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IdTitle * Authors * Abstract * PictureThematic fields * RecommenderReviewersSubmission date
26 Feb 2024
STAGE 2
(Go to stage 1)

Psychological predictors of long-term esports success: A Registered Report

Psychological predictors of long-term success in esports

Recommended by ORCID_LOGO and ORCID_LOGO based on reviews by Justin Bonny and Maciej Behnke
The competitive play of digital games known as ‘esports’ has surged in popularity over the past few decades. Millions of people nowadays participate in esports as a hobby, and many consider becoming professional esports athletes as a potential career path. However, psychological factors that may predict one's long-term success in esports are not entirely clear.
 
The current Registered Report by Martončik and colleagues (2024) offered a comprehensive test of potential predictors of long-term success in the two currently most impactful PC esports games, namely League of Legends (LoL) and Counter Strike: Global Offensive (CSGO). A wide range of predictors were examined, including native and deliberate practice, attention, intelligence, reaction time, and persistence etc. In both LoL and CSGO, deliberate practice did not meaningfully predict players' highest rank in the past 12 months, as an indicator of long-term success. Younger age predicted better performance in both titles though. Lastly, two title-specific predictors emerged: in LoL, more non-deliberate practice hours predicted better performance, while in CSGO better attention predicted better performance.
 
To explain these findings, the authors proposed the information density theory. Different games differ in the amount of knowledge that is required for achieving long-term success. For information-heavy games such as LoL, naive practice hours may be more essential for players to acquire game-relevant information via playing, compared to information-light games such as CSGO. This might also explain why deliberative practice did not meaningfully predict performance in LoL and CSGO. While this theory still needs to be further tested, the current results will be useful to individuals who are considering pursuing a professional career in esports, as well as professional and semi-professional esports teams and coaches.
 
This Stage 2 manuscript was assessed over two rounds of in-depth review. The recommenders judged the responses to the reviewers' comments were satisfactory, and that the manuscript met the Stage 2 criteria for recommendation.
 
URL to the preregistered Stage 1 protocol: https://osf.io/84zbv
 
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
 
Martončik, M., Karhulahti, V.-M., Jin, Y. & Adamkovič, M. (2023). Psychological predictors of long-term esports success: A Registered Report [Stage 2]. Acceptance of Version 1.7 by Peer Community in Registered Reports. https://osf.io/b6vdf
Psychological predictors of long-term esports success: A Registered ReportMarcel Martončik, Veli-Matti Karhulahti, Yaewon Jin, Matúš Adamkovič<p>The competitive play of digital games, esports, has attracted worldwide attention of hundreds of millions of young people. Although esports players are known to practice in similar ways to other athletes, it remains largely unknown what factors...Social sciencesZhang Chen2023-09-26 07:15:41 View
28 Jan 2025
STAGE 1

See me, judge me, pay me: Gendered effort moralization in work and care

A gender difference in effort moralization?

Recommended by ORCID_LOGO based on reviews by Jared Celniker and Vincent Kouassi
Effort moralization is the well known idea that, unrelated to actual performance, people doing more effort are judged better, attributed more morality and seen as better collaborators than people doing less effort. However, the series of studies on this topic mostly used vignettes with a man or a neutral protagonist. The current study by Roth et al. (2025) proposes to tackle the gender problem by testing the difference in attribution morality between a man and a woman protagonist, and two contexts: a “care” and a “work” context, mirroring the stereotypes associated with men and women.
 
The authors included two different and adequate power analyses, various interpretation of the possible effects, and filtering to ensure a high quality of data collection. They also provide a supplementary repository including the qualtrics survey, R script, and simulated data.
 
