Optimal experimental design for model discrimination.
- 1 July 2009
- journal article
- Published by American Psychological Association (APA) in Psychological Review
- Vol. 116 (3) , 499-518
- https://doi.org/10.1037/a0016104
Abstract
Models of a psychological process can be difficult to discriminate experimentally because it is not easy to determine the values of the critical design variables (e.g., presentation schedule, stimulus structure) that will be most informative in differentiating them. Recent developments in sampling-based search methods in statistics make it possible to determine these values and thereby identify an optimal experimental design. After describing the method, it is demonstrated in 2 content areas in cognitive psychology in which models are highly competitive: retention (i.e., forgetting) and categorization. The optimal design is compared with the quality of designs used in the literature. The findings demonstrate that design optimization has the potential to increase the informativeness of the experimental method.Keywords
Funding Information
- National Institutes of Health (R01-MH57472)
This publication has 22 references indexed in Scilit:
- Does response scaling cause the generalized context model to mimic a prototype model?Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 2007
- Assessing the distinguishability of models and the informativeness of dataCognitive Psychology, 2004
- When a good fit can be badPublished by Elsevier ,2002
- Exemplar and prototype models revisited: Response strategies, selective attention, and stimulus generalization.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 2002
- GUEST EDITORS' INTRODUCTIONJournal of Mathematical Psychology, 2000
- Practice and retention: A unifying analysis.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 1999
- A model for recognition memory: REM—retrieving effectively from memoryPsychonomic Bulletin & Review, 1997
- On the course of forgetting in very long-term memory.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 1989
- Are lexical decisions a good measure of lexical access? The role of word frequency in the neglected decision stage.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 1984
- Optimization by Simulated AnnealingScience, 1983