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Response times as identification tools for cognitive Processes underlying decisions
Fifić, M., Houpt, J. W., & Rieskamp, J. (2019). Response times as identification tools for cognitive Processes underlying decisions. In Schulte-Mecklenbeck, M. (Ed.), Kuehberger, A. (Ed.), Johnson, J. (Ed.). A Handbook of Process Tracing Methods. New York: Routledge, 2nd Edition.
Full Text OnlineAn examination of age-related differences in attentional control by systems factorial technology
Yang, C. T., Hsieh, S., Hsieh, C. J., Fifić, M., Yu, Y. T., & Wang, C. H. (2019). An examination of age-related differences in attentional control by systems factorial technology. Journal of Mathematical Psychology, 92, [102280].
A recent study by Ben-David et al. (2014) indicated that older adults process redundant targets with a larger workload capacity than younger adults, even though older adults exhibit generally slower response times (RTs). To investigate the organization of mental processes that underlie age-related differences, we conducted four experiments with redundant-target tasks. In a series of discrimination type redundant-target tasks (Experiments 1–3), we replicated the age-related capacity advantage; however, the differences were eliminated in a detection-type redundant-target task (Experiment 4). Our results supported the distractor inhibition account, which suggests that age-related differences were due to less efficiency in attentional control to resolve the response conflict when making discrimination decisions. Moreover, we conducted a simulation using a Poisson parallel interactive model, which assumes an inhibitory interaction between two parallel channels that is a result of a limited attentional capacity. An analysis of the model’s predictions indicated the two key findings that may account for the age-related capacity differences: the older adults (1) processed the redundant targets with a higher decision criterion (i.e., more conservative in decision-making) and (2) exhibited a greater violation of context invariance (i.e., less degree of controlled attention in dealing with the response conflict). The extensive modeling analyses highlighted the effect of a decline in attentional control on age-related differences in workload capacity.
Full Text OnlineAdaptive design for systems factorial technology experiments
Glavan, J. J., Fox, E. L., Fifić, M., & Houpt, J. W. (2019). Adaptive design for systems factorial technology experiments. Journal of Mathematical Psychology, 102278.
Systems factorial technology (SFT) is a powerful framework for examining how people use multiple sources of information together. Unfortunately, it is often difficult to apply. Appropriate manipulation of the salience of each source of information is critical to assessing processing characteristics so a significant amount of time can be spent piloting to determine the correct levels. Even with piloting, some participants’ data ends up unusable due to individual differences. We first examine the use of an accuracy-only adaptation for stimulus levels, based on the Psi method. In some cases a focus entirely on accuracy may be insufficient, particularly given that response time (RT) is the primary measure with SFT. Hence, we also introduce an approach to adapting stimulus levels for each individual participant’s joint accuracy and RT. This will increase the likelihood that salience manipulations will be effective and that a participant’s data will be usable.
Full Text OnlineHow do information processing systems deal with conflicting information?
Little, D. R., Eidels, A., Fifić, M., & Wang, T. S. L. (2018). How do information processing systems deal with conflicting information? Differential predictions for serial, parallel and coactive processing models. Computational Brain & Behavior, 1, 1–21.
In this paper, we analyze how different information-processing architectures deal with conflicting information. A robust findingin psychological research is that response times are slower when processing conflicting sources of information (e.g., naming thecolor of the word RED when printed in green in the well-known Stroop task) than when processing congruent sources ofinformation (e.g., naming the color of the word GREEN when printed in green). We suggest that the effect of conflictinginformation depends on the processing architectures and derive a new measure of information processing called theconflictcontrast function, which is indicative of how different architectures perform with conflicts at different levels of salience. Byvarying the salience of the conflicting information source, we show that serial, parallel, and coactive information processingarchitectures predict qualitatively distinct conflict contrast functions. We provide new analyses of three previously collected datasets: a detection task with Stroop color-word stimuli and two categorization experiments. Our novel measure provides convergentevidence about the underlying processing architecture in the categorization tasks and surprising results in the Stroop detectiontask.
