CircleCount helps you better understand Google+

2013-05-21 15:58:13 (4 comments, 0 reshares, 3 +1s)

Part 2 of my blog post about whether grants should be treated as research when evaluating faculty impact/influence

This is the second of a two part series on my blog. The first (http://goo.gl/AVDVr) posted a thought experiment: If two researchers have equal research productivity, but one has a grant and the other doesn't, should they be treated equally in terms of their research impact/influence. That post triggered a lot of interesting discussion and commentary. In this post, I give my answer to the question posed by the thought experiment and consider some of the further issues it raised.

note: This post might not be of much interest to non-academics

2013-05-18 11:36:47 (2 comments, 1 reshares, 5 +1s)

Why we need eye movements

A short introduction to eye movements, microsaccades, and the effects of visual stabilization by +Susana Martinez-Conde in the NY Times Gray Matter section this weekend.

HT +Stephen Macknik 

2013-05-16 21:50:28 (2 comments, 1 reshares, 2 +1s)

Should grants count as research impact?

On my blog (link below), I'm conducting a quick survey to see what other academics think about a faculty evaluation issue. If you are an academic (especially a psychologist), I'd love your vote/opinion on this one -- you can just type the option you prefer as a comment on the blog. Should take 30 seconds.

I'm composing a longer blog post that will explain my own perspective, but before I do that, I'm curious what others think. Hold back on posting the reasoning for your judgment. I'd like to have that discussion as part of the more substantive forthcoming post.

2013-05-16 18:19:23 (0 comments, 1 reshares, 1 +1s)

Some Questions About Registered Replication Reports

The response to our call for labs to replicate the Verbal Overshadowing effect has been terrific so far. Not surprisingly, we've also received some interesting questions about the limits and requirements for these replications. In the linked blog post, I have tried to answer a few of these questions, as they apply to this particular protocol. I'll continue to do so as questions arise. Feel free to post questions or comments here or on the blog and I will try to respond as best I can. (Editors +Alex Holcombe and +Bobbie Spellman may chime in as well with further thoughts.)

2013-05-15 13:46:27 (0 comments, 1 reshares, 2 +1s)

Registered Replication Reports in The Guardian

Here's a nice overview of the importance of Registered Replication Reports (the new article type at Perspectives on Psychological Science) from Suzi Gage at The Guardian. In case you missed it, yesterday morning +Alex Holcombe, +Bobbie Spellman and I announced the first approved protocol.

2013-05-14 15:14:09 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

APS press release - first Registered Replication Report protocol

Here's the press release from APS and Perspectives on Psychological Science for the first Registered Replication Report protocol that I posted about earlier this morning.

http://www.psychologicalscience.org/index.php/publications/observer/obsonline/aps-journal-seeks-labs-to-participate-in-first-registered-replication-report-project.html

2013-05-14 13:52:14 (0 comments, 1 reshares, 2 +1s)

Announcing the first Registered Replication Report protocol

The first call for replications for the new Registered Replication Reports article type in Perspectives on Psychological Science is now out! The focus of this first replication effort will be Schooler & Engstler-Schooler's (1990) classic finding of verbal overshadowing: After viewing a crime video, participants who verbally described the perpetrator's face showed impaired eyewitness recognition performance.

This paper has been cited hundreds of times and is a staple of cognitive psychology textbooks, but the true size of the effect is uncertain. More recent studies by the original author finding smaller effects (Schooler attributes this reduced effect size to what is known as the "decline" effect). The protocol was developed with the lead author's (Jonathan Schooler) assistance to make surei... more »

2013-05-13 21:24:41 (0 comments, 2 reshares, 5 +1s)

Registered Replication Reports at Perspectives

In this blog post, I describe some of the backstory behind the new APS initiative to publish direct replications of important and influential findings. When just last year +Alex Holcombe and I first schemed about forming a new journal to publish pre-registered direct replications, we could not have imagined that APS would adopt the idea and bring it to fruition so quickly. Tomorrow, we will be announcing the first approved protocol. Stay tuned! 

2013-05-02 19:28:45 (5 comments, 1 reshares, 4 +1s)

Nice discussion of the mechanisms of priming from +Rolf Zwaan

This interesting blog post highlights some of the different types of priming and suggests an additional means by which social priming effects might be stronger than semantic priming ones (expanding on the mechanisms I described in an earlier blog post: http://blog.dansimons.com/2013/03/which-priming-claims-conflict-with.html). A thoughtful read.

