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IdTitle * Authors * Abstract * PictureThematic fields * RecommenderReviewers▲Submission date
20 Feb 2025
STAGE 2
(Go to stage 1)

Neophobia across social contexts in juvenile Herring gulls

Herring gulls exhibit reduced neophobia when tested in groups

Recommended by ORCID_LOGO based on reviews by Claudia Mettke-Hofmann and 1 anonymous reviewer
How well animals may be able to cope with changes of habitat, specifically with rapid changes and thus novelty they encounter in an environment densely populated by humans, may be influenced by how they respond to novelty in general (Batisteli et al., 2022; Biondi et al., 2024; Castano et al., 2024; Heales et al., 2024). In considering this, it may be important to account for any difference in behavioural responses that animals exhibit when encountering a novel situation alone versus when they are doing so as part of a group.
 
Here, Allaert et al. (2025) tested how neophobia – the fear of unfamiliar objects – is affected by the social context in gulls, birds that are increasingly forced to live in urban environments due to the loss of natural coastlines. In this study, in which they reared herring gulls from egg and tested them taking into account that nestmates are not tested within the same groups, the authors found that the birds were faster to eat and spent more time in the zone of interest when they were tested in a group than when they were tested individually, specifically when a novel object was placed next to the food compared to when that object was a familiar one. The birds were also faster to enter the testing area when tested in a group, but this was not specific to the novel object condition. In addition to these changes in the average responses, the authors also report reduced variance when tested in a group in two of their three measures, namely in the latency to enter the testing area and time spent in the zone of interest.
 
The authors interpret their findings as being mostly in line with the ‘risk-dilution’ hypothesis, which is often considered in terms of predation risk (Krause & Buxton, 2002). They discuss possible reasons why other studies, with different species and different methodological setups, found support for alternative explanations.
 
The Stage 2 report was evaluated by the same two reviewers who had also reviewed the Stage 1 manuscript. In the revision, the authors focused on adding sex as a factor in their statistical models, which was the planned procedure for the statistical analyses in the Stage 1 report, and adding information regarding the problems encountered during testing and how these were handled. This specifically refers to the planned sample size (which the authors planned in the Stage 1 report taking into account both mortality and the fact that some birds would be not herring gulls but lesser black-backed gulls, which can only be established after hatching). However, there was higher than expected mortality, leading to a larger-than-planned overall reduction in sample size. During the study, the authors had contacted the recommender and discussed this issue, and the recommender advised on continuing the study and approved of the planned changes in the Stage 2 report. During the revision process, the authors added more information and also conducted an exploratory analysis, which included all birds, i.e. herring gulls and lesser black-backed gulls. This was suggested by a reviewer and the authors present this exploratory analysis in full in the supplemental material, while the main inferences are presented in the main text. In addition, during the Stage 2 review it became apparent that some minor details regarding the procedure would be useful to be included in the Stage 2 report, which the authors included in the Stage 2 revision. This did not alter the procedure as described in the Stage 1 report, but merely added more clarity to the text.
 
Based on detailed engagement with these points and the reviewers' comments, 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/u4b7q
 
Level of bias control achieved: Level 6No 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. Allaert, R., Knoch, S., Braem, S., Debeer, D., Martel, A., Müller, W., Stienen, E., Lens, L., & Verbruggen, F. (2025). Neophobia across social contexts in juvenile Herring gulls [Stage 2]. Acceptance of Version 3 by Peer Community in Registered Reports. https://osf.io/b58ha
 
2. Batisteli, A. F., Pizo, M. A., & Sarmento, H. (2022). Female neophobia predicts the use of buildings as nesting sites in a Neotropical songbird. Animal Behaviour, 183, 151-157. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2021.11.008
 
3. Biondi, L. M., Medina, A., Bonetti, E. A., Paterlini, C. A., & Bó, M. S. (2024). Cognitive flexibility in a generalist raptor: a comparative analysis along an urbanization gradient. Behavioral Ecology, 35, arae025. https://doi.org/10.1093/beheco/arae025
 