The Stage 1 manuscript was evaluated over two rounds of in-depth review. Based on ​detailed responses to the reviewers’ and the recommender’s comments, the recommender judged that the manuscript met the Stage 1 criteria and therefore awarded in-principle acceptance.​​​
 
URL to the preregistered Stage 1 protocol: https://osf.io/xd87r
 
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
 
Roth, L. H. O., Tissot, T. T., Fischer, T. & Masak, S. C. (2025). See me, judge me, pay me: Gendered effort moralization in work and care. In principle acceptance of Version 3 by Peer Community in Registered Reports. https://osf.io/xd87r
See me, judge me, pay me: Gendered effort moralization in work and careLeopold H. O. Roth, Tassilo T. Tissot, Thea Fischer, S. Charlotte Masak<p>The display of high effort at work is commonly rewarded with more positive moral judgements and increased cooperation partner attractiveness. This effect was shown to hold, even if higher effort is unrelated to better performance. Yet, current ...Social sciencesAdrien Fillon2024-09-09 15:12:30 View
06 Jun 2024
STAGE 1

Causal dynamics of task-relevant rule and stimulus processing in prefrontal cortex

Functional specificity of cognitive updating in human prefrontal cortex

Recommended by ORCID_LOGO based on reviews by Phivos Phylactou
One of the hallmarks of cognitive control is the ability to flexibly update attention and action when goals change. The prefrontal cortex has long been identified as important for such updating, but much remains to be understood about the anatomical and temporal mechanisms that support cognitive flexibility within prefrontal networks. In the current study, Jackson et al. (2024) build upon insights from recent transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and neuroimaging studies to investigate the critical role of prefrontal cortex for updating goals and selecting behaviourally-relevant stimuli.
 
To measure updating, the authors deploy an attentional switching paradigm in which participants selectively attend to one feature of a novel object (colour or form) while ignoring the other feature. On each trial, a symbol (called a rule cue) indicates whether to attend to the colour (green or blue) or to the form (X or non-X) of the upcoming object. By mapping each stimulus response to a separate button press (two buttons for the two colours; two buttons for the two features), the authors can then categorise different types of behavioural errors – focusing especially on attending incorrectly to the task-irrelevant feature (rule error) vs. applying the correct rule but failing to correctly identify the task-relevant feature (stimulus error). If disruption of a specific cortical region causes a selective increase in one type of error, then this would indicate that the stimulated region is important for either rule processing or stimulus processing.
 
The proposal includes a number of key features that add depth and rigor to the investigation. First, to probe the anatomical specificity of cognitive control, the authors will contrast the effect of TMS delivered to different prefrontal regions that reside within different networks and may have divergent roles in cognitive control: the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC, part of the multiple-demand network) and dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC, part of the default mode network). Moreover, unlike many previous TMS studies, the authors will use electric field modelling to normalise cortical stimulation strength between regions, enabling a more controlled anatomical comparison. Second, since the task involves responding to a rule cue and then selectively attending to a task-relevant feature, it is likely that a particular brain region could be selectively critical at a specific time – for instance, if dlPFC were important for rule processing then it should only be necessary shortly after (or around) presentation of the rule cue. To capture the temporal specificity of cortical involvement, the authors will apply a short burst of TMS at different times, beginning either +150ms after the cue or +700ms during stimulus processing. In a preliminary study, the authors used magnetoencephalography (MEG) in combination with the same behavioural task and multivariate pattern analysis (MVPA) to identify these epochs for TMS. Finally, the experiment includes a range of additional control conditions and quality checks to rule out alternative explanations of potential findings, such as TMS impairing perception of the rule cue rather than implementation of the rule, and the effect of peripheral TMS artefacts. Overall, the study promises to reveal a range of intriguing new insights into the timecourse and anatomical specificity of cognitive updating, with implications for theories of prefrontal cortical function.
 
The Stage 1 manuscript was evaluated over one round 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 therefore awarded in-principle acceptance (IPA).
 
