Correlation analysis to investigate unconscious mental processes: A critical appraisal and mini-tutorial
Correlation analysis to investigate unconscious mental processes: A critical appraisal and mini-tutorial
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DOI：
10.1016/j.cognition.2021.104667
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发表时间：
2021-05-08
期刊：
影响因子：
3.4
通讯作者：
Shanks, David R.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Malejka, Simone;Vadillo, Miguel A.;Shanks, David R.
作为研究无意识心理过程范围的一种方法，研究人员经常获得跨参与者的任务绩效和刺激意识的并行测量。尽管这两个指标可能都显著大于零，但它们之间的相关性可能并不存在，这就鼓励了无意识过程驱动任务绩效的推断。我们强调了这种零相关方法的陷阱，并提供了一个关于如何避免它们的迷你教程。作为参考，我们使用了萨尔瓦多等人（2018）最近的一项研究，该研究报告了记忆被思考/不思考线索抑制的程度与线索意识指数之间的非显著相关性。在无效假设显著性检验（NHST）框架中，解释拒绝无效假设的失败是不合适的（即，相关性= 0）作为空的证据。此外，心理测量往往是不可靠的，这可能会大大削弱所观察到的相关性的大小。贝叶斯方法可以规避这两个问题，并比较数据为零假设和备择假设提供证据的程度（即，相关性> 0），同时考虑到变量的可靠性通常较低。适用于萨尔瓦多等人。的数据，这种方法表明没有适度的支持声称无意识的性质参与者的记忆抑制性能取决于模型的备择假设。因此，需要更可靠的数据。在分析相关性数据时，我们建议研究人员使用本文开发的贝叶斯方法（并以R脚本形式免费提供），而不是标准的NHST方法，以考虑不可靠性。
As a method to investigate the scope of unconscious mental processes, researchers frequently obtain concurrent measures of task performance and stimulus awareness across participants. Even though both measures might be significantly greater than zero, the correlation between them might not, encouraging the inference that an unconscious process drives task performance. We highlight the pitfalls of this null-correlation approach and provide a mini-tutorial on ways to avoid them. As reference, we use a recent study by Salvador et al. (2018) reporting a non-significant correlation between the extent to which memory was suppressed by a Think/No-Think cue and an index of cue awareness. In the Null Hypothesis Significance Testing (NHST) framework, it is inappropriate to interpret failure to reject the null hypothesis (i.e., correlation = 0) as evidence for the null. Furthermore, psychological measures are often unreliable, which can dramatically attenuate the size of observed correlations. A Bayesian approach can circumvent both problems and compare the extent to which the data provide evidence for the null versus the alternative hypothesis (i.e., correlation > 0), while considering the usually low reliabilities of the variables. Applied to Salvador et al.'s data, this approach indicates no to moderate support for the claimed unconscious nature of participants' memory-suppression performance-depending on the model of the alternative hypothesis. Hence, more reliable data are needed. When analyzing correlational data, we recommend researchers to employ the Bayesian methods developed here (and made freely available as R scripts), rather than standard NHST methods, to take account of unreliability.