2013-05-01 23:41:28 (0 comments, 1 reshares, 11 +1s)

My mother's book, now on Kindle

My mother (+Pat Simons) has published the story of my grandfather and great-uncle who escaped Nazi Germany as teenagers. Yes, I'm biased, but I think it's a remarkable coming-of-age story, it reads like an adventure novel, and has the virtue of being based on an amazing true story (can you imagine fleeing your home town in the middle of the night at age 17 to avoid Nazis intent on killing you, and bicycling to the Austrian border? That's just the start of their escapades.

The book's available from Amazon (link below), and you can read the first two chapters on the book's website: http://www.brothersontherunbook.com/

check it out!

2013-05-01 21:11:59 (0 comments, 2 reshares, 1 +1s)

Here's a direct link go +Gary Marcus's blog post at The New Yorker

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/elements/2013/05/the-crisis-in-social-psychology-that-isnt.html

2013-05-01 21:09:31 (0 comments, 2 reshares, 7 +1s)

My thoughts on a recent replication controversy

A couple days ago, a new paper appeared in PLoS One describing a series of studies that failed to replicate a set of classic priming studies. Yesterday, a news article appeared in Nature that grouped together this replication failure with cases of fraud. That's not a good thing. Follow the link to see why.

(+Gary Marcus has a nice New Yorker post on this same issue. I link to it in the blog post).

2013-04-30 13:06:52 (4 comments, 4 reshares, 5 +1s)

Interesting discussion of fraud vs. unwitting error

+Dave Nussbaum has written an interesting commentary on the Stapel fraud case and recent coverage of it in the NY Times. The fascinating Times profile of Stapel (http://goo.gl/unhPt) implied that there is a continuum from the sort of fraud Stapel committed (making up data for dozens of papers) and the questionable research practices that many researchers either knowingly or unwittingly engage in. Read the comment section as well -- lots of insightful thoughts from people like Chris Chambers, +Rolf Zwaan, +Sanjay Srivastava, Neuroskeptic, and others.

I particularly liked the idea that, once you know about questionable research practices (e.g., p-hacking, omitting inconsistent data points, etc), continuing to engage in them shifts your behavior onto the Stapel continuum (on the opposite end of it from Stapel, of course). Youth... more »

2013-04-26 18:50:06 (8 comments, 4 reshares, 10 +1s)

Cool variant of the McGurk effect

Check this out. The sound is the same throughout. Only the image change.

HT +Rob Gordon 

2013-04-24 14:12:43 (4 comments, 0 reshares, 7 +1s)

Dilbert nails the trouble with 'intuitive' decisions

Love it!

2013-04-15 12:55:29 (3 comments, 4 reshares, 17 +1s)

A possible solution to the cell phone distraction problem? 

Now if only we could find a way to do the same thing for drivers...

HT +Kyle Elliott Mathewson

2013-04-13 03:54:51 (5 comments, 27 reshares, 33 +1s)

The benefits to academics of blogging

An excellent post from +Maria Konnikova Hamilton on the writing/researching/thinking skills that academics can gain from science blogging. I completely agree. Blogging provides one of the few outlets for academics to try out a new voice, to think about ideas from outside their tiny subfield, and to communicate those ideas to a broader audience. A couple of years ago, I taught a grad seminar on speaking and writing for general audiences, and blogging was central to the course (teaching it again in the fall -- it was among my favorite courses to teach). The skills gained from blogging also translate well to giving an academic job talk—you learn the importance of having a clear, compelling answer when an audience member outside your area asks, "what's the point?" (normally in a more tactful way than that, but not always...)

2013-04-11 15:32:24 (8 comments, 41 reshares, 21 +1s)

Correlation ≠ causation -- some wonderful examples

I love this top-10 list of funny correlations. Examples like this help illsutrate the danger of drawing causal conclusions from correlational evidence. The silliness of these examples means nobody would likely infer anything causal. It seems to me that most examples of inappropriate causal inferences come from cases in which the cause is plausible and fits with pre-existing biases. No such biases for these :-).

