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Please note that we will be CLOSED to ALL SUBMISSIONS from 1 December 2024 through 12 January 2025 to give our recommenders and reviewers a holiday break.
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Latest recommendations
Id | Title * | Authors * ▲ | Abstract * | Picture | Thematic fields * | Recommender | Reviewers | Submission date | |
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The effects of isolated game elements on adherence rates in food response inhibition trainingAlexander MacLellan, Charlotte R. Pennington, Natalia Lawrence, Samuel J. Westwood, Andrew Jones, Anna Slegrova, Beatrice Sung, Louise Parker, Luke Relph, Jessica O. Miranda, Maryam Shakeel, Elizabeth Mouka, Charlotte Lovejoy, Chaebin Chung, Sabela Lash, Yusra Suhail, Mehr Nag Katherine S. Button https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/2e73bUsing gamification to improve food response inhibition trainingRecommended by Mateo Leganes-Fonteneau based on reviews by Miguel Vadillo and Daniel PhippsA poor diet has severe detrimental health effects, and attempts to reduce caloric intake often prove unsuccessful. Unhealthy foods, high in fat, sugar, and salt tend to be highly appetitive, and can undermine individuals’ ability to refrain themselves from consuming them. Computerized cognitive retraining techniques have shown promise in curbing the intake of unhealthy foods and promoting weight loss. However, in real-world scenarios, adherence to such retraining programs can be suboptimal, potentially diminishing their effectiveness.
In the present study, Maclellan et al. (2024) aimed to investigate whether the incorporation of gamified elements, transforming the cognitive retraining task into a game-like experience, can enhance adherence and overall intervention effectiveness by boosting engagement and motivation.
Upon testing the main hypotheses, the authors found mostly non-significant effects of adding gamified elements to adherence, motivation, or effectiveness of food response inhibition training programs. These results hold high relevance, as indeed there has been a push in introducing gamified elements to cognitive retraining programs. These findings should guide future developments in the field of cognitive retraining.
The Stage 2 manuscript was evaluated over one round of review and revision. Based on detailed evaluations by two expert reviewers, the recommender judged that the manuscript met the Stage 2 criteria and awarded a positive recommendation.
URL to the preregistered Stage 1 protocol: https://osf.io/jspf3
Level of bias control achieved: Level 6. No part of the data or evidence that was used to answer the research question was generated until after IPA. List of eligible PCI RR-friendly journals: References
MacLellan, A., Pennington, C. R., Lawrence, N., Westwood, S. J., Jones, A., Slegrova, A., Sung, B., Parker, L., Relph, L., Miranda, J. O., Shakeel, M., Mouka, E., Lovejoy, C., Chung, C., Lash, S., Suhail, Y., Nag M., and Button, K. S. (2024). The effects of isolated game elements on adherence rates in food response inhibition training [Stage 2]. Acceptance of Version 3 by Peer Community in Registered Reports.