4. Castano, M. V., Zumpano, F., Biondi, L. M., & García, G. O. (2024). Does urbanization affect behavioral responses to novel objects in marine birds? The Olrog’s Gull as a case of study. Urban Ecosystems, 27, 427-437. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11252-023-01465-2
 
5. Heales, H. E., Flood, N. J., Oud, M. D., Otter, K. A., & Reudink, M. W. (2024). Exploring differences in neophobia and anti-predator behaviour between urban and rural mountain chickadees. Journal of Urban Ecology, 10, juae01. https://doi.org/10.1093/jue/juae014
 
6. Krause, J. & Ruxton, G. (2002). Living in Groups. Oxford University Press, USA.
Neophobia across social contexts in juvenile Herring gullsReinoud Allaert, Sophia Knoch, Simon Braem, Dries Debeer, An Martel, Wendt Müller, Eric Stienen, Luc Lens, Frederick Verbruggen<p>Neophobia, the fear or avoidance of the unfamiliar, can have significant fitness consequences. It is typically assessed by exposing individuals to unfamiliar objects when they are alone, but in social species the presence of conspecifics can in...Life SciencesLjerka Ostojic2024-11-26 13:25:23 View
14 Jan 2025
STAGE 1
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Implementing a rapid geographic range expansion - the role of behavior and habitat changes

The role of behavior and habitat availability on species geographic expansion

Recommended by ORCID_LOGO
Note from the PCI RR Managing Board: This Stage 1 recommendation was originally written by Esther Sebastián González for PCI Ecology on 06 Oct 2020 and was transferred to PCI Registered Reports on 14 Jan 2025 to facilitate the submission and evaluation of the resulting Stage 2 submissions. The link to the original recommendation and review history at PCI Ecology may be found at this link (and in PDF format here).
 
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Understanding the relative importance of species-specific traits and environmental factors in modulating species distributions is an intriguing question in ecology [1]. Both behavioral flexibility (i.e., the ability to change the behavior in changing circumstances) and habitat availability are known to influence the ability of a species to expand its geographic range [2,3]. However, the role of each factor is context and species dependent and more information is needed to understand how these two factors interact. In this pre-registration, Logan et al. [4] explain how they will use Great-tailed grackles (Quiscalus mexicanus), a species with a flexible behavior and a rapid geographic range expansion, to evaluate the relative role of habitat and behavior as drivers of the species’ expansion [4]. The authors present very clear hypotheses, predicted results and also include alternative predictions. The rationales for all the hypotheses are clearly stated, and the methodology (data and analyses plans) are described with detail. The large amount of information already collected by the authors for the studied species during previous projects warrants the success of this study. It is also remarkable that the authors will make all their data available in a public repository, and that the pre-registration in already stored in GitHub, supporting open access and reproducible science. I agree with the three reviewers of this pre-registration about its value and I think its quality has largely improved during the review process. Thus, I am happy to recommend it and I am looking forward to seeing the results.
 
 
Level of bias control achieved: Level 1. At least some of the data/evidence that will be used to the answer the research question has been accessed and observed by the authors, including key variables, but the authors certify that they have not yet performed any of their preregistered analyses, and in addition they have taken stringent steps to reduce the risk of bias.
 
List of eligible PCI-RR-friendly journals:
 
 
References
 
[1] Gaston KJ. 2003. The structure and dynamics of geographic ranges. Oxford series in Ecology and Evolution. Oxford University Press, New York.
 
[2] Sol D, Lefebvre L. 2000. Behavioural flexibility predicts invasion success in birds introduced to new zealand. Oikos. 90(3): 599–605. https://doi.org/10.1034/j.1600-0706.2000.900317.x
 
[3] Hanski I, Gilpin M. 1991. Metapopulation dynamics: Brief history and conceptual domain. Biological journal of the Linnean Society. 42(1-2): 3–16. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1095-8312.1991.tb00548.x
 