URL to the preregistered Stage 1 protocol: https://osf.io/7pxjz (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
 

Jackon, J. B, Runhao, L., & Woolgar, A. (2024). Causal dynamics of task-relevant rule and stimulus processing in prefrontal cortex. In principle acceptance of Version 2 by Peer Community in Registered Reports. https://osf.io/7pxjz

Causal dynamics of task-relevant rule and stimulus processing in prefrontal cortexJade Buse Jackson Runhao Lu Alex Woolgar<p>The dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) is understood to be important for cognitive flexibility, enabling us to switch between different contexts or rules, and to selectively attend to the relevant aspects of a task. Conversely, the dorsomed...Life SciencesChris Chambers2023-09-28 13:13:30 View
07 Aug 2023
STAGE 2
(Go to stage 1)

The link between Empathy and Forgiveness: Replication and extensions Registered Report of McCullough et al. (1997)'s Study 1

Strong evidence that empathy is important for forgiveness

Recommended by ORCID_LOGO based on reviews by James Bartlett and Saleh Shuqair
Forgiveness is a core feature of human psychology in which a person makes a deliberate decision to cease negative emotions or attitudes toward an offender who has done them harm. The concept of interpersonal forgiveness is deeply embedded across societies, but much remains to be understood about how it actually works. What are its key ingredients and why does it occur in the first place? Research in social psychology has demonstrated a range of personal and social benefits of forgiveness, giving rise to two dominant mechanistic accounts – one that positions empathy as the driving factor and another that centres motivated reasoning (Donovan & Priester, 2017).
 
In the current study, Chan and Feldman (2023) sought to replicate a formative study by McCullough et al (1997) that led to the so-called Empathy Model of forgiveness. According to this theory, forgiving is a motivational change facilitated (crucially) by empathy, promoting constructive over destructive behaviour toward the offender. Chan and Feldman replicated Study 1 from McCullough et al., measuring the correlational relationship between apology, forgiving, and empathy for offenders, and exploring whether forgiving is associated with increased conciliation and decreased avoidance motivation. As well as closely replicating the original study, the authors extended it to test the more severe hypothesis that empathy causally influences forgiveness. To achieve this, they experimentally manipulated empathy by adding two groups to the design: one in which participants were asked to recall hurtful past experiences in which they were not empathetic to the offender, and another in which they were highly empathetic.
 
The outcomes constitute a successful replication. Affective empathy was positively associated with perceived apology and forgiveness, and forgiveness was positively associated with conciliation motivation and negatively associated with both avoidance motivation and revenge motivation. In addition, the results of the experimental extension revealed a reliable causal effect of empathy on forgiveness and perceived apology. Overall, the findings provide robust support for the Empathy Model of forgiveness.
 
The Stage 2 manuscript was evaluated over one round of in-depth review. Based on responses to the comments, the recommender judged that the manuscript met the Stage 2 criteria and therefore awarded a positive recommendation.
 
URL to the preregistered Stage 1 protocol: https://osf.io/q78fs
 
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. Donovan, L. A. N., & Priester, J. R. (2017). Exploring the psychological processes underlying interpersonal forgiveness: The superiority of motivated reasoning over empathy. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 71, 16-30. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2017.02.005
 
2. McCullough, M. E., Worthington, E. L., & Rachal, K. C. (1997). Interpersonal Forgiving in Close Relationships. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 73, 321–336. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.73.2.321 
 
3. Chan, C. F. & Feldman, G. (2023). The link between Empathy and Forgiveness: Replication and extensions of McCullough et al. (1997)'s Study 1, acceptance of Version 4 by Peer Community in Registered Reports. https://osf.io/956fa
The link between Empathy and Forgiveness: Replication and extensions Registered Report of McCullough et al. (1997)'s Study 1Chan Chi Fung, Gilad Feldman <p>The empathy model of forgiveness conceptualized forgiving as an empathy-facilitated motivational change that leads to reductions in the motivation to behave in relationship -destructive ways and increases in the motivation to behave in relation...Social sciencesChris Chambers2023-04-13 14:28:05 View
16 Oct 2024
STAGE 1

How perceptual ability shapes memory: An investigation in healthy special populations

Putting the enhanced processing account of perception and memory to the test

Recommended by ORCID_LOGO based on reviews by Ariel Kershner and Katherine Moore
The enhanced processing account suggests that domain-specific expertise enhances the processing of information in that domain, such as enhanced color perception in visual artists and grapheme-color synaesthetes. A previous study (Ovalle-Fresa et al., 2021) found support for this account in both synaesthetes and non-synaesthete color experts; however, to fully understand the domain specificity of enhanced processing, other domains of expertise should be investigated and compared against each other in a double dissociation.
 