| The effects of isolated game elements on adherence rates in food response inhibition training | Alexander MacLellan, Charlotte R. Pennington, Natalia Lawrence, Samuel J. Westwood, Andrew Jones, Anna Slegrova, Beatrice Sung, Louise Parker, Luke Relph, Jessica O. Miranda, Maryam Shakeel, Elizabeth Mouka, Charlotte Lovejoy, Chaebin Chung, Sabel... | <p>Introduction: Poor diet and the consumption of foods high in fat, sugar and salt are common causes of numerous health conditions and premature mortality. Computerised food response inhibition training (food-RIT) is a type of intervention found ... | Social sciences | Mateo Leganes-Fonteneau | 2024-06-28 23:29:31 | View | ||
21 Feb 2022
STAGE 1
Alexis J. Breen & Dominik Deffner https://github.com/alexisbreen/Sex-differences-in-grackles-learningRecommended by Benoit Pujol based on reviews by Jean-François Gerard, Rachel Harrison and 1 anonymous reviewerThis submission has been withdrawn (see notice below)Sex-biased dispersal is widely acknowledged to influence range expansion and the geographic limits of species (Trochet et al. 2016). Evidence is accruing that suggests an impact of the learning ability of species on their capacity to colonise new habitats because the ability to learn provides an advantage when confronted to novel challenges (Lee and Thornton 2021). Whether these two mechanisms interact to shape range expansion remains however unknown. One could expect this interaction because both dispersal and the ability to learn are linked to related behaviours (e.g., exploration, Lee and Thornton 2021). In their study entitled “Investigating sex differences in learning in a range-expanding bird”, Alexis J. Breen and Dominik Deffner (Breen and Deffner 2022) propose to test this hypothesis in range-expanding great-tailed grackles (Quiscalus mexicanus) by exploring the individual variation of several behavioural traits (e.g., exploration, neophobia, problem solving, Logan 2016) linked to their learning ability. They will use a colour-reward reinforcement experimental approach to compare the learning performance between male and female great-tailed grackles in three study sites and evaluate whether sex-biased learning ability interacts with sex-biased dispersal. Data will be analysed by a Bayesian reinforcement learning model (Deffner et al. 2020), which was validated. This Stage 1 registered report was evaluated over one round of in-depth review by Jean-François Gerard, Rachel Harrison and one anonymous reviewer, and another round of review by Jean-François Gerard and Rachel Harrison. Based on detailed responses to the comments and the modifications brought to the manuscript by the authors, the recommender judged that the manuscript met the Stage 1 criteria and therefore awarded in-principle acceptance (IPA). Withdrawal notice: The Stage 2 manuscript associated with this accepted Stage 1 protocol was submitted to PCI RR on 22 July 2022. On 25 July 2022, the Managing Board offered the opportunity for the authors to revise the manuscript prior to in-depth review. On 7 Sep 2022, the authors withdrew the Stage 2 manuscript from consideration due to time constraints.URL to the preregistered Stage 1 protocol: https://osf.io/v3wxb
Level of bias control achieved: Level 2. At least some data/evidence that will be used to answer the research question has been accessed and partially observed by the authors, but the authors certify that they have not yet observed the key variables within the data that will be used to answer the research question AND they have taken additional steps to maximise bias control and rigour.
List of eligible PCI RR-friendly journals:
References Trochet, A., Courtois, E. A., Stevens, V. M., Baguette, M., Chaine, A., Schmeller, D. S., Clobert, J., & Wiens, J. J. (2016). Evolution of sex-biased dispersal. The Quarterly Review of Biology, 91(3), 297–320. https://doi.org/10.1086/688097 Lee, V. E., & Thornton, A. (2021). Animal cognition in an urbanised world. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, 9, 120. https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2021.633947 Logan, C. J. (2016b). Behavioral flexibility in an invasive bird is independent of other behaviors. PeerJ, 4, e2215. https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.2215 Deffner, D., Kleinow, V., & McElreath, R. (2020). Dynamic social learning in temporally and spatially variable environments. Royal Society Open Science, 7(12), 200734. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.200734 Breen, A. J. & Deffner D. (2022). Investigating sex differences in learning in a range-expanding bird., https://github.com/alexisbreen/Sex-differences-in-grackles-learning, in principle acceptance of version 2 by Peer Community in Registered Reports. https://osf.io/v3wxb | [WITHDRAWN]: Investigating sex differences in learning in a range-expanding bird | Alexis J. Breen & Dominik Deffner | <p style="text-align: justify;">How might differences in dispersal and learning interact in range expansion dynamics? To begin to answer this question, in this preregistration we detail the background, hypothesis plus associated predictions, and m... | Life Sciences | Benoit Pujol | Rachel Harrison, Kate Cross, Jean-François Gerard | 2021-11-10 13:12:04 | View | |
17 Oct 2024
STAGE 1
Is subjective perceptual similarity metacognitive?Ali Moharramipour, William Zhou, Dobromir Rahnev, Hakwan Lau https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.06.13.598769The relationship between perceptual discriminability and subject similarityRecommended by D. Samuel Schwarzkopf based on reviews by Haiyang Jin and 1 anonymous reviewerMuch of how we use our perception involves judgements on how similar things are: You might vaguely recognise an actor's face in a movie but not immediately recognise where you have seen it before. Some people claim to be "bad with faces". Is that in fact based on objectively poorer ability to recognise faces? Psychophysical lab studies of perception typically use forced-choice discrimination tasks in which participants must make explicit, and usually binary, decisions. Such designs can yield parametric information about underlying perceptual processes, but it is very different from how we use perception in daily life.