[4] Logan CJ, McCune KB, Chen N, Lukas D. 2020. Implementing a rapid geographic range expansion - the role of behavior and habitat changes (http://corinalogan.com/Preregistrations/gxpopbehaviorhabitat.html) In principle acceptance by PCI Ecology of the version on 16 Dec 2021 https://github.com/corinalogan/grackles/blob/0fb956040a34986902a384a1d8355de65010effd/Files/Preregistrations/gxpopbehaviorhabitat.Rmd
 
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Full review history: [link]
 
Implementing a rapid geographic range expansion - the role of behavior and habitat changesCorina J Logan, Kelsey B McCune, Nancy Chen, Dieter Lukas<p>It is generally thought that behavioral flexibility, the ability to change behavior when circumstances change, plays an important role in the ability of a species to rapidly expand their geographic range (Chow et al., 2016; Griffin &amp; Guez, ...Life SciencesChris Chambers2025-01-13 12:12:15 View
08 Apr 2025
STAGE 2
(Go to stage 1)

Non-compliance with and non-enforcement of UK loot box industry self-regulation on the Apple App Store: A longitudinal study on poor implementation

Self regulation by gaming companies for the use of loot boxes is not working

Recommended by ORCID_LOGO based on reviews by Chris Chambers
Video games may provide the option of spending real money in exchange for probabilistically receiving game-relevant rewards; in effect, encouraging potentially young teenagers to gamble. The industry has subscribed to a set of regulatory principles to cover the use of such "loot boxes", including 1) that they will prevent loot box purchasing by under 18s unless parental consent is given; 2) that they will make it initially clear that the game contains loot boxes; and 3) that they will clearly disclose the probabilities of receiving different rewards.
 
Can the industry effectively self regulate? Xiao and Lund (2025) evaluated this important question by investigating the 100 top selling games on the Apple App Store and estimating the percentage compliance to these three regulatory principles at two time points 6 months apart. In all cases compliance was minimal, or even non-existent. The authors recommend stricter legal regulations of loot boxes.
 
The Stage 2 manuscript was evaluated over one round of review. The recommender judged that the manuscript met the Stage  2 criteria for recommendation.
 
URL to the preregistered Stage 1 protocol: https://osf.io/3knyb
 
Level of bias control achieved: Level 2. At least some data/evidence that was used to answer the research question had been accessed and partially observed by the authors prior to IPA, but the authors certify that they had not yet observed the key variables within the data that were used to answer the research question.
 
List of eligible PCI RR-friendly journals:
 
 
References
 
Xiao, L. & Lund, M. (2025). Non-compliance with and non-enforcement of UK loot box industry self-regulation on the Apple App Store: A longitudinal study on poor implementation [Stage 2]. Acceptance of Version 2 by Peer Community in Registered Reports. https://osf.io/3re4n
Non-compliance with and non-enforcement of UK loot box industry self-regulation on the Apple App Store: A longitudinal study on poor implementationLeon Y. Xiao, Mie Lund<p>Loot boxes in video games can be purchased with real-world money in exchange for random rewards. Stakeholders are concerned about loot boxes’ similarities with gambling and their potential harms (e.g., overspending money and developing gambling...Humanities, Social sciencesZoltan Dienes2025-01-13 12:43:11 View
08 Apr 2025
STAGE 2
(Go to stage 1)

Does Truth Pay? Investigating the Effectiveness of the Bayesian Truth Serum with an Interim Payment: A Registered Report

Do interim payments promote honesty in self-report? A test of the Bayesian Truth Serum

Recommended by ORCID_LOGO based on reviews by Philipp Schoenegger and Sarahanne Miranda Field

Surveys that measure self-report are a workhorse in psychology and the social sciences, providing a vital window into beliefs, attitudes, and emotions, both at the level of groups and individuals. The validity of self-report data, however, is an enduring methodological concern, with self-reports vulnerable to a range of response biases, including (among others) the risk of social desirability bias in which, rather than responding honestly, participants answer questions in a way that they believe will be viewed favorably by others. One proposed solution to socially desirable responding is the so-called Bayesian Truth Serum (BTS), which aims to incentivize truthfulness by taking into account the relationship between an individual’s response and their belief about the dominant (or most likely) response given by other people and then assigning a high truthfulness score to answers that are surprisingly common (Prelec, 2004).

