Moving one's eyes while reading is one of the most complex everyday tasks humans face. To perform efficiently, readers must make decisions about when and where to move their eyes every 200-300ms. Over the past decades, it has been demonstrated that these fine-grained decisions are influenced by a range of linguistic properties of the text, and…

Psychological theories are statements of constraint. The role of hypothesis testing in psychology is to test whether specific theoretical constraints hold in data. Bayesian statistics is well suited to the task of finding supporting evidence for constraint, because it allows for comparing evidence for 2 hypotheses against each another. One issue…

We present an introduction to Bayesian inference as it is used in probabilistic models of cognitive development. Our goal is to provide an intuitive and accessible guide to the "what", the "how", and the "why" of the Bayesian approach: what sorts of problems and data the framework is most relevant for, and how and why it may be useful for…

Relatively little research has been conducted with the noncompensatory class of multidimensional item response theory (MIRT) models. A Monte Carlo simulation study was conducted exploring the estimation of a two-parameter noncompensatory item response theory (IRT) model. The estimation method used was a Metropolis-Hastings within Gibbs algorithm…

A new class of parametric models that generalize the multivariate probit model and the errors-in-variables model is developed to model and analyze ordinal data. A general model structure is assumed to accommodate the information that is obtained via surrogate variables. A hybrid Gibbs sampler is developed to estimate the model parameters. To…

In this article, a Bayesian model selection approach is introduced that can select the best of a set of inequality and equality constrained hypotheses for contingency tables. The hypotheses are presented in terms of cell probabilities allowing researchers to test (in)equality constrained hypotheses in a format that is directly related to the data.…

This article discusses comparisons of means using exploratory and confirmatory approaches. Three methods are discussed: hypothesis testing, model selection based on information criteria, and Bayesian model selection. Throughout the article, an example is used to illustrate and evaluate the two approaches and the three methods. We demonstrate that…

Two experiments investigated how people perform category-based induction for items that have uncertain categorization. Whereas normative considerations suggest that people should consider multiple relevant categories, much past research has argued that people focus on only the most likely category. A new method is introduced in which responses on…

Many human interactions involve pieces of information being passed from one person to another, raising the question of how this process of information transmission is affected by the cognitive capacities of the agents involved. Bartlett (1932) explored the influence of memory biases on the "serial reproduction" of information, in which one…

The current study examined the associations among clients' perceptions of self- and social stigma for seeking help, session outcomes, and working alliance. Ninety-one clients were treated by 26 therapists, at a large university counseling center. All clients were currently in therapy. We expected that clients' perceptions of self- and social…

Although the research literature regarding language growth trajectories is burgeoning, the shape and direction of English Language Learners' (ELLs) language growth trajectories are largely not known. This study used growth curve modeling to determine the shape of ELLs' language growth trajectories across 12,248 oral narrative language samples…

This study integrated Bayesian hierarchical modeling and receiver operating characteristic analysis (BROCA) to evaluate how interest strength (IS) and interest differentiation (ID) predicted low–socioeconomic status (SES) youth's interest-major congruence (IMC). Using large-scale Kuder Career Search online-assessment data, this study fit three…

Standardized teaching observation protocols have become increasingly popular in evaluating teaching in recent years. One of such protocols that has gained substantial interest from researchers and practitioners is the Classroom Assessment Scoring System-Secondary (CLASSS). According to the developer, CLASS-S has three domains of teacher-student…

The shortcomings of the proportion above cut (PAC) statistic used so prominently in the educational landscape renders it a very problematic measure for making correct inferences with student test data. The limitations of PAC-based statistics are more pronounced with cross-test comparisons due to their dependency on cut-score locations. A better…

Completing a PhD on time is a complex process, influenced by many interacting factors. In this paper we take a Bayesian Network approach to analyzing the factors perceived to be important in achieving this aim. Focusing on a single research group in Mathematical Sciences, we develop a conceptual model to describe the factors considered to be…