Here, Moharramipour and colleagues (2024) seek to better understand the link between such subjective similarity jugdements and objective discrimination ability. They argue that subjective similarity can be considered a metacognitive process, reflecting the person's awareness of their perceptual capacity. Participants will be asked to discriminate face pairs across a spectrum of morphing steps in a classical forced-choice paradigm to estimate perceptual threshold performance, as well as provide subjective ratings of similarity of the face pairs. The researchers hypothesise a correlation between objective perceptual ability and subjective similarity judgements. They will evaluate this at the group level, and also use a resampling approach to determine the specificity of this relationship in individual participants. Confirming this hypothesis would advance our knowledge of how perceptual ability links with our metacognitive introspection of it. Are you really "bad with faces" or do you only think you are?
The Stage 1 manuscript was evaluated over two rounds of in-depth review. Based on detailed responses to the reviewers' comments, the recommender judged that the manuscript met the Stage 1 criteria and awarded in-principle acceptance (IPA).
URL to the preregistered Stage 1 protocol: https://osf.io/pzugy
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:
References
Moharramipour, A., Zhou, W., Rahnev, D., & Lau, H. (2024). Is subjective perceptual similarity metacognitive? In principle acceptance of Version 4 by Peer Community in Registered Reports. https://osf.io/pzugy
| Is subjective perceptual similarity metacognitive? | Ali Moharramipour, William Zhou, Dobromir Rahnev, Hakwan Lau | <p>Perceptual similarity is a cornerstone for human learning and generalization. However, in assessing the similarity between two stimuli differing in multiple dimensions, it is not well-defined which feature(s) one should focus on. The problem ha... | Life Sciences, Social sciences | D. Samuel Schwarzkopf | 2024-06-15 15:27:08 | View | ||
23 Jan 2023
STAGE 1
Responding to Online Toxicity: Which Strategies Make Others Feel Freer to Contribute, Believe That Toxicity Will Decrease, and Believe that Justice Has Been Restored?Alison I. Young Reusser, Houghton University; Kristian Veit, Olivet Nazarene University; Lisa Gassin, Olivet Nazarene University; Jonathan Case, Houghton University https://osf.io/hfjnbTesting antidotes to online toxicityRecommended by Chris Chambers based on reviews by Corina Logan and Marcel MartončikSocial media is a popular tool for online discussion and debate, bringing with it various forms of hostile interactions – from offensive remarks and insults, to harassment and threats of physical violence. The nature of such online toxicity has been well studied, but much remains to be understood regarding strategies to reduce it. Existing theory and evidence suggests that a range of responses – including those that emphasise prosociality and empathy – might be effective at mitigating online toxicity. But do such strategies work in practice?
In the current study, Young Reusser et al (2023) propose an experiment to test the effectiveness of three types of responses to online toxicity – Benevolent Correction (including disagreement), Benevolent Going Along (including joking/agreement), or Retaliation (additional toxicity) – on how able participants feel to contribute to conversations, their belief that the toxicity would be reduced by the intervention, and their belief that justice had been restored. The findings promise to shed light on approaches for improving the health of online discourse.
The Stage 1 manuscript was evaluated over two rounds of in-depth 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).