In this Stage 1 manuscript, Sachdeva et al. (2024) will investigate whether an enhanced processing account can explain domain-specific expertise in groups of color experts (i.e., visual artists) / grapheme-color synaesthetes and spatial experts (i.e., architects) / sequence-space synaesthetes. The spatial domain was chosen to compare to color since color and spatial processing recruit two distinctive cortical visual pathways: the ventral and dorsal streams, respectively. If enhanced processing is domain specific, then color experts / grapheme-color synaesthetes should show selective perceptual and memory performance enhancements for color tasks but not spatial tasks; and vice versa for spatial experts and sequence-space synaesthetes. The authors of this planned study further propose that perceptual performance should predict memory performance in the domain of expertise only; and that synaesthetes and non-synaesthetes with the same domain of expertise should perform similarly to each other.
 
To address these hypotheses, four independent groups will be recruited: grapheme-color synaesthetes, visual artists, sequence-space synaesthetes, and architects. Individuals with overlapping expertise and synaesthesia (e.g., visual artists who also have grapheme-color synaesthesia) will be excluded. Perception, short-term memory, and long-term memory for color (3 tasks) and space (3 tasks) will be assessed in all groups, and the authors will compare groups (synaesthetes, non-synaesthetes), domains of expertise (color, space), and task feature (color, space) in 2x2x2 linear mixed models. For all models, the authors predict that a significant interaction between domain of expertise and task feature will provide evidence for the domain specificity of the enhanced processing account. Additional analyses concerning working memory load (one, three, or five items) in the short-term memory tasks, and testing day (one, two, or three days post-training) in the long-term memory tasks, will be conducted to more deeply explore potential performance enhancements related to domain-specific expertise. Although these analyses may potentially provide additional evidence in favor of the hypothesized direction of effects, any deviation from predicted may pose a challenge for the interpretation of results. Nevertheless, this planned study is methodologically rigorous, and comprehensive in its aims.
 
The Stage 1 submission was evaluated by the recommender and two expert reviewers. Following revisions, 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/6wn4m

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. Ovalle-Fresa, R., Ankner, S., & Rothen, N. (2021). Enhanced perception and memory: Insights from synesthesia and expertise. Cortex, 140, 14-25. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cortex.2021.01.024

2. Sachdeva, D. & Whelan, E., Ovalle-Fresa, R., Rey-Mermet, A., Ward, J., & Rothen, N.. (2024). How perceptual ability shapes memory: An investigation in healthy special populations. In principle acceptance of Version 2 by Peer Community in Registered Reports. https://osf.io/6wn4m
 
How perceptual ability shapes memory: An investigation in healthy special populationsChhavi Sachdeva, Emily Whelan, Rebecca Ovalle-Fresa, Alodie Rey-Mermet, Jamie Ward, Nicolas Rothen<p>The enhanced processing account posits a close connection between visual perceptual ability and memory. This account finds support in studies involving special populations with conditions based on neural changes in the ventral visual pathway, s...Life SciencesReshanne Reeder Katherine Moore, Ariel Kershner2024-05-03 14:15:43 View
29 Jan 2025
STAGE 1
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Does synchronised singing enhance social bonding more than speaking does? A global experimental Stage 1 Registered Report

Do humans bond more when singing together or speaking together? A global investigation

Recommended by ORCID_LOGO based on reviews by Melissa Brandon, Erin Hannon, Manuela Maria Marin and Anja Göritz
Music is a universal across human cultures, but there is debate as to why and how it evolved. For example, Pinker has famously argued that music is “auditory cheesecake,” with no biological value (Pinker, 1997). Most scholars on the evolution of music make comparisons with language, another human universal that is unique to our species (Friederici, 2017). A current leading hypothesis in the evolution of music is the social bonding hypothesis, which suggests that music plays a special role in social bonding beyond the role that language plays (Savage et al., 2021).
 