2013-03-26 15:34:41 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

+Sanjay Srivastava reflects on his experiences with post-publication peer review

Read the comments om the original PLoS paper. It is disturbing that so many errors made it into the final paper, and some of the admissions in the responses are worrisome as well (e.g., additional conditions were run but reviewers required them to be removed from the paper, additional studies were conducted and then replaced during the review process). To me, that shows one of the problems with our current publication system. At times, reviewers and editors can encourage researchers to engage in p-hacking. That means authors will have to put up a fight to do what's right, possibly decreasing the chances of publication. 

This situation reminds me regularly of something Bob Rosenthal used to tell his graduate stat classes (paraphrasing based on 20-year-old memories): A large part of yourr... more »

2013-03-19 17:24:36 (5 comments, 2 reshares, 5 +1s)

Making bicycles more visible to drivers

I've occasionally argued that one way to make bicycles (and motorcycles) more visible to drivers would be to make them look more like cars. Making the bikes look more like the other things that drivers look for an expect means that they will be part of a driver's attention set. That could help overcome inattentional blindness, the failure to notice unexpected things when attention is engaged on something else. Apparently, Robert Egger had that idea a while ago.

HT Lester Loschky for forwarding.

2013-03-15 18:17:29 (12 comments, 1 reshares, 13 +1s)

First time the "invisible gorilla" study has been used in a product promo?

Buy an ultra-high resolution HD TV because....
"...if your brain can ignore a life-size primate, imagine how quickly it dismisses the muddy minutiae of the movies you watch in standard def."

Sort of misses the point, of course: Display resolution probably has no influence on noticing of unexpected stuff. We fail to see the gorilla because of limits on attention, not because it's invisible. Still, I always get a kick out of seeing this study used in ways I never could have anticipated. If you run across stuff like this, please send it my way!

HT: +Alan Kraut who spotted this in the United Airlines inflight magazine and sent it to me.

HT: +Chryle Elieff for finding the link to the feature onlineat... more »

2013-03-12 21:29:06 (4 comments, 3 reshares, 9 +1s)

What effect size would you expect if the null hypothesis is true?

In this post, I follow up on my earlier replication thought experiment and show why it's a bad idea to conclude that a study has replicated an original finding just because it showed an effect in the same direction. It's important to consider the magnitude of the effect as well.

2013-03-11 13:51:33 (0 comments, 4 reshares, 11 +1s)

Why sample size matters

A well-grounded critique (from Dorothy Bishop) of a recent study claiming that video game training improves dyslexia, with generalization to some of the weak methodology permitted by top-tier journals when publishing newsworthy findings.

2013-03-09 17:26:12 (4 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

Further thoughts on what counts as a replication

In this post, I follow up on an interesting discussion about replications from a previous post. Here I highlight the most common interpretations a thought experiment I proposed, and I discuss an unexpected logical implication of one of the more common interpretations: If you believe that all that matters for an effect to replicate is that it produce an effect effect with the same sign (in the same direction), then two tailed hypotheses are inherently unscientific!

#replicationpsychology  

2013-03-08 19:32:51 (16 comments, 4 reshares, 8 +1s)

The dangers of making policy recommendations from correlational evidence

+Christopher Chabris and I have a column in this Sunday's NY Times (Gray Matter section - online version linked below). We consider a recent finding that obesity rates are higher in areas that have more outdoor food advertising. Although the study's authors note that their data are correlational, they still suggest that regulators might consider taxing obesigenic ads. We discuss why such policy recommendations based on correlational evidence are inappropriate in this case (e.g., the causal relationship could plausibly go in the opposite direction).

2013-03-05 23:25:52 (2 comments, 1 reshares, 3 +1s)

My reactions to the announcement that PoPS will begin publishing registered replication reports. Huge props to +Alex Holcombe and +Daniel Simons for making this happen.

2013-03-05 19:35:15 (0 comments, 2 reshares, 5 +1s)

Another excellent blog post on the new replication reports from APS, this one from +Melanie Tannenbaum 

2013-03-05 19:33:25 (0 comments, 1 reshares, 2 +1s)

+Ed Yong writes about the new Center for Open Science and registered replication reports at Perspectives.*

2013-03-05 14:07:55 (1 comments, 2 reshares, 8 +1s)

Exciting new initiative at APS -- registered replication reports to be published at Perspectives on Psychological Science

Perspectives will be home to a new article type, the Registered Replication Report. These papers will collect together multiple direct replications of important studies, conducted by multiple laboratories, and all following the same pre-registered and vetted (by the original authors) protocol. +Alex Holcombe and I will serve as editors for these reports (with the support of the editor in chief, +Bobbie Spellman).