URL to the preregistered Stage 1 protocol: https://osf.io/hfjnb (under temporary private embargo) 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: References
1. Young Reusser, A. I., Veit, K. M., Gassin, E. A., & Case, J. P. (2023). Responding to Online Toxicity: Which Strategies Make Others Feel Freer to Contribute, Believe That Toxicity Will Decrease, and Believe that Justice Has Been Restored? In principle acceptance of Version 3 by Peer Community in Registered Reports. https://osf.io/hfjnb
| Responding to Online Toxicity: Which Strategies Make Others Feel Freer to Contribute, Believe That Toxicity Will Decrease, and Believe that Justice Has Been Restored? | Alison I. Young Reusser, Houghton University; Kristian Veit, Olivet Nazarene University; Lisa Gassin, Olivet Nazarene University; Jonathan Case, Houghton University | <p>When we encounter toxic comments online, how might individual efforts to reply to those comments improve others’ experiences conversing in that forum? Is it more helpful for others to publicly, but benevolently (with a polite tone, demonstrated... | Social sciences | Chris Chambers | 2022-06-08 18:35:48 | View | ||
Responding to Online Toxicity: Which Strategies Make Others Feel Freer to Contribute, Believe That Toxicity Will Decrease, and Believe that Justice Has Been Restored?Alison I. Young Reusser, Kristian M. Veit, Elizabeth A. Gassin, and Jonathan P. Case https://osf.io/k46e8Benevolent correction may provide a promising antidote to online toxicityRecommended by Chris Chambers based on reviews by Corina Logan and Marcel MartončikSocial media is a popular tool for online discussion and debate, bringing with it various forms of hostile interactions – from offensive remarks and insults, to harassment and threats of physical violence. The nature of such online toxicity has been well studied, but much remains to be understood regarding strategies to reduce it. Existing theory and evidence suggests that a range of responses – including those that emphasise prosociality and empathy – might be effective at mitigating online toxicity. But do such strategies work in practice?
In the current study, Young Reusser et al (2023) tested the effectiveness of three types of responses to online toxicity – benevolent correction (including disagreement), benevolent going along (including joking/agreement) and retaliation (additional toxicity) – on how able participants feel to contribute to conversations, their belief that the toxicity would be reduced by the intervention, and their belief that justice had been restored.
The results showed the benevolent correction – while an uncommon strategy in online communities – was most effective in helping participants feel freer to contribute to online discussions. Benevolent correction was also the preferred approach for discouraging toxicity and restoring justice. Overall, the findings suggest that responding to toxic commenters with empathy and understanding while (crucially) also correcting their toxicity may be an effective intervention for bystanders seeking to improve the health of online interaction. The authors note that future research should focus on whether benevolent correction actually discourages toxicity, which wasn't tested in the current experiment, and if so how the use of benevolent corrections might be encouraged.
Following one round of review and revisions, the recommender judged that the manuscript met the Stage 2 criteria and awarded a positive recommendation.
URL to the preregistered Stage 1 protocol: https://osf.io/hfjnb Level of bias control achieved: Level 6. No part of the data or evidence that was used to answer the research question was generated until after IPA.
List of eligible PCI RR-friendly journals:
References
1. Young Reusser, A. I., Veit, K. M., Gassin, E. A., & Case, J. P. (2023). Responding to Online Toxicity:
Which Strategies Make Others Feel Freer to Contribute, Believe That Toxicity Will Decrease, and Believe that Justice Has Been Restored? [Stage 2 Registered Report] Acceptance of Version 2 by Peer Community in Registered Reports. https://osf.io/k46e8 | Responding to Online Toxicity: Which Strategies Make Others Feel Freer to Contribute, Believe That Toxicity Will Decrease, and Believe that Justice Has Been Restored? | Alison I. Young Reusser, Kristian M. Veit, Elizabeth A. Gassin, and Jonathan P. Case | <p>When we encounter toxic comments online, how might individual efforts to reply to those comments improve others’ experiences conversing in that forum? Is it more helpful for others to publicly, but benevolently (with a polite tone, demonstrated... | Social sciences | Chris Chambers | 2023-08-02 05:30:37 | View | ||
31 May 2024
STAGE 1
Unveiling the Positivity Bias on Social Media: A Registered Experimental Study On Facebook, Instagram, And XA. Masciantonio, N. Heiser, A. Cherbonnier https://osf.io/c9ysvSocial media positivity biasRecommended by Veli-Matti Karhulahti based on reviews by Linda Kaye, Marcel Martončik, Julius Klingelhoefer and 1 anonymous reviewerBoth research and public debates around social media use tend to involve a premise of positivity bias, which refers to presenting one’s life in an overly positive light by various different means. This premise contributes to multiple potentially important follow-up hypotheses, such as the fear of missing out and low self-image effects, due to repeated consumption of positive social media content (e.g., Bayer et al. 2020, for a review). The positivity bias of social media use, itself, has received limited research attention, however.