Although valid in theory (under a variety of assumptions), questions remain regarding the empirical utility of the BTS. One area of concern is participants’ uncertainty regarding incentives for truth-telling – if participants don’t understand the extent to which telling the truth is in their own interests (or they don’t believe that it matters) then the validity of the BTS is undermined. 

In the current study, Neville and Williams (2025) tested the role of clarifying incentives, particularly for addressing social desirability bias when answering sensitive questions. The authors administered an experimental survey design (N=877) including sensitive questions, curated from validated scales, that are relevant to current social attitudes and sensitivities (e.g., “Men are not particularly discriminated against”, “Younger people are usually more productive than older people at their jobs”). Three groups of participants completed the survey under different incentive conditions: the BTS delivered alone in a standard format, the BTS with an interim bonus payment that is awarded to participants (based on their BTS score) halfway through the survey to increase certainty in incentives, and a Regular Incentive control group in which participants receive payment without additional incentives.

The authors analyzed the effectiveness of the BTS through two registered hypotheses. First, the authors found that the BTS did not increase agreement with socially undesirable statements (compared to the control group), as theory would suggest, and even observed an opposite effect. This result, which could be confirmed by follow-up studies, raises some concerns about the robustness of the BTS method. Second, the authors conjectured that introducing an interim payment in the BTS mechanism would help reinforce its credibility in the eyes of the participants and would thus magnify its effect. However, the authors failed to detect a statistically significant difference between the standard BTS and interim-payment BTS mechanisms. Overall, the results of Neville and Williams (2025) call for some caution in the use of the BTS and for further work to better understand the contexts in which the BTS might be a useful tool to mitigate social desirability in surveys. 

This Stage 2 manuscript was evaluated over one round of in-depth review by two expert reviewers and a second round of review by the recommender. After the 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/vuh8b
 
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. Neville, C. M & Williams, M. N. (2025). Does Truth Pay? Investigating the Effectiveness of the Bayesian
Truth Serum with an Interim Payment: A Registered Report [Stage 2]. Acceptance of Version 4 by Peer Community in Registered Reports. https://doi.org/10.31219/osf.io/s3znc
 
2. Prelec, D. (2004). A Bayesian truth serum for subjective data. Science, 306, 462-466. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1102081
Does Truth Pay? Investigating the Effectiveness of the Bayesian Truth Serum with an Interim Payment: A Registered Report Claire M. Neville, Matt N. Williams<p>Self-report data is vital in psychological research, but biases like careless responding and socially desirable responding (SDR) can compromise its validity. While various methods are employed to mitigate these biases, they have limitations. Th...Social sciencesRomain Espinosa2025-01-15 01:46:05 View
31 May 2023
STAGE 1

Defacing biases in manual and automated quality assessments of structural MRI with MRIQC

The impact of removing facial features on quality measures of structural MRI scans

Recommended by ORCID_LOGO based on reviews by Catherine Morgan and Cassandra Gould van Praag
Data sharing is perhaps the most fundamental step for increasing the transparency and reproducibility of scientific research. However, the goals of open science must be tempered by ethical considerations, protecting the privacy and safety of research participants. Bridging this gap causes challenges for many fields, such as human neuroimaging. Brain images, as measured with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), are unique to the participant and therefore contain identifying information by definition. One way to mitigate the risk to participants arising from public data sharing has been "defacing" the MRI scans, i.e., literally removing the part of the image that contains the face and surrounding tissue, while preserving the brain structure. This procedure however also removes information that is not (or at least minimally) identifiable. It also remains unclear whether defacing the images affects image quality and thus the information necessary for addressing many research questions.
 
