in a coherent manner. Given such bindings, the retrieval of one event element should be related to the successful retrieval of another element of the same event, thus leading to a stochastic dependency of the retrieval of event elements. The way in which bindings are structured is not yet clearly established and only few moderators of the binding of event elements have been identified. We present results from three experiments aiming to distinguish between an integrated binding structure, in which event elements are bound into a unitary representation, and a hierarchical binding structure, in which event elements are preferentially bound to specific types of elements. Experiments 2 and 3 were additionally designed to identify animacy, an entity's property of being alive, as a potential moderator of the binding of event elements. We also offer a new approach for modelling dependencies of the retrieval of event elements which mitigates some limitations of previous approaches. Consistent with previous literature, we found dependencies of the retrieval of event elements if all of an event's constituent associations were shown. We found mixed evidence for integrated or hierarchical binding structures but found dependency of the retrieval of event elements to be sensitive to the presence of animacy in an event. The results suggest that binding structures may vary depending on moderators such as animacy or event structure awareness. Theoretical implications and directions for future research are discussed.

Measuring binding effects in event-based episodic representations.

Remembering an experienced event in a coherent manner requires the binding of the event's constituent elements. Such binding effects manifest as a stochastic dependency of the retrieval of event elements. Several approaches for modeling these dependencies have been proposed. We compare the contingency-based approach by Horner & Burgess (Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 142(4), 1370-1383, 2013), related approaches using Yule's Q (Yule, Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, 75(6), 579-652, 1912) or an adjusted Yule's Q (c.f. Horner & Burgess, Current Biology, 24(9), 988-992, 2014), an approach based on item response theory (IRT, Schreiner et al., in press), and a nonparametric variant of the IRT-based approach. We present evidence from a simulation study comparing the five approaches regarding their empirical detection rates and susceptibility to different levels of memory performance, and from an empirical application. We found the IRT-based approach and its nonparametric variant to yield the highest power for detecting dependencies or differences in dependency between conditions. However, the nonparametric variant yielded increasing Type I error rates with increasing dependency in the data when testing for differences in dependency. We found the approaches based on Yule's Q to yield biased estimates and to be strongly affected by memory performance. The other measures were unbiased given no dependency or differences in dependency but were also affected by memory performance if there was dependency in the data or if there were differences in dependency, but to a smaller extent. The results suggest that the IRT-based approach is best suited for measuring binding effects. Further considerations when deciding for a modeling approach are discussed.

Different approaches to modeling response styles in divide-by-total item response theory models (part 1): A model integration.

A large variety of item response theory (IRT) modeling approaches aim at measuring and correcting for response styles in rating data. Here, we integrate response style models of the divide-by-total model family into one superordinate framework that parameterizes response styles as person-specific shifts in threshold parameters. This superordinate framework allows us to structure and compare existing approaches to modeling response styles and therewith makes model-implied restrictions explicit. With a simulation study, we show how the new framework allows us to assess consequences of violations of model assumptions and to compare response style estimates across different model parameterizations. The integrative framework of divide-by-total modeling approaches facilitates the correction for and examination of response styles. In addition to providing a superordinate framework for psychometric research, it gives guidance to applied researchers for model selection and specification in psychological assessment. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Different approaches to modeling response styles in divide-by-total item response theory models (part 2): Applications and novel extensions.

Many approaches in the item response theory (IRT) literature have incorporated response styles to control for potential biases. However, the specific assumptions about response styles are often not made explicit. Having integrated different IRT modeling variants into a superordinate framework, we highlighted assumptions and restrictions of the models (Henninger & Meiser, 2020). In this article, we show that based on the superordinate framework, we can estimate the different models as multidimensional extensions of the nominal response models in standard software environments. Furthermore, we illustrate the differences in estimated parameters, restrictions, and model fit of the IRT variants in a German Big Five standardization sample and show that psychometric models can be used to debias trait estimates. Based on this analysis, we suggest 2 novel modeling extensions that combine fixed and estimated scoring weights for response style dimensions, or explain discrimination parameters through item attributes. In summary, we highlight possibilities to estimate, apply, and extend psychometric modeling approaches for response styles in order to test hypotheses on response styles through model comparisons. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Pseudocontingency inference and choice: The role of information sampling.

Pseudocontingencies are inferences of correlations between variables, like two options and two outcomes, drawn on the basis of their skewed base rates covarying across a third variable (e.g., two contexts). Here, we investigated the effect of pseudocontingency inference on choice behavior. When choices between two options are not based on the actual contingency between options and outcomes, but instead on a pseudocontingency, the latter may override the existing contingency, resulting in potentially suboptimal choice behavior. Whereas research has mainly focused on investigating the pseudocontingency effect by presentation of predetermined learning trials, we examined the role of free information sampling for the pseudocontingency effect as compared with predetermined learning. Experiment 1 replicated previous findings of a pseudocontingency effect in choice behavior. In Experiment 2, we compared predetermined information and free information sampling in a bivariate decision scenario with only two options and two outcomes. Experiments 3 and 4 aimed at investigating the inference of a pseudocontingency when sampling information by context or by context and option in the trivariate scenario. The results revealed an asymmetry between positive contexts with predominantly gains and negative contexts with predominantly losses. Within a negative context we found no differences between options, neither during information sampling nor for subsequent choices. Within the positive context, when information sampling was self-determined, participants sampled skewed base rates of options and preferred the predominant option. The findings underline the influence of self-determined information sampling on the pseudocontingency effect on choice behavior. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Testing Hypotheses About Binding in Context Memory With a Hierarchical Multinomial Modeling Approach.

