What are the neurocognitive mechanisms underlying the formation of habits? In this Stage 1 Registered Report, Eder and colleagues propose an fMRI study to test a key prediction of the Expected Value of Control (EVC) theory: that the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) – a region heavily implicated in reward processing, cognitive control, and action selection – will show increased activity during the presentation of Pavlovian cues that are associated with devalued outcomes. In combination with a series of behavioural positive controls, this observation would provide evidence in support of EVC theory, whereas failure to do so may support alternative accounts that propose independence of habits from the representations of outcomes.

The Stage 1 manuscript was evaluated over two rounds of in-depth specialist review. Based on detailed responses to the reviewers' comments, the recommender judged that the manuscript met the Stage 1 criteria and therefore awarded in-principle acceptance (IPA). This IPA recommendation was issued on 8 Feb 2022, and was initially provisional due to lack of ethics approval. The recommendation was then updated and confirmed on 21 Feb 2022 following confirmation that ethics approval had been granted.

URL to the preregistered Stage 1 protocol: https://osf.io/k8ygb

Level of bias control achieved: Level 6. No part of the data or evidence that will be used to answer the research question yet exists and no part will be generated until after IPA.

List of eligible PCI RR-friendly journals:

• Advances in Cognitive Psychology
• Brain and Neuroscience Advances
• Cortex
• NeuroImage: Reports
• Peer Community Journal
• PeerJ
• Royal Society Open Science

References

Eder, A. B., Dignath, D. & Gamer, M. (2022). Motivational Control of Habits: A Preregistered fMRI Study. Stage 1 preregistration, in principle acceptance of version 3 by Peer Community in Registered Reports. https://osf.io/k8ygb

People suffering from substance misuse problems are often stigmatised. Such public stigma may impair such people obtaining help and the quality of help that they receive. For this reason, previous research has investigated the factors that may reduce stigma. Evidence has been found, but not consistently, for the claim that labelling the condition as "chronically relapsing brain disease" vs a "problem" reduces stigma; as does "a health concern" vs " drug use". Another potentially relevant difference that may explain different previous results is describing how effective treatment can be.

In this Stage 1 Registered Report, Pennington et al. (2022) describe how they will investigate if any of these factors affect two different measures of stigma used in previous work, with a study well powered for testing whether the 99% CI lies outside or inside an equivalence region. While the CI being outside the region will straightforwardly justify concluding an effect of interest, a CI within the region will need to be interpreted with due regard to the fact that some effects within the region may be interesting.

The Stage 1 manuscript was evaluated over two rounds of review (including one round of in-depth specialist review). Based on comprehensive responses to the reviewers' comments, the recommender judged that the manuscript met the Stage 1 criteria and therefore awarded in-principle acceptance (IPA).

URL to the preregistered Stage 1 protocol: https://osf.io/4vscg

Level of bias control achieved: Level 6. No part of the data or evidence that will be used to answer the research question yet exists and no part will be generated until after IPA.

List of eligible PCI RR-friendly journals:

• Addiction Research & Theory
• Advances in Cognitive Psychology
• F1000Research
• Journal of Cognition
• Peer Community Journal
• PeerJ
• Royal Society Open Science
• Swiss Psychology Open

References

Pennington, C. R., Monk, R. L., Heim, D., Rose, A. K., Gough, T., Clarke, R., Knibb, G.,  & Jones, A. (2022). To help or hinder: Do the labels and models used to describe problematic substance use influence public stigma? Stage 1 preregistration, in principle acceptance of version 2 by Peer Community in Registered Reports. https://osf.io/4vscg

In this Stage 1 Registered Report, Chiba and colleagues (2021) aim to investigate how people use information from visual and auditory modalities when evaluating musical performances. Previous studies, mainly using Western music, have reported a visual dominance, but this has not yet been clearly and consistently reported. Thus, the authors propose to evaluate both the reproducibility and generalizability of the previous findings by conducting a replication study using the methodology of the previous studies and by introducing a new experimental condition in which the Tsugaru-shamisen, a unique Japanese musical instrument, is also performed. This study could represent an important turning point in the research context of performance evaluation and would be of considerable value.