In the present study, Masciantonio and colleagues (2024) will test positivity bias in the context of three social media platforms: Facebook, Instagram, and X. The experiment involves recruiting participants into platform-specific user groups and crafting posts to be shared with friends as well as respective social media audiences. If positivity bias manifests in this context, the social media posts should introduce more positive valence in comparison to offline sharing—and if the platforms differ in their encouragement of positivity bias, they should introduce significant between-platform differences in valence. The Stage 1 plan was reviewed by four independent experts representing relevant areas of methodological and topic expertise. Three reviewers proceeded throughout three rounds of review, after which the study was considered having met all Stage 1 criteria and the recommender granted in-principle acceptance. URL to the preregistered Stage 1 protocol: https://osf.io/9z6hm 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:
References
1. Bayer, J. B., Triệu, P., & Ellison, N. B. (2020). Social media elements, ecologies, and effects. Annual review of psychology, 71, 471-497. https:// doi.org/10.1146/annurev-psych-010419-050944 2. Masciantonio, A., Heiser, N., & Cherbonnier, A. (2024). Unveiling the Positivity Bias on Social Media: A Registered Experimental Study On Facebook, Instagram, And X. In principle acceptance of Version 4 by Peer Community in Registered Reports. https://osf.io/9z6hm
| Unveiling the Positivity Bias on Social Media: A Registered Experimental Study On Facebook, Instagram, And X | A. Masciantonio, N. Heiser, A. Cherbonnier | <p>Social media has transformed how people engage with the world around them. The positivity bias on social media, in particular, warrants in-depth investigation. This is particularly true as previous research has concentrated on one specific plat... | Social sciences | Veli-Matti Karhulahti | 2024-01-15 10:33:52 | View | ||
01 Dec 2022
STAGE 1
Cerebral lateralization of writing in students at risk for dyslexia using functional Transcranial Doppler ultrasonographyAnastasia-Konstantina Papadopoulou, Filippos Vlachos, Panagiota Pervanidou, Sofia Anesiadou, Faye Antoniou, Phivos Phylactou, Nicholas A. Badcock, Marietta Papadatou-Pastou https://osf.io/u54tkLateralisation for written language in primary school students at risk for dyslexiaRecommended by Saloni Krishnan based on reviews by Margriet Groen and Todd RichardsWhile cerebral lateralisation for oral language is well-characterised, cerebral lateralisation for written language is much less well-understood. In this study, Papadopoulou et al. (2022) will use functional transcranial Doppler ultrasonography to assess lateralisation for written language in 7- to 9-year-old children at risk for dyslexia and neurotypical children. They will use tasks that assess efficiency in reading and writing names as well as speed and fluency in writing. The findings of this manuscript will highlight whether children with dyslexia showed atypical lateralisation for language in a written task. In addition, the authors plan to explore the correlation between lateralisation and writing competence.
