Posts in Category: experiment
experimental and empirical research
Paper: Decade effects in mental addition
| The most important part of the Analytical Engine was undoubtedly the mechanical method of carrying the tens. (…) The difficulty did not consist so much in the more or less complexity of the contrivance as in the reduction of the time required to effect the carriage. (…) nothing but teaching the Engine to foresee and then to act upon that foresight could ever lead me to the object I desired… |
| Charles S. Babbage (1864), Passages from the Life of a Philosopher, p. 114 |
Classification of addition types for adding a single-digit addend a (with a∈{1…9}) to an augend Au (u denoting the augend’s unit). (See Table 1 for details.)
Hansjörg Neth, Stephen J. Payne
Decade effects in mental addition
We examine representational effects of Western numerals on mental arithmetic. An analysis of mental addition tasks using a base-10 place-value notation yields a taxonomy of addition types that is anchored in the notion of complements (i.e. additions with round sums). Two experimental studies use a paradigm of serial addition that presents lists of numbers to adult participants, who mentally represent all intermediate steps. In study 1, participants add sequences of single-digit addends in a self-paced fashion. Study 2 extends this paradigm by simultaneously presenting two addends, thus allowing for a modicum of strategic choice. Both studies vary the number of complements within the lists and measure addition accuracy and latency. Beyond decade and carry effects, our results show that lists containing or enabling complements are easier to add. Addition latencies jointly depend on addition type and problem size. When adders have some discretion about the order of choosing addends, they adaptively exploit the difficulty of addition types by tailoring their sequences to decade boundaries. One motivation for seeking complements lies in enabling subsequent post-complements. Reflecting on the dynamic interplay between numeric representations, strategic choices and cognitive adaptations, we discuss implications for psychological explanations, technology and design.
Four different addition types (A) and their hypothetical frequency (B, assuming uniform distribution of addends 1–9 and full decomposition of super-complements). (See Figure 4 in Appendix A1 for details.)
This article is part of the theme issue A solid base for scaling up: the structure of numeration systems.
Keywords: mental arithmetic, addition strategies, base notation, representational effects.
Reference: Neth, H., & Payne, S. J. (2025). Decade effects in mental addition. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, 380, 20240220. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2024.0220
Related: Addition as interactive problem solving | Thinking by doing? | Immediate interactive behavior (IIB) | Arabic vs. Roman arithmetic | Taxonomy of actions | The cognitive basis of arithmetic | Interactive coin addition | The functional task environment
Resources: open access article | PDF download | Google Scholar
Paper: The echo in flu-vaccination echo chambers
Helge Giese, Hansjörg Neth, Mehdi Moussaïd, Cornelia Betsch, Wolfgang Gaissmaier
The echo in flu-vaccination echo chambers: Selective attention trumps social influence
Abstract
Background
Online discussions may impact the willingness to get vaccinated. This experiment tests how groups of individuals with consistent and inconsistent attitudes towards flu vaccination attend to and convey information online, and how they alter their corresponding risk perceptions.
Methods
Out of 1859 MTurkers, we pre-selected 208 people with negative and 221 people with positive attitudes towards flu vaccinations into homogeneous or heterogeneous 3-link experimental diffusion chains. We assessed (i) which information about flu vaccinations participants conveyed to the subsequent link, (ii) how flu-vaccination related perceptions were altered by incoming messages, and (iii) how participants perceived incoming information.
Results
Participants (i) selectively conveyed attitude-consistent information, but exhibited no overall anti-vaccination bias, (ii) were reluctant to alter their flu-vaccination related perceptions in response to messages, and (iii) evaluated incoming information consistent with their prior attitudes as more convincing.
Discussion
Flu-vaccination related perceptions are resilient against contradictions and bias online communication. Contrary to expectations, there was no sign of amplification of anti-vaccine attitudes by online communication.
Keywords: Amplification of risk; Diffusion chain; Opinion dynamics; Vaccine hesitancy; Social media; Polarization
Press release
- in English: https://www.campus.uni-konstanz.de/en/science/immune-to-influence
- auf Deutsch: https://www.campus.uni-konstanz.de/wissenschaft/immun-gegen-informationen
Reference: Giese, H., Neth, H., Moussaïd, M., Betsch, C., & Gaissmaier, W. (2020). The echo in flu-vaccination echo chambers: Selective attention trumps social influence. Vaccine, 38 (8), 2070–2076. doi: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2019.11.038
Related: Social influence and collective opinion formation
Resources: Download_PDF | Google Scholar
Paper: Visual working memory resources as item activation
Donald D. Hoffmann (1998), p. XII
and those involved in symbol manipulation and the organization of complex behaviors.
Ballard et al. (1997), p. 723
Bella Z. Veksler, Rachel Boyd, Christopher W. Myers, Glenn Gunzelmann, Hansjörg Neth, Wayne D. Gray
Visual working memory resources are best characterized as dynamic, quantifiable mnemonic traces
An example stimulus used in the paradigm of repeated serial search.
Abstract: Visual working memory (VWM) is a construct hypothesized to store a small amount of accurate perceptual information that can be brought to bear on a task. Much research concerns the construct’s capacity and the precision of the information stored. Two prominent theories of VWM representation have emerged: slot-based and continuous-resource mechanisms. Prior modeling work suggests that a continuous resource that varies over trials with variable capacity and a potential to make localization errors best accounts for the empirical data. Questions remain regarding the variability in VWM capacity and precision. Using a novel eye-tracking paradigm, we demonstrate that VWM facilitates search and exhibits effects of fixation frequency and recency, particularly for prior targets. Whereas slot-based memory models cannot account for the human data, a novel continuous-resource model does capture the behavioral and eye tracking data, and identifies the relevant resource as item activation.
Paper: Foraging for alternative options
If I go there will be trouble,
and if I stay it will be double…
The Clash
Hansjörg Neth, Neele Engelmann, Ralf Mayrhofer
Foraging for alternatives: Ecological rationality in keeping options viable
Abstract: Do we invest irrational amounts of effort into keeping options viable, or do we manage available and threatened options in an adaptive fashion?