The current study by Provins et al. (2023) seeks to address this question. Leveraging a publicly available "IXI dataset" comprising hundreds of T1-weighted structural MRI scans, they will assess the effect of defacing on manual and automatic estimates of image quality. Specifically, the researchers will compare image quality ratings by experts for a subset of 185 images. They hypothesise that images in which facial features have been removed are typically assigned higher quality ratings. Moreover, using a full data set of 580 images, which have been obtained across three scanning sites, they will also test the impact defacing MRI scans has on automated quality measures obtained with MRIQC software. The results of this study should have important implications for open science policy and for designing the optimal procedures for sharing structural MRI data in an ethical way. For example, if the authors' hypothesis is confirmed, studies relying on MRI quality measures might be better served by a custodianship model where identifiable data is shared under strict conditions, rather than relying on publishing defaced data. More generally, the outcome of this study may have significant legal implications in many jurisdictions.
 
The Stage 1 manuscript was evaluated at the inital triage stage by the Recommender and PCI:RR team, and another round of in-depth review by two experts. After a detailed response and substantial revisions, the recommender judged the manuscript met the Stage 1 criteria and awarded in-principle acceptance (IPA).
 
URL to the preregistered Stage 1 protocol: https://osf.io/qcket (under temporary private embargo)
 
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
 
1. Provins, C., Savary, E., Alemán-Gómez, Y., Richiardi, J., Poldrack, R. A., Hagmann, P. & Esteban, O. (2023). Defacing biases in manual and automated quality assessments of structural MRI with MRIQC, in principle acceptance of Version 3 by Peer Community in Registered Reports. https://osf.io/qcket
Defacing biases in manual and automated quality assessments of structural MRI with MRIQCCéline Provins, Yasser Alemán-Gómez, Jonas Richiardi, Russell A. Poldrack, Patric Hagmann, Oscar Esteban<p>A critical requirement before data-sharing of human neuroimaging is removing facial features to protect individuals’ privacy. However, not only does this process redact identifiable information about individuals, but it also removes non-identif...Medical SciencesD. Samuel Schwarzkopf Abiola Akinnubi , Catherine Morgan, Cassandra Gould van Praag2022-11-28 10:59:32 View
15 Apr 2023
STAGE 1
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Reconstructing Gaming Disorder: A Taxonomy by Registered Report

How can the experiences of those who engage in video games in healthy and unhealthy ways be systematically organised?

Recommended by ORCID_LOGO based on reviews by Michelle Carras, Lukas J. Gunschera and Christopher Ferguson
People are often drawn into intensive video game use in ways they or others may find troubling, harmless or even praiseworthy. Understanding these different experiences may help with integrating intensive technology use into everyday life in a healthy way.
 
In this programmatic submission, Karhulahti et al. (2023) will explore the gaming experiences of three groups of people (those who have sought treatment for gaming, esport players, and adolescents who play around two hours every day), using phenomenological and clinical interviews, and gaming diary logs every four months over three years. Around 200-300 participants will be recruited initially from Finland, Slovakia, and South Korea. In order to further increase cross-cultural range, the study will apply a new duplication method to collect similar data also in countries that have been studied little in the past. The aim will be to answer the questions of a) Is it possible to distinguish passionate from pathological gaming by the meanings and values that players attach to videogame play? and b) What are the design structures of videogames, which are played intensively and/or with gaming-related health problems? Ultimately, the study aims to synthesise all its data into a new taxonomic system, which can help better understand the differences and idiosyncrasies of gaming in lives across cultures.
 
This Stage 1 manuscript was evaluated over two rounds of in-depth review. Based on the comprehensive responses to the reviewers' feedback, 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/ekm8x
 
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:
 
 
References
Karhulahti, V.-M., Martončik. M., Siutila, M., Park, S., Jin, J., Adamkovič, M., Auranen, T., Na, B., & Yoon, T.-J. (2023). Reconstructing Gaming Disorder: A Taxonomy by Registered Report​, in principle acceptance of Version 3 by Peer Community in Registered Reports. https://osf.io/ekm8x
Reconstructing Gaming Disorder: A Taxonomy by Registered ReportVeli-Matti Karhulahti, Marcel Martončik, Miia Siutila, Solip Park, Yaewon Jin, Matúš Adamkovič, Tiina Auranen, Bora Na, Tae-Jin Yoon<p style="text-align: justify;">Videogames have become one of the most prevalent cultural forms around the world. While their role in art, pedagogy, and everyday life keeps growing, the health debates on videogame play—gaming—culminated in 2022 wi...Humanities, Medical Sciences, Social sciencesZoltan Dienes Abiola Akinnubi , Oluwaseyi Adeliyi2022-10-10 15:09:55 View
13 Nov 2023
STAGE 2
(Go to stage 1)