The Stage 1 manuscript was evaluated over two rounds of in-depth review. Based on the edits made to the manuscript, and detailed 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/u54tk (under temporary private embargo)
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:
References
1. Papadopoulou, A.-K., Vlachos, F., Pervanidou, P., Anesiadou, S., Antoniou, F., Phylactou, P., Badcock, N.A. & Papadatou-Pastou, M. (2022). Cerebral lateralization of writing in students at risk for dyslexia using functional Transcranial Doppler ultrasonography, in principle acceptance of Version 2 by Peer Community in Registered Reports. https://osf.io/u54tk (under temporary private embargo)
| Cerebral lateralization of writing in students at risk for dyslexia using functional Transcranial Doppler ultrasonography | Anastasia-Konstantina Papadopoulou, Filippos Vlachos, Panagiota Pervanidou, Sofia Anesiadou, Faye Antoniou, Phivos Phylactou, Nicholas A. Badcock, Marietta Papadatou-Pastou | <p>It is well established that the left hemisphere is dominant in oral language in the majority of neurotypical individuals, while a more symmetrical pattern of activation in shown in cases of language disorders, such as dyslexia. Cerebral lateral... | Humanities, Life Sciences, Social sciences | Saloni Krishnan | Margriet Groen, Todd Richards | 2022-06-06 09:00:26 | View | |
30 Sep 2024
STAGE 1
The effect of covert visual attention on pupil size during perceptual fadingAna Vilotijević, Sebastiaan Mathôt https://osf.io/m2xr5?view_only=99e4cfe64c344980ae3a03324ef85eb1Does pupil size track high-level attention?Recommended by D. Samuel Schwarzkopf and Chris Chambers based on reviews by Sander Nieuwenhuis, Martin Rolfs and 1 anonymous reviewerPrevious research has shown that higher-level cognitive processes like attention, memory or mental imagery can produce pupil responses, without any actual difference in luminance of the visual stimulus. Interestingly, the inverse scenario remains untested: when a difference in luminance is perceptually eliminated from awareness, does pupil size still track cognitive factors? In this study, Vilotijević and Mathôt (2024) seek to test this experimentally using a perceptual fading phenomenon where two Gaussian patches with different luminances fade from consciousness and are thus perceived as mid-level uniform grey. The researchers will present this fading manipulation and a control condition where no fading occurs in separate blocks. Participants are instructed to covertly attend one of the patches. If pupil size reflects attentional selection, pupil responses should be reduced in the fading condition, and this should evolve with time as the stimuli are perceptually fading.
The Stage 1 manuscript was evaluated by three reviewers and the Recommender over three rounds of review. One reviewer advises conducting robustness checks to rule out eye movements confounds. This constitutes exploratory analyses at Stage 2 that probably require some flexibility. Despite this, the Recommender decided to grant in-principle acceptance of this study. While these robustness tests can put the eventual results in context, the general hypotheses and predictions specified in this version are clear and straightforward.
URL to the preregistered Stage 1 protocol: https://osf.io/bmtp6
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:
References
1. Vilotijević, A. & Mathôt, S. (2024). The effect of covert visual attention on pupil size during perceptual fading. In principle acceptance of Version 3 by Peer Community in Registered Reports. https://osf.io/bmtp6
| The effect of covert visual attention on pupil size during perceptual fading | Ana Vilotijević, Sebastiaan Mathôt | <p>Pupil size is modulated by various cognitive factors such as attention, working memory, mental imagery, and subjective perception. Previous studies examining cognitive effects on pupil size mainly focused on inducing or enhancing a subjective e... | Social sciences | D. Samuel Schwarzkopf | Martin Rolfs | 2024-01-18 13:28:02 | View | |
The effect of covert visual attention on pupil size during perceptual fadingAna Vilotijević, Sebastiaan Mathôt https://osf.io/ku8qc?view_only=f331df53b50f431386fabba9e386b387Does pupil size track high-level attention?Recommended by D. Samuel Schwarzkopf based on reviews by Sander Nieuwenhuis and Martin RolfsHigher-level cognitive processes like attention, memory, or mental imagery can produce pupil responses, without any actual difference in luminance of the visual stimulus. Interestingly, the inverse scenario remained untested to date: when a physical luminance difference is perceptually eliminated from awareness, does pupil size still track attention to the stimulus? In this Registered Report, Vilotijević and Mathôt (2024) sought to test this experimentally using a perceptual fading phenomenon where two Gaussian patches with different luminances fade from consciousness and are thus perceived as mid-level uniform grey (or at least the subjective difference is much reduced). This fading manipulation, as well as a control condition without perceptual fading, were presented in separate blocks. Participants were instructed to covertly attend one of the patches.