In experiments on multidimensional source memory, a stochastic dependency of source memory for different facets of an episode has been repeatedly demonstrated. This may suggest an integrated representation leading to mutual cuing in context retrieval. However, experiments involving a manipulated reinstatement of one source feature have often failed to affect retrieval of the other feature, suggesting unbound features or rather item-feature binding. The stochastic dependency found in former studies might be a spurious correlation due to aggregation across participants varying in memory strength. We test this artifact explanation by applying a hierarchical multinomial model. Observing stochastic dependency when accounting for interindividual differences would rule out the artifact explanation. A second goal is to elucidate the nature of feature binding: Contrasting encoding conditions with integrated feature judgments versus separate feature judgments are expected to induce different levels of stochastic dependency despite comparable overall source memory if integrated representations include feature-feature binding. The experiment replicated the finding of stochastic dependency and, thus, ruled out an artifact interpretation. However, we did not find different levels of stochastic dependency between conditions. Therefore, the current findings do not reveal decisive evidence to distinguish between the feature-feature binding and the item-context binding account.

IRTree models with ordinal and multidimensional decision nodes for response styles and trait-based rating responses.

IRTree models decompose observed rating responses into sequences of theory-based decision nodes, and they provide a flexible framework for analysing trait-related judgements and response styles. However, most previous applications of IRTree models have been limited to binary decision nodes that reflect qualitatively distinct and unidimensional judgement processes. The present research extends the family of IRTree models for the analysis of response styles to ordinal judgement processes for polytomous decisions and to multidimensional parametrizations of decision nodes. The integration of ordinal judgement processes overcomes the limitation to binary nodes, and it allows researchers to test whether decisions reflect qualitatively distinct response processes or gradual steps on a joint latent continuum. The extension to multidimensional node models enables researchers to specify multiple judgement processes that simultaneously affect the decision between competing response options. Empirical applications highlight the roles of extreme and midpoint response style in rating judgements and show that judgement processes are moderated by different response formats. Model applications with multidimensional decision nodes reveal that decisions among rating categories are jointly informed by trait-related processes and response styles.

Pseudocontingencies and choice behavior in probabilistic environments with context-dependent outcomes.

Pseudocontingencies are inferences about correlations in the environment that are formed on the basis of statistical regularities like skewed base rates or varying base rates across environmental contexts. Previous research has demonstrated that pseudocontingencies provide a pervasive mechanism of inductive inference in numerous social judgment tasks (Fiedler, Freytag, & Meiser, 2009). The present research extended the analysis of pseudocontingencies from social judgment to actual choice behavior in a decision scenario of personal relevance. In 4 experiments, participants were first exposed to a learning environment in which choice options were presented together with positive or negative outcomes. The base rates of options and outcomes were skewed and varied across different contexts. After the learning phase, participants chose between options on the basis of the previously learned outcome probabilities and were rewarded in accordance with their individual performance. The results revealed that participants inferred a pseudocontingency between options and outcomes and followed the pseudocontingency in their decision behavior (Experiments 1-4). The observed pseudocontingency was stronger in a context with predominantly positive outcomes and replicated with different learning distributions. Pseudocontingency effects were related to interindividual differences in risk aversion and moderated by ease of base rate learning (Experiment 2) and processing time (Experiment 4), whereas the salience of rare events with extreme outcomes did not affect choice behavior (Experiment 3). The findings underline the role of pseudocontingencies in choice behavior as a subjectively cogent tool for decision making in complex probabilistic environments. (PsycINFO Database Record

Statistical numeracy as a moderator of (pseudo)contingency effects on decision behavior.

Pseudocontingencies denote contingency estimates inferred from base rates rather than from cell frequencies. We examined the role of statistical numeracy for effects of such fallible but adaptive inferences on choice behavior. In Experiment 1, we provided information on single observations as well as on base rates and tracked participants' eye movements. In Experiment 2, we manipulated the availability of information on cell frequencies and base rates between conditions. Our results demonstrate that a focus on base rates rather than cell frequencies benefits pseudocontingency effects. Learners who are more proficient in (conditional) probability calculation prefer to rely on cell frequencies in order to judge contingencies, though, as was evident from their gaze behavior. If cell frequencies are available in summarized format, they may infer the true contingency between options and outcomes. Otherwise, however, even highly numerate learners are susceptible to pseudocontingency effects.

Response style analysis with threshold and multi-process IRT models: A review and tutorial.

