Studying Individual Differences in Language Comprehension: The Challenges of Item-Level Variability and Well-Matched Control Conditions.
Studying Individual Differences in Language Comprehension: The Challenges of Item-Level Variability and Well-Matched Control Conditions.
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研究语言理解的个体差异：项目级变异性和匹配良好的控制条件的挑战。
DOI：
10.5334/joc.317
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发表时间：
2023
影响因子：
--
通讯作者：
Rodd JM
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Blott LM;Gowenlock AE;Kievit R;Nation K;Rodd JM
将旨在调查群体条件之间差异的实验任务转化为有效和可靠的工具，以衡量认知技能的个体差异是具有挑战性的。对于心理语言学家来说，与选择或构建语言刺激相关的额外复杂性，以及对适当的匹配良好的基线条件的需要，使得这一努力特别复杂。在一个典型的实验中，感兴趣的过程(例如，歧义解决)是通过对比实验条件下的表现和良好匹配的控制条件下的表现来实现的。在许多情况下，仔细的条件间匹配可以防止同一参与者遇到所有刺激项目。不幸的是，适用于群体水平研究的解决方案(例如，构建平衡实验版本)不适用于个体差异设计。作为一个案例研究，我们报告了一个歧义消解实验，说明了研究人员可以采取的步骤来解决这个问题，并评估他们的测量工具是否有效和可靠。根据我们的发现，我们告诫不要使用来自群体水平研究的数据集来回答有关个体差异的重要问题的广泛方法。
Translating experimental tasks that were designed to investigate differences between conditions at the group-level into valid and reliable instruments to measure individual differences in cognitive skills is challenging. For psycholinguists, the additional complexities associated with selecting or constructing language stimuli, and the need for appropriate well-matched baseline conditions make this endeavour particularly complex. In a typical experiment, a process-of-interest (e.g. ambiguity resolution) is targeted by contrasting performance in an experimental condition with performance in a well-matched control condition. In many cases, careful between-condition matching precludes the same participant from encountering all stimulus items. Unfortunately, solutions that work for group-level research (e.g. constructing counterbalanced experiment versions) are inappropriate for individual-differences designs. As a case study, we report an ambiguity resolution experiment that illustrates the steps that researchers can take to address this issue and assess whether their measurement instrument is both valid and reliable. On the basis of our findings, we caution against the widespread approach of using datasets from group-level studies to also answer important questions about individual differences.