Previous studies have provided evidence that synchronized music-making can promote social bonding (e.g. Stupacher et al., 2021). However, it is unclear whether synchronous singing provides any advantage in social bonding as compared to merely speaking. Previous work on this topic has at times lacked sufficient controls and has potentially been subject to publication bias—it could be that only the studies with statistically significant findings are in the published literature, when in fact additional experiments may have been run with unpublished null results. Also critically, prior studies have been subject to sampling bias—the vast majority are limited to a small set of cultures and musical styles, focusing primarily on English-speaking cultures and western music (Henrich & Heine, 2010). If music has evolved as a mechanism for social bonding, then it is especially critical to demonstrate its effects on social bonding across a wide range of cultures.
 
In a remarkable global collaboration including 88 collaborators from six continents, Savage et al. (2025) plan to collect data on synchronized singing and speech from 1710 participants across 57 research sites. Participants will be assigned to participate in (1) a synchronized singing activity, (2) a synchronized speech activity, or (3) a natural, prompted conversation.
 
At each research site, participants will gather in groups of 5-10 and will be randomly assigned to one of the three conditions (for the research site to be valid, it must recruit one group of participants into each condition). The experiment will start with pre-test measures of social bonding and other variables. Next, the intervention will commence. In the singing condition, participants will synchronously sing a song that is highly familiar in that culture. In the lyrics recitation condition, participants will synchronously speak printed lyrics to the songs from the singing condition (twice through, to account for speed differences in song and speech). In the conversation condition, participants will have a natural conversation in response to an ice-breaker question. Finally, each group will engage in post-test measures of social bonding as well as debriefing.
 
The social bonding hypothesis predicts that participants in the synchronized singing task will experience more social bonding (as measured by a pre- and post-test differences) than will participants who engage in sequential conversation or synchronous lyrics recitation in the absence of musical pitch or rhythm. The unprecedented scale of this global, cross-cultural investigation will make a great impact on the field and on our understanding of the relationship among speech, song, and social connection, regardless of the outcome.
 
Four expert reviewers provided valuable feedback through two rounds of review. Based on ​detailed responses to the reviewers’ and the recommender’s comments, the recommender judged that the manuscript met the Stage 1 criteria and therefore awarded in-principle acceptance.​​​
 
URL to the preregistered Stage 1 protocol: https://osf.io/7t4ck
 
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. Friederici, A. (2017). Language in Our Brain: The Origins of a Uniquely Human Capacity. https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/9780262036924.001.0001
 
2. Henrich, J., Heine, S. J., & Norenzayan, A. (2010). The weirdest people in the world? Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 33, 61-83. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0140525x0999152x
 
3. Pinker, S. (1997). How the mind works. WW Norton & Company.
 
4. Savage, P. E., Loui, P., Tarr, B., Schachner, A., Glowacki, L., Mithen, S., & Fitch, W. T. (2021). Music as a coevolved system for social bonding. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 44, e59. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X20000333
 
5. Savage, P. E. et al. (2025). Does synchronised singing enhance social bonding more than speaking does? A global experimental Stage 1 Registered Report. In principle acceptance of Version 7 by Peer Community in Registered Reports. https://osf.io/7t4ck
 
6. Stupacher, J., Mikkelsen, J., & Vuust, P. (2022). Higher empathy is associated with stronger social bonding when moving together with music. Psychology of Music, 50, 1511-1526. https://doi.org/10.1177/03057356211050681
Does synchronised singing enhance social bonding more than speaking does? A global experimental Stage 1 Registered ReportPatrick E. Savage, Adwoa Ampiah-Bonney, Aleksandar Arabadjiev, Adwoa Arhine, Juan F. Ariza, Joshua Silberstein Bamford, Brenda Suyanne Barbosa, Ann-Kathrin Beck, Michel Belyk, Emmanouil Benetos, Damián Ezequiel Blasi, Joseph Bulbulia, Anne Cabildo...<p>The evolution of music, speech, and sociality have been debated since before Darwin. The social bonding hypothesis proposes that these phenomena may be interlinked: musicality may have facilitated the evolution of social bonding beyond the poss...Social sciencesKatherine Moore Manuela Maria Marin, Anja Göritz, Melissa Brandon, Erin Hannon2024-09-02 06:01:32 View
30 May 2024
STAGE 1
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The role of resource dynamics in the distribution of life cycles within a female human population