Convenience Samples and Measurement Equivalence in Replication Research

Data from students and crowdsourced online platforms do not often measure the same thing

Recommended by ORCID_LOGO based on reviews by Benjamin Farrar and Shinichi Nakagawa

Comparative research is how evidence is generated to support or refute broad hypotheses (e.g., Pagel 1999). However, the foundations of such research must be solid if one is to arrive at the correct conclusions. Determining the external validity (the generalizability across situations/individuals/populations) of the building blocks of comparative data sets allows one to place appropriate caveats around the robustness of their conclusions (Steckler & McLeroy 2008).

In the current study, Alley and colleagues (2023) tackled the external validity of comparative research that relies on subjects who are either university students or participating in experiments via an online platform. They determined whether data from these two types of subjects have measurement equivalence - whether the same trait is measured in the same way across groups.

Although they use data from studies involved in the Many Labs replication project to evaluate this question, their results are of crucial importance to other comparative researchers whose data are generated from these two sources (students and online crowdsourcing). The authors show that these two types of subjects do not often have measurement equivalence, which is a warning to others to evaluate their experimental design to improve validity. They provide useful recommendations for researchers on how to to implement equivalence testing in their studies, and they facilitate the process by providing well annotated code that is openly available for others to use.

After one round of review and revision, 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/7gtvf
 
Level of bias control achieved: Level 2. At least some data/evidence that was used to answer the research question had been accessed and partially observed by the authors prior to Stage 1 IPA, but the authors certify that they had not yet observed the key variables within the data that were used to answer the research question AND they took additional steps to maximise bias control and rigour.
 
List of eligible PCI RR-friendly journals:
 
 
References
 
1. Pagel, M. (1999). Inferring the historical patterns of biological evolution. Nature, 401, 877-884. https://doi.org/10.1038/44766
 
2. Steckler, A. & McLeroy, K. R. (2008). The importance of external validity. American Journal of Public Health 98, 9-10. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2007.126847
 
3. Alley L. J., Axt, J., & Flake J. K. (2023). Convenience Samples and Measurement Equivalence in Replication Research [Stage 2 Registered Report] Acceptance of Version 2 by Peer Community in Registered Reports​. https://osf.io/s5t3v
Convenience Samples and Measurement Equivalence in Replication ResearchLindsay J. Alley, Jordan Axt, Jessica Kay Flake<p>A great deal of research in psychology employs either university student or online crowdsourced convenience samples (Chandler &amp; Shapiro, 2016; Strickland &amp; Stoops, 2019) and there is evidence that these groups differ in meaningful ways ...Social sciencesCorina Logan Alison Young Reusser2023-08-31 20:26:43 View
19 Jun 2024
STAGE 1
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Culture-Driven Neural Plasticity and Imprints of Body-Movement Pace on Musical Rhythm Processing

The interplay of music, movement, and culture on rhythm processing

Recommended by ORCID_LOGO based on reviews by Anne Keitel and 1 anonymous reviewer
The interplay of music, movement, and cultural experience shapes rhythm perception. From bouncing babies and children at play, to tapping, clapping, and dancing, music often triggers synchronous body movements that can influence how we process rhythm. And, at the same time, long-term exposure to specific musical traditions shapes how we perceive and interpret rhythms.
 
However, direct behavioural and neuroscientific evidence on how these processes occur remains scarce. In this programmatic submission, comprising two complementary Stage 2 reports, Guérin et al. (2024) will investigate how body movements shape the processing of auditory information, and how previous short-term motor practice and long-term cultural experience interact to shape neural and behavioural responses to rhythmic stimuli. The authors will record in separate sessions both  electroencephalography (EEG) and hand clapping, in response to rhythms from West/Central Africa. These recordings will be conducted before and after a session in which participants will clap/step to either a three or a four-beat metre that is expected to influence how they interpret a rhythm.
 