The authors hypothesised that if pupil size reflects attentional selection, these pupil responses in the fading condition should be eliminated or at least reduced, and this should evolve with time as the stimuli are perceptually fading. Their results show that pupil responses during covert attention are indeed reduced during perceptual fading - but they are not eliminated. Interestingly, this reduction did not depend on time or self-reports of the strength of perceptual fading. The findings therefore suggest that pupil dilation tracks subjective brightness differences. One inherent issue with experiments like these is that the experimental and control conditions necessarily involve a physical difference in the stimulus. Here, the fading condition had the same spatial configuration of light and dark stimuli throughout a block while in the control (non-fading) condition the light and dark stimuli alternated sides between trials. It is therefore impossible to completely rule out that the physical difference affects the results. However, the only alternative to this would be an experimental design in which the stimuli never change, but only the subjective perceptual state varies. Such a design is completely at the mercy of the participant's subjective state and therefore loses experimental control and statistical sensitivity. The present results confirmed the authors' prediction that there are indeed differences in overall pupil responses during the fading and control conditions, irrespective of covert attention.
Critically, the fact that the attention effect did not vary with time or subjective self-reports of the illusion supports the authors' interpretation that this reflects higher-level cognition: the mere act of attending to the dark side - even if the actual appearance has faded - could cause a sustained pupil dilation. This would be consistent with the type of pupil effects for memory and mental imagery that motivated the present study. However, a simpler alternative is that the experience of perceptual fading was incomplete (as possibly suggested by Figures 2D and 2F) but that self-reports fail to capture this subjective experience accurately. Perhaps a future study could compare the magnitude of the attentional pupil effects when the initial stimulus is completely removed. If similar differences in pupil response persist this would suggest that the present results are due to high-level modulation or the residual low-level luminance difference.
The Stage 2 manuscript was evaluated by two reviewers and the recommender over two rounds of review. One reviewer again advised additional robustness checks to rule out eye movement confounds, an issue they had already raised during Stage 1 review. The researchers provide clear evidence that this is unlikely to have confounded their findings. This has been added to the supplementary data repository. Following this review and revision, the recommender judged that the Stage 2 criteria were met and awarded a positive recommendation.
URL to the preregistered Stage 1 protocol: https://osf.io/bmtp6
Level of bias control achieved: Level 6. No part of the data or evidence that was used to answer the research question was generated until after IPA. List of eligible PCI RR-friendly journals:
References
1. Vilotijević, A. & Mathôt, S. (2024). The effect of covert visual attention on pupil size during perceptual fading [Stage 2]. Acceptance of Version 2 by Peer Community in Registered Reports. https://osf.io/ku8qc?view_only=f331df53b50f431386fabba9e386b387
| The effect of covert visual attention on pupil size during perceptual fading | Ana Vilotijević, Sebastiaan Mathôt | <p>Pupil size is modulated by various cognitive factors such as attention, working memory, mental imagery, and subjective perception. Previous studies examining cognitive effects on pupil size mainly focused on inducing or enhancing a subjective e... | Social sciences | D. Samuel Schwarzkopf | 2024-08-17 12:58:58 | View | ||
08 Feb 2022
STAGE 1
Motivational Control of Habits: A Preregistered fMRI StudyAndreas B. Eder, David Dignath, Matthias Gamer https://osf.io/52xpg/?view_only=551d1c39ed1f41549cbd35ec6b8bbed6Putting the Expected Value of Control (EVC) theory to the test in explaining habitual actionRecommended by Chris Chambers based on reviews by 2 anonymous reviewersWhat 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: 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 | Motivational Control of Habits: A Preregistered fMRI Study | Andreas B. Eder, David Dignath, Matthias Gamer | <p>Habitual action is typically distinguished from goal-directed action by its insensitivity to changes in the reward value. There is an ongoing discussion whether this insensitivity is an intrinsic design feature of habits or, rather, a function ... | Social sciences | Chris Chambers | 2021-10-05 11:51:08 | View |
MANAGING BOARD
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