Full Text OnlineSystems factorial technology provides new insights on the other-race effect
Yang, C., Fifić, M., Chang, T., & Little, D. R. (2018). Systems factorial technology provides new insights on the other-race effect. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 25(2), 596-604. doi:10.3758/s13423-017-1305-9
The other-race effect refers to the difficulty of discriminating between faces from ethnic and racial groups other than one’s own. This effect may be caused by a slow, featureby-feature, analytic process, whereas the discrimination of own-race faces occurs faster and more holistically. However, this distinction has received inconsistent support. To provide a critical test, we employed Systems Factorial Technology (Townsend & Nozawa in Journal of Mathematical Psychology, 39, 321–359, 1995), which is a powerful tool for analyzing the organization of mental networks underlying perceptual processes. We compared Taiwanese participants’ face discriminations of both own-race (Taiwanese woman) and other-race (Caucasian woman) faces according to the faces’ nose-to-mouth separation and eye-to-eye separation. We found evidence for weak holistic processing (parallel processing) coupled with the strong analytic property of a self-terminating stopping rule for own-race faces, in contrast to strong analytic processing (serial self-terminating processing) for other-race faces, supporting the holistic/analytic hypothesis.
Full Text OnlineA hierarchical Bayesian approach to distinguishing serial and parallel processing
Houpt, J. W. & Fifić, M. (2017). A hierarchical Bayesian approach to distinguishing serial and parallel processing. Journal of Mathematical Psychology, 79, 13-22.
Research in cognitive psychology often focuses on how people deal with multiple sources of information. One important aspect of this research is whether people use the information in parallel (at the same time) or in series (one at a time). Various approaches to distinguishing parallel and serial processing have been proposed, but many do not satisfactorily address the mimicking dilemma between serial and parallel classes of models. The mean interaction contrast (MIC) is one measure designed to improve discriminability of serial–parallel model properties. The MIC has been applied in limited settings because the measure required a large number of trials and lacked a mechanism for group level inferences. We address these shortcomings by using hierarchical Bayesian analyses. The combination of the MIC with hierarchical Bayesian modeling gives a powerful method for distinguishing serial and parallel processing at both individual and group levels, even with a limited number of participants and trials.
Full Text OnlineStretching Mental Processes: An Overview of and Guide for SFT Applications
Fifić, M., Little, D. R. (2017). Stretching Mental Processes: An Overview of and Guide for SFT Applications. To appear in D. R. Little, N. Altieri, M. Fifić & C-T. Yang (Eds.). Systems Factorial Technology: A Theory Driven Methodology for the Identification of Perceptual and Cognitive Mechanisms. Elsevier.
Full Chapter Text OnlineHistorical foundations and a tutorial introduction to Systems Factorial Technology
Altieri, N., Fifić, M., Little, D. R. & Yang, C-T. (2017). Historical foundations and a tutorial introduction to Systems Factorial Technology. To appear in D. R. Little, N. Altieri, M. Fifić & C-T. Yang (Eds.). Systems Factorial Technology: A Theory Driven Methodology for the Identification of Perceptual and Cognitive Mechanisms. Elsevier.
Get the BookSimple Factorial Tweezers for detecting delicate serial and parallel processes
Fific, M. (2016) Simple Factorial Tweezers for detecting delicate serial and parallel processes. In "Mathematical Models of Perception and Cognition: Essays in Honor of James T. Townsend" (J. W. Houpt & L. M. Blaha, Eds), p. 77-152. New York: Psychology Press.