The link is to a blog post on my website. Here is the link to the APS site with even more information: http://goo.gl/yBoCT

Please spread the news! 

#replication  

2013-03-05 14:02:48 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 3 +1s)

Blog posts from +Alex Holcombe and +Bobbie Spellman about the new registered replication reports at PoPS

From Alex: http://goo.gl/0nfYN
From Bobbie: http://goo.gl/CK7eO

#replicationpsychology

2013-03-05 12:54:27 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

And here is the press release from APS about the new registered replication reports

#replication  

2013-03-05 12:52:22 (1 comments, 13 reshares, 14 +1s)

Exciting new initiative at APS -- registered replication reports to be published at Perspectives on Psychological Science

Perspectives will be home to a new article type, the Registered Replication Report. These papers will collect together multiple direct replications of important studies, conducted by multiple laboratories, and all following the same pre-registered and vetted (by the original authors) protocol. +Alex Holcombe and I will serve as editors for these reports (with the support of the editor in chief, +Bobbie Spellman).

The link is to a blog post on my website. Here is the link to the APS site with even more information: http://goo.gl/yBoCT

Please spread the news! 

#replication  

2013-03-03 19:17:25 (2 comments, 4 reshares, 7 +1s)

Which priming effects conflict with research on subliminal perception?

This post explores the nature of the claims for goal priming. Are researchers really claiming that the primes are processed without awareness? Or, are they making claims about our awareness of the mechanisms of mind? Are there other theoretical reasons for skepticism, aside from claims of subliminal persuasion?

2013-03-01 20:26:58 (12 comments, 2 reshares, 10 +1s)

Some thoughts on subliminal priming and the reasons for skepticism

In this blog post, I discuss one reason why some cognitive psychologists have reacted with skepticism to claims of implicit effects of primes on behavior. Even before the recent fraud cases and public failures to replicate, those who study implicit perception had doubts about whether these effects truly occur outside of awareness. In this post, I discuss some of the earlier history of claims of subliminal behavior change and note how the current priming literature has not addressed the methodological concerns raised in that literature.

2013-03-01 18:00:53 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 4 +1s)

I could suggest another explanation... :-)

2013-03-01 04:14:23 (2 comments, 4 reshares, 14 +1s)

Most fun example of this famous visual perception effect I've ever seen!  (Thanks +Christopher Chabris )

2013-02-19 04:47:28 (0 comments, 1 reshares, 6 +1s)

+Christopher Chabris's blog post discusses the pros and cons of the Obama administration's rumored mega-funding plan to map the brain.

Although this plan might be worthwhile, I fear that it will eliminate funding for much non-neuro research. We're dealing with a limited pot of funding, and dedicating it to one massive project seems highly risky. As Chris notes in his post, many large-scale projects collapse, and evaluating whether or not this is a good idea requires considering the alternatives you might support with the same money.

2013-02-18 02:08:42 (6 comments, 2 reshares, 14 +1s)

Hi folks. I've noticed a trend in this community in which people are posting pithy, one-line sayings. Starting now, those will be deleted, even if they are interesting. This group is for the discussion of the science of psychology. If you think that those statements, proverbs, quotes, or other witticisms help us to understand psychology, please post scientific evidence for why.

2013-02-13 02:06:05 (8 comments, 1 reshares, 3 +1s)

My co-author, +Christopher Chabris, has started blogging. Check out his first post about Jonah Lehrer and science "story telling." 

2013-02-12 17:37:50 (0 comments, 4 reshares, 4 +1s)

A thought experiment: What counts as a successful replication

In this blog post, I provide several hypothetical outcomes of a direct replication of a study. Most are pretty clear cases of success or failure to replicate, but the last one is challenging. I'd be interested in your take. Leave your thoughts by commenting on the blog, and feel free to share.

2013-01-29 03:48:37 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 3 +1s)

 Reminder: Rules and Guidelines

1) When posting a link, please include an explanation of why and how it is relevant to the scientific study of psychology. Links without discussion will be removed by the moderators.