An agent-based model of the role of resource dynamics and the environment in human female life cycles

Recommended by ORCID_LOGO based on reviews by Cecilia Padilla-Iglesias and 1 anonymous reviewer
Among primates, the human female life cycle appears special. Aspects of these life cycles have been linked to the acquisition and distribution of resources and to environmental factors, as well as to individual differences across human females. Many questions remain regarding the causal roles that these (or also other) factors might have played in the evolution of human female life cycles – and also whether generalizing statements about these life cycles can adequately capture the wide range of the observed phenomena.
 
In the current study, Varas Enriquez et al. (2024) outline a plan for an agent-based model approach to study the factors that guide and channel variability in female life cycles in humans (within biological constraints), via the effects that their model will capture. The authors’ model has a particular eye towards the effects of resource dynamics (resource production and resource transfers) and environmental conditions – and their interplay. The results of this agent based model will be thoroughly analysed to better understand the evolution of the specific female human life cycle range.
 
The study plan was refined after one round of review, which led to input from two external reviewers and the recommender. The revised (second) version was judged to satisfy the Stage 1 criteria for in-principle acceptance.
 
URL to the preregistered Stage 1 protocol: https://osf.io/24c7z
 
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 (e.g. conservative statistical threshold; recruitment of a blinded analyst; robustness testing, multiverse/specification analysis, or other approach)
 
List of eligible PCI RR-friendly journals:
 
 
References
 
Varas Enríquez, P. J., Lukas, D., Colleran, H, Mulder, M. B., & Redhead, D. (2024) The role of resource dynamics in the distribution of life cycles within a female human population. In principle acceptance of Version 2 by Peer Community in Registered Reports. https://osf.io/24c7z
The role of resource dynamics in the distribution of life cycles within a female human populationPablo J. Varas Enríquez, Daniel Redhead, Monique Borgerhoff Mulder, Heidi Colleran, Dieter Lukas<p>The evolution of the female human life cycle, which is characterised by having a reproductive career nested within juvenile and post-reproductive periods, has been linked to the surplus of adult resource production and downwards inter-generatio...Life Sciences, Medical Sciences, Social sciencesClaudio Tennie2023-11-13 15:45:52 View
11 Sep 2023
STAGE 1

Researcher Predictions of Effect Generalizability Across Global Samples

Can psychology researchers predict which effects will generalise across cultures?

Recommended by ORCID_LOGO based on reviews by Michèle Nuijten, Ian Hussey, Jim Grange and Matthias Stefan
Compared to the wealth of debate surrounding replicability and transparency, relatively little attention has been paid to the issue of generalisability – the extent to which research findings hold across different samples, cultures, and other parameters. Existing research suggests that researchers in psychology are prone to generalisation bias, relying on narrow samples (e.g. drawn predominantly from US or European undergraduate samples) to draw broad conclusions about the mind and behaviour. While recent attempts to address generalisability concerns have been made – such as journals requiring explicit statements acknowledging constraints on generality – addressing this bias at root, and developing truly generalisable methods and results, requires a deeper understanding of how researchers perceive generalisability in the first place.
 
In the current study, Schmidt et al. (2023) tackle the issue of cross-cultural generalisability using four large-scale international studies that are being conducted as part of the Psychological Science Accelerator (PSA) – a globally distributed network of researchers in psychology that coordinates crowdsourced research projects across six continents. Specifically, participants (who will be PSA research members) will estimate the probability that an expected focal effect will be observed both overall and within regional subsamples of the PSA studies. They will also predict the size of these focal effects overall and by region.
 
Using this methodology, the authors plan to ask two main questions: first whether researchers can accurately predict the generalisability of psychological phenomena in upcoming studies, and second whether certain researcher characteristics (including various measures of expertise, experience, and demographics) are associated with the accuracy of generalisability predictions. Based on previous evidence that scientists can successfully predict the outcomes of research studies, the authors expect to observe a positive association between predicted and actual outcomes and effect sizes. In secondary analyses, the authors will also test if researchers can predict when variables that capture relevant cultural differences will moderate the focal effects – if so, this would suggest that at least some researchers have a deeper understanding as to why the effects generalise (or not) across cultural contexts.
 