Over the last fifty years, work regarding the theoretical foundations governing the organization of mental processes has centered on the formal properties of various hypothesized mental networks. Such networks are defined in terms of their fundamental properties: processing order, stopping rule, and process dependency. Pivoting on the work of James Townsend and other essential contributors such as Richard Schweickert and Ehtibar Dzhafarov, these efforts resulted in the creation of the Systems Factorial Technology (SFT) - a suite of methodological tools for directly investigating the fundamental properties of cognitive operations. The SFT approach rests on rigorously tested mathematical tools for discriminating between serial and parallel processing, exhaustive and self-terminating stopping rules, and stochastic independence and dependence, as well as for discerning the capacity of an investigated system, all in a non-parametric (distribution-free) manner. The present study is focused on further refining recent advances in the SFT methodology and on the development of new tools for use with mental networks consisting of more than two processes. The present study also seeks to integrate these advances with the factorial tools developed to explore nonhomogeneous mental networks, which may consist of both serial and parallel processes (so called serial/parallel networks).
Full Text OnlineUnderstanding the influence of distractors on workload capacity
Little, D. R., Eidels, A., Fific, M., & Wang, T. (2015). Understanding the influence of distractors on workload capacity. Journal of Mathematical Psychology, 68-69, 25-36. doi:10.1016/j.jmp.2015.08.005
In this paper, we analyze the workload capacity of information processing of multidimensional perceptual stimuli. Capacity, which describes how the processing rate of the system changes as the number of stimulus dimensions or attributes is increased, is an important property of information processing systems. Inferences based on one measure of capacity, the capacity coefficient (Townsend and Nozawa, 1995), are typically computed by comparing the processing of single targets, which provide a measure of the baseline processing time of the system, to the processing of a double target. The single targets are typically assumed to be presented alone without any irrelevant distracting information. In this paper, we derive new capacity predictions for situations when distractor information is present. This extension reveals that, with distractors, the value of the capacity coefficient no longer provides unique diagnostic information about the underlying processing system. We further show how to rectify this situation by contrasting distractors of different discriminability.
Full Text OnlineDouble jeopardy in inferring cognitive processes
Fific M (2014) Double jeopardy in inferring cognitive processes. Front. Psychol. 5:1130. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2014.01130
Inferences we make about underlying cognitive processes can be jeopardized in two ways due to problematic forms of aggregation. First, averaging across individuals is typically considered a very useful tool for removing random variability. The threat is that averaging across subjects leads to averaging across different cognitive strategies, thus harming our inferences. The second threat comes from the construction of inadequate research designs possessing a low diagnostic accuracy of cognitive processes. For that reason we introduced the systems factorial technology (SFT), which has primarily been designed to make inferences about underlying processing order (serial, parallel, coactive), stopping rule (terminating, exhaustive), and process dependency. SFT proposes that the minimal research design complexity to learn about n number of cognitive processes should be equal to 2n. In addition, SFT proposes that (a) each cognitive process should be controlled by a separate experimental factor, and (b) The saliency levels of all factors should be combined in a full factorial design. In the current study, the author cross combined the levels of jeopardies in a 2 " 2 analysis, leading to four different analysis conditions. The results indicate a decline in the diagnostic accuracy of inferences made about cognitive processes due to the presence of each jeopardy in isolation and when combined. The results warrant the development of more individual subject analyses and the utilization of full-factorial (SFT) experimental designs.
Full Text OnlineAre Two Interviewers Better Than One?
Fific, M. & Gigerenzer G. (2014). Are Two Interviewers Better Than One? Special issue of Journal of Business Research.
How many interviewers per job applicant are necessary for a company to achieve the highest hit rate? Are two better than one? Condorcet's Jury Theorem and the "wisdom of the crowd" suggest that more is better. Under quite general conditions this study shows, surprisingly, that two interviewers are on average not superior to the best interviewer. Adding further interviewers will also not increase the expected collective hit rate when interviewers are homogeneous (i.e., their hits are nested), only doing so when interviewers are heterogeneous (i.e., their hits are not nested). The current study shows how these results depend on the number of interviewers, their expertise, and the chance of free riding, and specify the conditions when "less is more". This analysis suggests that the best policy is to invest resources into improving the quality of the best interviewer rather than distribute these to improve the quality of many interviewers.