The first Stage 2 report, which will be conducted on African-enculturated participants, aims to demonstrate how body-movement pace flexibly imprints on human sensory processing. The authors build on various theoretical models that emphasise the role of motor production in metre perception, and predict that both neural and behavioural entrainment will improve following movement, matching the rhythmic pattern set by the previous body movements.
 
The second Stage 2 report aims to uncover how short-term motor practice and long-term cultural experience interact to shape responses to rhythmic stimuli, by integrating short-term motor practice and long-term cultural experience. For this, the authors will test separate groups of participants from distinct cultural backgrounds (African vs. Western-enculturated), which are predicted to show neural and behavioural differences in their preferred metric mapping before body movement, and expect that neural and behavioural entrainment will improve after movement, especially for the metre set by prior movements, and more significantly for the metre common in the participant's culture.
 
Together, the findings from the planned Stage 2 reports are expected to clarify how long-term cultural background and short-term motor practice imprint onto rhythm processing in humans. This research will enhance our understanding of how cultural experience, body movement, and neural plasticity interact in music processing.
 
The Stage 1 manuscript was evaluated over three rounds of in-depth review. Based on detailed responses to the reviewers' and recommender's 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/skuyc
 
Level of bias control achieved: Level 6. Data collection commenced during the later part of Stage 1 peer review; however, since no changes to the design were made after this point, the risk of bias due to prior data observation remains zero and the manuscript therefore qualifies for Level 6.
 
List of eligible PCI RR-friendly journals:
 
References
 
Guérin, S. M. R., Coulon, E., Lenc, T., Polak, R., Keller, P. E., & Nozaradan, S. (2024). Culture-Driven Neural Plasticity and Imprints of Body-Movement Pace on Musical Rhythm Processing. In principle acceptance of Version 2.1 by Peer Community in Registered Reports. https://osf.io/skuyc
Culture-Driven Neural Plasticity and Imprints of Body-Movement Pace on Musical Rhythm ProcessingSégolène M. R. Guérin, Emmanuel Coulon, Tomas Lenc, Rainer Polak, Peter E. Keller, Sylvie Nozaradan<p>The proposed programmatic registered report aims at capturing direct neuroscientific evidence for the rhythmic, movement-related shaping of auditory information with a cross-cultural perspective. Specifically, West/Central African- and Western-...Life SciencesJuan David LeongómezAnonymous2023-11-30 11:36:06 View
09 Feb 2023
STAGE 1

The Medusa effect: A registered replication report of Will, Merritt, Jenkins, and Kingstone (2021)

Looking (again) at Medusa: does pictorial abstraction influence mind perception?

Recommended by ORCID_LOGO based on reviews by Alan Kingstone, Brittany Cassidy and 3 anonymous reviewers
The Medusa effect is a recently described phenomenon in which people judge a person to be more mindful when they appear as a picture than as a picture within a picture. Across a series of experiments, Will et al. (2021) reported that at higher levels of abstraction, images of people were judged lower in realness (how real the person seemed), experience (the ability to feel) and agency (the ability to plan and act), and also benefited less from prosocial behaviour. The findings provide an intriguing window into mind perception – the extent to which we attribute minds and mental capacities to others.
 
In the current study, Han et al. (2023) propose a close replication of two experiments from the original report by Will et al. (2021), asking first, whether the level of pictorial abstraction influences ratings of realness, agency and experience, and second, whether it also influences prosocial behaviour as measured in the dictator game (with participants predicted to allocate more money to recipients presented as pictures than as pictures within pictures). In the event of a non-replication using the original materials, the authors will further repeat the experiments using newly generated stimuli that are better matched for cultural context and more tightly controlled along various dimensions.
 
