Biomedical subjects

Mark A Pitt

Publications and source records attributed to Mark A Pitt.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2003

Flexibility versus generalizability in model selection.

Which quantitative method should be used to choose among competing mathematical models of cognition? Massaro, Cohen, Campbell, and Rodriguez (2001) favor root mean squared deviation (RMSD), choosing the model that provides the best fit to the data. Their simulation results appear to legitimize its use for comparing two models of information integration because it performed just as well as Bayesian model selection (BMS), which had previously been shown by Myung and Pitt (1997) to be a superior alternative selection method because it considers a model's complexity in addition to its fit. In the present study, after contrasting the theoretical approaches to model selection espoused by Massaro et al. and Myung and Pitt, we discuss the cause of the inconsistencies by expanding on the simulations of Massaro et al. Findings demonstrate that the results from model recovery simulations can be misleading if they are not interpreted relative to the data on which they were evaluated, and that BMS is a more robust selection method.

Bayes Theorem↗

PubMed2002

Revisiting bias effects in word-initial phonological priming.

The phonological priming paradigm, in which participants respond to the second of 2 consecutively presented spoken words, has the potential to be a useful tool with which to study lexical processing. Concerns about response biases distorting the results have persisted since its introduction. This study explored the manifestation of biases by modifying the standard priming experiment such that the magnitude of priming effects using the same items could be compared at different points during the testing session. Four experiments investigated whether a recent dissociation of response biases and priming effects is evidence of lexical inhibition when the prime and target overlap by the first 3 word-initial phonemes (M. Hamburger & L. M. Slowiaczek, 1996). Biases were found in conditions previously thought to prevent their influence.

Analysis of Variance↗

PubMed2002

Toward a method of selecting among computational models of cognition.

The question of how one should decide among competing explanations of data is at the heart of the scientific enterprise. Computational models of cognition are increasingly being advanced as explanations of behavior. The success of this line of inquiry depends on the development of robust methods to guide the evaluation and selection of these models. This article introduces a method of selecting among mathematical models of cognition known as minimum description length, which provides an intuitive and theoretically well-grounded understanding of why one model should be chosen. A central but elusive concept in model selection, complexity, can also be derived with the method. The adequacy of the method is demonstrated in 3 areas of cognitive modeling: psychophysics, information integration, and categorization.

Cognition↗

PubMed2002

Does node stability underlie the verbal transformation effect? A test of node structure theory.

Continuous repetition of a word causes listeners to hear the word transform into other utterances, an illusion known as the verbal transformation effect. Node structure theory (MacKay, 1987) provides a useful framework for understanding the illusion, positing that the transformations listeners report are a function of the stability of the node that represents the repeating stimulus. In Experiment 1, the accuracy of this account was investigated, using stimuli that varied from words to phonotactically illegal pseudowords. Experiments 2 and 3 replicated and generalized the findings of Experiment 1, which support a conceptualization of node stability slightly different from that embodied in node structure theory. A new method of measuring lexical influences in the verbal transformation effect is also introduced.

Humans↗