Full Text OnlineSurvivor Interaction Contrast Wiggle Predictions of Parallel and Serial Models for an Arbitrary Number of Processes
Yung, Fific, Townsend (2014): Survivor Interaction Contrast Wiggle Predictions of Parallel and Serial Models for an Arbitrary Number of Processes, William Estes Special issue of Journal of Mathematical Psychology.
The Survivor Interaction Contrast (SIC) is a distribution-free measure for assessing the fundamental properties of human information processing such as architecture (i.e., serial or parallel) and stopping rule (i.e., minimum time or maximum time). Despite its demonstrated utility, there are some vital gaps in our knowledge: first, the shape of the serial maximum time SIC is theoretically unclear, although the one 0-crossing negative-to-positive signature has been found repeatedly in the simulations. Second, the theories of SIC have been restricted to two-process cases, which restrict the applications to a limited class of models and data sets. In this paper, we first prove that in the two-process case, a mild condition known as strictly log-concavity is sufficient as a guarantor of a single 0-crossing of the serial maximum time SIC. We then extend the definition of SIC to an arbitrary number of processes, and develop implicated methodology of SIC in its generalized form, again in a distribution-free manner, for both parallel and serial models in conjunction with both the minimum time and maximum time stopping rules. We conclude the paper by demonstrating application of the theorems to data from a short-term memory search task.
Full Text OnlineStopping Rule Selection (SRS) Theory Applied to Deferred Decision Making
Fific M., & Buckmann M. (2013). Stopping Rule Selection (SRS) Theory Applied to Deferred Decision Making. In M. Knauff, M., Pauen, N., Sebanz, & I. Wachsmuth (Eds.) Proceedings of the 35th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society (pp. 2273- 2278). Austin TX: Cognitive Science Society.
The critical step facing every decision maker is when to stop collecting evidence and proceed with the decision act. This is known as the stopping rule. Over the years, several unconnected explanations have been proposed that suggest nonoptimal approaches can account for some of the observable violations of the optimal stopping rule. The current research proposes a unifying explanation for these violations based on a new stopping rule selection (SRS) theory. The main innovation here is the assumption that a decision maker draws from a large set of different kinds of stopping rules and is not limited to using a single one. The SRS theory hypothesizes that there is a storage area for stopping rules"the so-called decision operative space (DOS)" and a retrieval mechanism that is used to select stopping rules from the DOS. The SRS theory has shown good fit to challenging data published in the relevant literature.
Full Text OnlineShort-term memory scanning viewed as exemplar-based categorization
Nosofsky, R.M., Little, D.R., Donkin, C., & Fific, M. (2011). Short-term memory scanning viewed as exemplar-based categorization. Psychological Review.
Exemplar-similarity models such as the exemplar-based random walk (EBRW) model (Nosofsky & Palmeri, 1997b) were designed to provide a formal account of multidimensional classification choice probabilities and response times (RTs). At the same time, a recurring theme has been to use exemplar models to account for old"new item recognition and to explain relations between classification and recognition. However, a major gap in research is that the models have not been tested on their ability to provide a theoretical account of RTs and other aspects of performance in the classic Sternberg (1966) short-term memory-scanning paradigm, perhaps the most venerable of all recognition-RT tasks. The present research fills that gap by demonstrating that the EBRW model accounts in natural fashion for a wide variety of phenomena involving diverse forms of short-term memory scanning. The upshot is that similar cognitive operating principles may underlie the domains of multidimensional classification and short-term old"new recognition.
Full Text OnlineInformation-processing alternatives to holistic perception: Identifying the mechanisms of secondary-level holism within a categorization paradigm
Fific, M., & Townsend, J. T. (2010). Information-processing alternatives to holistic perception: Identifying the mechanisms of secondary-level holism within a categorization paradigm. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 36, 1290-1313.