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/vwqsa (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. Schmidt, K., Silverstein, P. & Chartier, C. R. (2023). Registered Report: Researcher Predictions of Effect Generalizability Across Global Samples. In principle acceptance of Version 3 by Peer Community in Registered Reports. https://osf.io/vwqsa
Researcher Predictions of Effect Generalizability Across Global SamplesKathleen Schmidt, Priya Silverstein, & Christopher R. Chartier<p>The generalizability of effects is an increasing concern among researchers in psychological science. Traditionally, the field has relied on university samples from Europe and North America to make claims about humans writ large. The proposed re...Social sciencesChris Chambers2023-02-16 03:49:35 View
30 Oct 2023
STAGE 1

The role of spatial location in irrelevant speech revisited: A pre-registered replication

Does auditory stream segregation reduce the irrelevant speech effect?

Recommended by ORCID_LOGO based on reviews by Massimo Grassi and 2 anonymous reviewers
The irrelevant-speech effect (ISE) is a laboratory phenomenon in which performance at memory recall is impaired by the presence of irrelevant auditory stimuli during the initial encoding phase. In a typical ISE experiment, participants are asked to remember a sequence of letters presented visually (e.g. F, K, L, M, Q, R, Y in a shuffled random order between trials) while irrelevant speech is played over headphones. The typical finding is that recall performance is impaired by the presentation of speech compared with silence. The ISE has been influential in cognitive psychology, prompting the advancement of two broad classes of competing explanations: one in which the irrelevant sounds gain automatic access to memory processes without any specified role for attentional selection, and another in which the ISE is explained by irrelevant speech drawing attention away from the relevant items to be recalled.
 
In the current study, Kattner et al. (2023) propose a replication of a seminal study by Jones and Macken (1995) that provided a foundation for the automatic access (or ‘interference-by-process’) class of theories. In their original set of experiments, Jones and Macken reported that the segregating individual components of the irrelevant speech (the spoken letters V, J, and X) into different lateralized locations reduced the magnitude of the ISE by converting a single ‘changing-state’ stream three separate ‘steady-state’ streams. Here, Kattner et al. ask firstly whether this classic finding can be successfully replicated in a well-powered sample, and secondly whether the streaming-by-location effect in Jones and Macken reduces the ISE to the same level as observed during a steady-state baseline condition in which a single letter is repeated from each location. If the answer to either question is No then doubts will have been raised about interference-by-process theories, opening the door (even more) to alternative theoretical explanations of the ISE.
 
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/2tb8e
 
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. Jones, D. M. & Macken, W. J. (1995). Organizational factors in the effect of irrelevant speech: The role of spatial location and timing. Memory & Cognition, 23, 192–200. https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03197221 
 
2. Kattner, F., Hassanzadeh, M. & Ellermeier, W. (2023). The role of spatial location in irrelevant speech revisited: A registered replication of Jones and Macken (1995). In principle acceptance of Version 3 by Peer Community in Registered Reports. https://osf.io/2tb8e
The role of spatial location in irrelevant speech revisited: A pre-registered replicationFlorian Kattner, Mitra Hassanzadeh, & Wolfgang Ellermeier<p>The goal of the present investigation is to perform a preregistered replication of Jones and Macken’s (1995b) study, which showed that the segregation of a sequence of sounds to distinct spatial locations reduced the detrimental effects of irre...Social sciencesChris Chambers2023-04-26 17:01:57 View
15 Oct 2023
STAGE 1

Can one-shot learning be elicited from unconscious information?

Can unconscious experience drive perceptual learning?