2) Place your posts in the correct category. Any posts to the Rules & Guidelines category will be deleted immediately.

3) To make sure that your posts will contribute to the community, please read the Rules and Guidelines on the left before posting. 

2013-01-21 17:09:50 (2 comments, 2 reshares, 14 +1s)

A man ahead of his time
Even if you do see a gorilla, you won't always report it

Here's a great (short) bio of a test pilot named Jack Woolams. He apparently flew an early propeller-less jet, and enjoyed flying next to other pilots who wouldn't know what to make of his plane. To add to their confusion, he wore a gorilla suit and waived at the other pilots. Not much chance they would report what they had seen -- the ground crew would think they were crazy.

HT +Matt Windsor for sending me the link

2013-01-15 02:58:29 (0 comments, 1 reshares, 7 +1s)

2013-01-15 02:38:17 (6 comments, 0 reshares, 3 +1s)

Illusory Opening Curtains

+Gail Barnes  #ScienceSunday  post of a great anomolous motion illusion yesterday (http://goo.gl/DOIbL) reminded me it was time to visit one of my favourite sites - Akiyoshi Kitaoka's illusion pages (http://goo.gl/WRVP3 ), where I found this great one below: 

The yellow and blue regions appear to be moving off to the sides, like curtains opening, opening, and opening, but never really getting anywhere. 

In fact,  nothing is really moving at all - it's all in your head (brain). 

#ScienceEveryday  

2013-01-15 02:36:48 (6 comments, 4 reshares, 17 +1s)

Illusory Opening Curtains

+Gail Barnes  #ScienceSunday  post of a great anomolous motion illusion yesterday (http://goo.gl/DOIbL) reminded me it was time to visit one of my favourite sites - Akiyoshi Kitaoka's illusion pages (http://goo.gl/WRVP3 ), where I found this great one below: 

The yellow and blue regions appear to be moving off to the sides, like curtains opening, opening, and opening, but never really getting anywhere. 

In fact,  nothing is really moving at all - it's all in your head (brain). 

#ScienceEveryday  

2013-01-14 19:20:40 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

Reminder - please read the rules and guidelines on the left

Please read the guidelines before you post. We have had to delete a number of posts that were directed to the wrong category or that included a link with no discussion. We will immediately delete posts that violate the stated rules.

2013-01-14 16:23:55 (11 comments, 21 reshares, 13 +1s)

University libraries should take over scholarly publishing

A nice post by +Björn Brembs on the why universities should take over responsibility for scientific publishing, possibly saving huge money in the process. Other than some initial up-front costs, a consortium of libraries could easily take over all of the major journals in the field, make them open-access, and save money in the process. Universities already pay for the research (as do granting agencies), so why should they have to pay even more to benefit the bottom line of trade publishers. Library subscription fees are netting the trade publishers huge profit margins, and researchers often are forced to give their work away in support of those profits.

As just one example, last week a journal in my field gave me a choice: sign away my copyright and agree to many restrictions on who could access my work or pay $3000to ... more »

2013-01-14 14:04:07 (0 comments, 5 reshares, 7 +1s)

Another special issue publishing replications in psychology
+Rolf Zwaan just announced a special issue of Frontiers in Cognition that will publish replication attempts. He adopted the same call for proposals that +Brian Nosek and his colleageus developed for a similar issue in the journal, Social Psychology. I'm glad to see other journals picking up this goal of publishing pre-registered replications. More news on this front coming soon - stay tuned.

2013-01-11 13:18:04 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

IMPORTANT MESSAGE FROM THE MODERATORS
Please make sure to read the Rules and Guidelines to the left. If you post to the Rules and Guidelines category, your post will be deleted immediately. Make sure to select an appropriate category when you post (e.g., introductions go in Introduce Yourselves). Please also add commentary, discussion, or thoughts about why your post is relevant to the science of psychology. Any post that includes just a link with no added discussion of the scientific relevance of the post will be removed.

2013-01-10 00:12:08 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

Important
All Psychology Community Members please read the new rules and guidelines

Please read the the rules and guidelines in the category to the left. In an effort to help the community better achieve its goal of focusing on the science of psychology, the moderators will be deleting posts that do not adhere to these requirements.