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/xj46z
 
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. Will, P., Merritt, E., Jenkins, R., & Kingstone, A. (2021). The Medusa effect reveals levels of mind perception in pictures. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 118(32), e2106640118. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2106640118
 
2. Han, J., Zhang, M., Liu, J., Song, Y. & Yamada, Y. (2023).The Medusa effect: A registered replication report of Will, Merritt, Jenkins, and Kingstone (2021), in principle acceptance of Version 2 by Peer Community in Registered Reports. https://osf.io/xj46z
The Medusa effect: A registered replication report of Will, Merritt, Jenkins, and Kingstone (2021) Jing Han, Minjun Zhang, Jiaxin Liu, Yu Song, Yuki Yamada<div>The medusa effect refers to the tendency of people to evaluate a "picture of a person" as more mindful than a "picture of a picture of a person". This phenomenon is strikingly intriguing because it suggests that when people evaluate the human...Social sciencesChris ChambersAnonymous, Anonymous, Alan Kingstone, Anonymous2022-08-18 09:50:35 View
04 Oct 2024
STAGE 2
(Go to stage 1)

Implicit Ideologies: Do Right-Wing Authoritarianism and Social Dominance Orientation Predict Implicit Attitudes?

Do social dominance orientation and right wing authoritarianism similarly predict both explicit and implicit attitudes?

Recommended by ORCID_LOGO based on reviews by Luisa Liekefett and 1 anonymous reviewer
Measurement is a vital activity for all research areas, but we so often fail to provide sufficient clarity, rigor and transparency about it, undermining the validity of our studies' conclusions (Flake & Fried, 2020). This concern is of wide societal interest when applied to the domains of ideology and attitudes where measurements of both implicit and explicit attitudes are assumed to reflect the same underlying concept. The extent to which this can be accepted is undermined by mixed evidence demonstrating a lack of consensus on the extent to which relevant psychological factors similarly predict both implicit and explicit attitudes.
 
In the current study, Reid & Inbar (2023) question these assumptions through use of the Project Implicit dataset, exploring the extent to which social dominance orientation (SDO) and right wing authoritarianism (RWA) similarly predict implicit and explicit attitudes. This work was ideally suited for publication through the Registered Reports format because whilst it may have been expected that relationships between SDO/RWA are similar in effect size across measures of both implicit and explicit attitude (because they tap into the same underlying attitude), there was great scope to acknowledge a more complex set of findings which may not be immediately interpretable or coherent.
 
As expected, the results were not completely unambiguous, but the mostly consistent relationships between implicit attitudes and RWA/SDO provided evidence towards both implicit and explict measures capturing the same underlying construct. These results also provide a useful step forward in our discussion of measurement in this domain, acknowledging the complexity of the tradeoff between reliability and specificity.
 
The Stage 2 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 2 criteria and awarded a positive recommendation. 
 
URL to the preregistered Stage 1 protocol: https://osf.io/zv4jw
 
Level of bias control achieved: Level 5. All of the data or evidence that was used to answer the research question existed before the research commenced but was inaccessible to the authors and thus unobservable prior to IPA.
 
List of eligible PCI-RR-friendly journals:
 
References
 
1. Flake, J. K. & Fried, E. I. (2020). Measurement schmeasurement: Questionable measurement practices and how to avoid them. Advances in Methods and Practices in Psychological Science, 3, 456-465. https://doi.org/10.1177/2515245920952393
 
2. Reid, J. & Inbar, Y. (2024). Implicit Ideologies: Do Right-Wing Authoritarianism and Social Dominance Orientation Predict Implicit Attitudes? [Stage 2]. Acceptance of Version 6 by Peer Community in Registered Reports. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/8udps
Implicit Ideologies: Do Right-Wing Authoritarianism and Social Dominance Orientation Predict Implicit Attitudes? Jesse S Reid, Yoel Inbar<p>Many social and political attitudes, beliefs and behaviours can be predicted by Right-Wing Authoritarianism (RWA; a preference for authority and tradition) and Social Dominance Orientation (SDO; a preference for social hierarchies and inequalit...Social sciencesThomas EvansAnonymous, Luisa Liekefett2024-04-02 19:47:51 View