Failure to selectively attend to a facial feature, in the part-to-whole paradigm, has been taken as evidence of holistic perception in a large body of face perception literature. In this article, we demonstrate that although failure of selective attention is a necessary property of holistic perception, its presence alone is not sufficient to conclude holistic processing has occurred. One must also consider the cognitive properties that are a natural part of information-processing systems, namely, mental architecture (serial, parallel), a stopping rule (self-terminating, exhaustive), and process dependency. We demonstrate that an analytic model (nonholistic) based on a parallel mental architecture and a self-terminating stopping rule can predict failure of selective attention. The new insights in our approach are based on the systems factorial technology, which provides a rigorous means of identifying the holistic"analytic distinction. Our main goal in the study was to compare potential changes in architecture when 2 second-order relational facial features are manipulated across different face contexts. Supported by simulation data, we suggest that the critical concept for modeling holistic perception is the interactive dependency between features. We argue that without conducting tests for architecture, stopping rule, and dependency, apparent holism could be confounded with analytic perception. This research adds to the list of converging operations for distinguishing between analytic forms and holistic forms of face perception.
Full Text OnlineAnalyzing response times to understand decision processes
Gaissmaier, W., Fific, M., & Rieskamp, J. (2011). Analyzing response times to understand decision processes. In M. Schulte-Mecklenbeck, A. Kuehberger & R. Ranyard (Eds.), A Handbook of Process Tracing Methods for Decision Making. (pp. 141-163) New York: Taylor & Francis.
Full Text OnlineLogical-rule models of classification response times: A synthesis of mental-architecture, random-walk, and decision-bound approaches
Fific, M., Little, D. R., & Nosofsky, R. M. (2010). Logical-rule models of classification response times: A synthesis of mental-architecture, random-walk, and decision-bound approaches. Psychological Review, 117, 309-348.
We formalize and provide tests of a set of logical-rule models for predicting perceptual classification response times (RTs) and choice probabilities. The models are developed by synthesizing mentalarchitecture, random-walk, and decision-bound approaches. According to the models, people make independent decisions about the locations of stimuli along a set of component dimensions. Those independent decisions are then combined via logical rules to determine the overall categorization response. The time course of the independent decisions is modeled via random-walk processes operating along individual dimensions. Alternative mental architectures are used as mechanisms for combining the independent decisions to implement the logical rules. We derive fundamental qualitative contrasts for distinguishing among the predictions of the rule models and major alternative models of classification RT. We also use the models to predict detailed RT-distribution data associated with individual stimuli in tasks of speeded perceptual classification.
Full Text OnlineInformation-processing architectures in multidimensional classification: A validation test of the systems factorial technology
Fific, M., Nosofsky, R. M., & Townsend, J. T. (2008). Information-processing architectures in multidimensional classification: A validation test of the systems factorial technology. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 34(2), 356-375.
A growing methodology, known as the systems factorial technology (SFT), is being developed to diagnose the types of information-processing architectures (serial, parallel, or coactive) and stopping rules (exhaustive or self-terminating) that operate in tasks of multidimensional perception. Whereas most previous applications of SFT have been in domains of simple detection and visual"memory search, this research extends the applications to foundational issues in multidimensional classification. Experiments are conducted in which subjects are required to classify objects into a conjunctive-rule category structure. In one case the stimuli vary along highly separable dimensions, whereas in another case they vary along integral dimensions. For the separable-dimension stimuli, the SFT methodology revealed a serial or parallel architecture with an exhaustive stopping rule. By contrast, for the integral-dimension stimuli, the SFT methodology provided clear evidence of coactivation. The research provides a validation of the SFT in the domain of classification and adds to the list of converging operations for distinguishing between separable-dimension and integral-dimension interactions.
Full Text OnlineStudying visual search using systems factorial methodology with target-distractor similarity as the factor
Fific, M., Townsend J. T. & Eidels A. (2007). Studying visual search using systems factorial methodology with target-distractor similarity as the factor. Perception & Psychophysics.