Two different item response theory model frameworks have been proposed for the assessment and control of response styles in rating data. According to one framework, response styles can be assessed by analysing threshold parameters in Rasch models for ordinal data and in mixture-distribution extensions of such models. A different framework is provided by multi-process item response tree models, which can be used to disentangle response processes that are related to the substantive traits and response tendencies elicited by the response scale. In this tutorial, the two approaches are reviewed, illustrated with an empirical data set of the two-dimensional 'Personal Need for Structure' construct, and compared in terms of multiple criteria. Mplus is used as a software framework for (mixed) polytomous Rasch models and item response tree models as well as for demonstrating how parsimonious model variants can be specified to test assumptions on the structure of response styles and attitude strength. Although both frameworks are shown to account for response styles, they differ on the quantitative criteria of model selection, practical aspects of model estimation, and conceptual issues of representing response styles as continuous and multidimensional sources of individual differences in psychological assessment.

The role of action coordination for prospective memory: Task-interruption demands affect intention realization.

Event-based prospective memory (PM) is the ability to remember to perform an intention in response to an environmental cue. Recent microstructure models postulate four distinguishable stages of successful event-based PM fulfillment. That is, (a) the event must be noticed, (b) the intention must be retrieved, (c) the context must be verified, and (d) the intended action must be coordinated with the demands of any currently ongoing task (e.g., Marsh, Hicks, & Watson, 2002b). Whereas the cognitive processes of Stages 1, 2, and 3 have been studied more or less extensively, little is known about the processes of Stage 4 so far. To fill this gap, the authors manipulated the magnitude of response overlap between the ongoing task and the PM task to isolate Stage-4 processes. Results demonstrate that PM performance improves in the presence versus absence of a response overlap, independent of cue saliency (Experiment 1) and of demands from currently ongoing tasks (Experiment 2). Furthermore, working-memory capacity is associated with PM performance, especially when there is little response overlap (Experiments 2 and 3). Finally, PM performance benefits only from strong response overlap, that is, only when the appropriate ongoing-task and PM response keys were identical (Experiment 4). They conclude that coordinating ongoing-task and PM actions puts cognitive demands on the individual which are distinguishable from the demands imposed by cue-detection and intention-retrieval processes. (PsycINFO Database Record

How a high working memory capacity can increase proactive interference.

Previous findings suggested that a high working memory capacity (WMC) is potentially associated with a higher susceptibility to proactive interference (PI) if the latter is measured under high cognitive load. To explain such a finding, we propose to consider susceptibility to PI as a net effect of individual executive processes and the intrinsic potential for PI. With the latter, we refer to the amount of information that is activated at a given time and that has the potential to exert PI subsequently. In two studies deploying generalized linear mixed models, susceptibility to PI was modeled as the decline of performance over trials of a complex span task. The results revealed that a higher WMC was associated with a higher susceptibility to PI. Moreover, the number of stimuli recalled in one trial as a proxy variable for the intrinsic potential for PI negatively affected memory performance in the subsequent trial.

Spontaneous prospective-memory processing: Unexpected fluency experiences trigger erroneous intention executions.

Event-based prospective memory is the ability to remember to execute an intention when an environmental cue occurs. It has been argued that, due to their special meaning, these cues are discrepant from their environment and therefore are sometimes spontaneously noticed. In line with this assumption, the likelihood that an intention will be executed increases with increased cue-discrepancy. It is not yet clear, however, whether these improvements are due to facilitated spontaneous noticing rather than to an increase in the efficiency of controlled cue-processing. To further investigate the spontaneous nature of cue-discrepancy benefits, we presented participants with stimuli that were unrelated to the intention but discrepant from other stimuli. Therefore, we experimentally increased the processing fluency of some stimuli for participants currently holding an intention by using different priming procedures. We found that stimuli whose fluency was increased via spaced repeated stimulus presentation (Experiment 1) or via short pre-exposure (Experiment 2a to 3) elicited a tendency to fulfill the intention despite its actual inappropriateness. Findings were inconsistent as to whether cue-memory uncertainty fosters the reliance on cue discrepancy for intention retrieval (Experiments 2a and 3). Taken together, the present findings provide converging evidence for a spontaneous discrepancy-based prospective-memory process which works independent of controlled processes.

Commission errors of active intentions: the roles of aging, cognitive load, and practice.

Performing an intended action when it needs to be withheld, for example, when temporarily prescribed medication is incompatible with the other medication, is referred to as commission errors of prospective memory (PM). While recent research indicates that older adults are especially prone to commission errors for finished intentions, there is a lack of research on the effects of aging on commission errors for still active intentions. The present research investigates conditions which might contribute to older adults' propensity to perform planned intentions under inappropriate conditions. Specifically, disproportionally higher rates of commission errors for still active intentions were observed in older than in younger adults with both salient (Experiment 1) and non-salient (Experiment 2) target cues. Practicing the PM task in Experiment 2, however, helped execution of the intended action in terms of higher PM performance at faster ongoing-task response times but did not increase the rate of commission errors. The results have important implications for the understanding of older adults' PM commission errors and the processes involved in these errors.