Recommended by ORCID_LOGO based on reviews by Jeffrey Saunders and 1 anonymous reviewer
Unconscious priming effects have fascinated not just psychologists but also ad-makers and consumers alike. A related phenomenon in perception is illustrated by presenting participants with two-tone images, which are degraded versions of images of objects and scenes. These two-tone images look like and are indeed judged as meaningless dark and light patches. Upon presenting the actual template image, however, the two-tone image is accurately recognized. This perceptual learning is abrupt, robust, and long-lasting (Daoudi et al., 2017). Surprisingly, Chang et al. (2016) showed that such perceptual disambiguation of two-tone images can happen even in the absence of conscious awareness of having seen the template image. 
 
Halchin et al. (2023) in the current study propose to conduct a conceptual replication of Chang et al. (2016) with important modifications to the procedures to address limitations with the earlier work. Specifically, there was no explicit manipulation of levels of conscious awareness of the template images in the original study. Therefore, miscategorization of low-confidence awareness as unaware could have led to an erroneous conclusion about unconscious priors guiding perceptual learning. Such miscategorization errors and how to tackle them are of interest to the broader field of consciousness studies. Furthermore, a conceptual replication of Chang et al. (2016) is also timely given that prior related work suggests that masking impairs not only conscious awareness of visual features but also blocks processing of higher-level information about the images (e.g. object category). 
 
To address the issues identified above, Halchin et al. (2023) propose to experimentally manipulate conscious awareness by masking the template image very quickly (i.e., a short stimulus onset asynchrony; SOA) or by allowing some more time to induce weak and strong conscious awareness, respectively. The SOAs were validated through pilot studies. Furthermore, they include a four-point perceptual awareness scale instead of the original yes/no options to gauge participants’ subjective awareness of the template images. The authors also propose multiple experiments to include different ways of testing participants’ objective ability to identify the masked template images. Last but not least, the proposed design includes a stronger control condition than the original study by using masked images created from related images (e.g. belonging to the same semantic category). Depending on the results obtained in the main experiments, the inclusion of this control allows the authors to conduct a third experiment to investigate whether the results in the first two can be explained by semantic priming. The proposed study is sufficiently powered (as demonstrated through simulations), and Bayesian statistical procedures will be used to test the main hypotheses. In summary, the proposed work offers a significant improvement in terms of experimental procedures over the original study. If the Chang et al. (2016) results are replicated, the stronger design in the current study is likely to lead to a better understanding of the mechanisms underlying unconscious priors guiding perceptual learning. On the other hand, a failure to replicate not just Chang et al. (2016)’s results but also effects across the three experiments in the current study would raise legitimate questions about the reality of unconscious information guiding perceptual learning. 
 
The study plan was refined across two rounds of review, with input from two external reviewers who both agreed that the proposed study is well designed, timely, and scientifically valid. The recommender then reviewed the revised manuscript and judged that the study met the Stage 1 criteria for in-principle acceptance (IPA).
 
URL to the preregistered Stage 1 protocol: https://osf.io/juckg
 
Level of bias control achieved: Level 3. 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 BUT the authors certify that they have not yet accessed any part of that data/evidence.
 
List of eligible PCI-RR-friendly journals:
 
 
References
 
1. Daoudi, L. D., Doerig, A., Parkosadze, K., Kunchulia, M. & Herzog, M. H. (2017). The role of one-shot learning in #TheDress. Journal of Vision, 17, 15-15. https://doi.org/10.1167/17.3.15 
 
2. Chang, R., Baria, A. T., Flounders, M. W., & He, B. J. (2016). Unconsciously elicited perceptual prior. Neuroscience of Consciousness, 2016. https://doi.org/10.1093/nc/niw008 
 
3. Halchin, A.-M., Teuful, C. & Bompas, A. (2023). Can one-shot learning be elicited from unconscious information? In principle acceptance of Version 3 by Peer Community in Registered Reports. https://osf.io/juckg
Can one-shot learning be elicited from unconscious information? Adelina-Mihaela Halchin, Christoph Teufel, Aline Bompas<p>The human brain has the remarkable ability to make sense of highly impoverished images once relevant prior information is available. Fitting examples of this effect are two-tone images, which initially look like meaningless black-and-white patc...Life SciencesVishnu Sreekumar2022-11-30 00:34:07 View