Systems factorial technology (SFT) is a theory-driven set of methodologies oriented toward identification of basic mechanisms, such as parallel versus serial processing, of perception and cognition. Studies employing SFT in visual search with small display sizes have repeatedly shown decisive evidence for parallel processing. The first strong evidence for serial processing was recently found in short-term memory search, using target" distractor (T"D) similarity as a key experimental variable (Townsend & Fifi"c, 2004). One of the major goals of the present study was to employ T"D similarity in visual search to learn whether this mode of manipulating processing speed would affect the parallel versus serial issue in that domain. The result was a surprising and regular departure from ordinary parallel or serial processing. The most plausible account at present relies on the notion of positively interacting parallel channels.
Full Text OnlineAssessment of mental architecture in clinical/cognitive research
Townsend, J. T., Fific, M., & Neufeld, R. W. J. (2007). Assessment of mental architecture in clinical/cognitive research. In T. A. Treat, R. R. Bootzin & T. B. Baker (Eds.), Psychological clinical science: Papers in honor of richard M. McFall. (pp. 223-258). New York, NY, US: Psychology Press.
Full Text OnlineEmerging holistic properties at face value: Assessing characteristics of face perception
Fific, M., (2006). Emerging holistic properties at face value: Assessing characteristics of face perception. Unpublished Ph.D. thesis.
Parallel versus serial processing and individual differences in high-speed search in human memory
Townsend, J. T., Fific M. (2004). Parallel versus serial processing and individual differences in high-speed search in human memory. Perception & Psychophysics. Vol 66(6), pp. 953-962.
Full Text OnlineTemporal factors in short-term memory search
Fific M., (2004).Temporal factors in short-term memory search, Psiholo"ka istra"ivanja, 14, 233-300.
General recognition theory and probabilistic perceptual separability on simple cognitive surfaces
Townsend, J. T., Fific M., Assadi, A. (2003). General recognition theory and probabilistic perceptual separability on simple cognitive surfaces. Paper presented at the Fechner Day 2003, Larnaca, Cyprus.
Dynamics of serial position change in probe-recognition task
Fific M., (2002). Dynamics of serial position change in probe-recognition task. Psihologija, 2002, Vol. 35 (3-4) 261-285. Curriculum Vitae
Relationship between practice and serial position effects was investigated, in order to obtain more evidence for underlying short-term memory processes. The investigated relationship is termed the dynamics of serial position change. To address this issue, the present study investigated mean latency, errors, and performed Ex-Gaussian convolution analysis. In six-block trials the proberecognition task was used in the so-called fast experimental procedure. The serial position effect was significant in all six blocks. Both primacy and recency effects were detected, with primacy located in the first two blocks, producing a non-linear serial position effect. Although the serial position function became linear from the third block on, the convolution analysis revealed a non-linear change of the normal distribution parameter, suggesting special status of the last two serial positions. Further, separation of convolution parameters for serial position and practice was observed, suggesting different underlying mechanisms. In order to account for these findings, a strategy shift mechanism is suggested, rather then a mechanism based on changing the manner of memory scanning. Its influence is primarily located at the very beginning of the experimental session. The pattern of results of errors regarding the dynamics of serial position change closely paralleled those on reaction times. Several models of short-term memory were evaluated in order to account for these findings.
Full Text OnlineRepresentation and process in defining holisms partism: contributions from general recognition theory and stochastic cognitive process theory
Townsend, J. T., Fific M. (2001). Representation and process in defining holisms partism: contributions from general recognition theory and stochastic cognitive process theory. Paper presented at the Fechner Day 2001, Leipzig, Germany.
Temporal factors in short-term memory search, part I: An introduction
Fific M., (1999).Temporal factors in short-term memory search, part I: An introduction. LEP report, 72.
Temporal factors in short-term memory search, part II: Organization of memory and memory search
Fific M., (1999).Temporal factors in short-term memory search, part II: Organization of memory and memory search. LEP report, 73.
Temporal factors in short-term memory search, part III: Recognition and reproduction
Fific M., (1999).Temporal factors in short-term memory search, part III: Recognition and reproduction. LEP report, 74.