This manuscript was peer-reviewed by two experts in scientific methodology and Japanese traditional music, respectively, and during the two-round peer-review process they made a number of important points, but eventually awarded the manuscript a highly positive response. I am therefore pleased to recommend that this Stage 1 Registered Report meets our Stage 1 criteria and is worthy of in-principle acceptance. I look forward to seeing the results and discussion reported in Stage 2, with the expectation that the experiment conducted by the authors will be in strict accordance with this protocol.

*The following is a very minor comment, which I hope the authors will find helpful in the future. Of course, this is not related to hypothesis construction and does not require revision: The "Blind Audition" study cited in the introduction is very impactful, but has recently been called into question, so I am at least a little cautious when citing this study. This article may be useful. https://www.wsj.com/articles/blind-spots-in-the-blind-audition-study-11571599303

URL to the preregistered Stage 1 protocol: https://osf.io/ry2b6

Level of bias control achieved: Level 6. No part of the data or evidence that will be used to answer the research question yet exists and no part will be generated until after IPA.

List of eligible PCI RR-friendly journals:

• F1000Research
• Peer Community Journal
• PeerJ
• Royal Society Open Science
• Swiss Psychology Open

References

1. Chiba G, Ozaki Y, Fujii S, Savage PE (2021) Sight vs. sound in the judgment of music performance: Cross-cultural evidence from classical piano and Tsugaru shamisen competitions [Stage 1 Registered Report].  Psyarxiv, xky4j, stage 1 preregistration, in-principle acceptance of version 5 by Peer Community in Registered Reports. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/xky4jhttps://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/RY2B6

In this Stage 1 Registered Report, Karhulahti and colleagues (2021) propose a qualitative, interview-based study of videogame play, with the central aim to understand key phenomological differences between gaming behaviour that is associated with vs. without health problems. This question is particularly important given the recent inclusion of "gaming disorder" in the WHO's International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD).

In recent years, the validity of "gaming disorder" as an identifiable mental illness has been controversial (e.g. Van Rooij et al, 2018), as has the debate concerning purported harms or benefits of gaming for mental health. This Stage 1 manuscript describes a rigorous qualitative investigation that should provide new insights on this question, and will also include a longitudinal component to examine changes in phenomonology over time, as well as an examination of the extent to which the phenomonology of gaming is reflected in the experiences of medical experts such as doctors, nurses, and therapists who have worked with gaming-related health problems.

More broadly, the manuscript breaks new ground for Registered Reports, being one of the first to focus on qualitative methods, while also making use of the Programmatic submission track in which the approved Stage 1 manuscript is intended to produce two Stage 2 manuscripts focusing on different elements of the project.

Three expert reviewers with a variety of field-specialist and qualitative methodological expertise assessed the Stage 1 manuscript over two rounds of in-depth review. Following revision, the reviewers and recommender agreed that the manuscript met the Stage 1 criteria and therefore awarded in-principle acceptance (IPA). 

URL to the preregistered Stage 1 protocol: https://osf.io/a2rwg

Level of bias control achieved: Level 4. At least some of the data/evidence that will be used to answer the research question already exists AND is accessible in principle to the authors (e.g. residing in a public database or with a colleague), BUT the authors certify that they have not yet accessed any part of that data/evidence.

List of eligible PCI RR-friendly journals:

• F1000Research
• PeerJ
• Swiss Psychology Open

References

1. Karhulahti V-M, Siutila M, Vahlo J, Koskimaa R (2021) Phenomenological Strands for Gaming Disorder and Esports Play: A Qualitative Registered Report. PsyArXiv preprints, Stage 1 preregistration, in principle acceptance of version 1 by Peer Community in Registered Reports. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/q53jz
2. van Rooij AJ, Ferguson CJ, Carras MC, Kardefelt-Winther D, Shi J, Aarseth E, Bean AM, Bergmark KH, Brus A, Coulson M, Deleuze J, Dullur P, Dunkels E, Edman J, Elson M, Etchells PJ, Fiskaali A, Granic I, Jansz J, Karlsen F, Kaye LK, Kirsh B, Lieberoth A, Markey P, Mills KL, Nielsen RKL, Orben A, Poulsen A, Prause N, Prax P, Quandt T, Schimmenti A, Starcevic V, Stutman G, Turner NE, Looy J van, Przybylski AK (2018) A weak scientific basis for gaming disorder: Let us err on the side of caution. Journal of Behavioral Addictions, 7, 1–9. https://doi.org/10.1556/2006.7.2018.19