155,736 research outputs found
Making ERP research more transparent: Guidelines for preregistration
A combination of confirmation bias, hindsight bias, and pressure to publish may prompt the (unconscious) exploration of various methodological options and reporting only the ones that lead to a (statistically) significant outcome. This undisclosed analytic flexibility is particularly relevant in EEG research, where a myriad of preprocessing and analysis pipelines can be used to extract information from complex multidimensional data. One solution to limit confirmation and hindsight bias by disclosing analytic choices is preregistration: researchers write a time-stamped, publicly accessible research plan with hypotheses, data collection plan, and the intended preprocessing and statistical analyses before the start of a research project. In this manuscript, we present an overview of the problems associated with undisclosed analytic flexibility, discuss why and how EEG researchers would benefit from adopting preregistration, provide guidelines and examples on how to preregister data preprocessing and analysis steps in typical ERP studies, and conclude by discussing possibilities and limitations of this open science practice
Combined Effects of Knowledge About Others' Opinions and Anticipation of Group Discussion on Confirmatory Information Search
There is conclusive evidence that information search processes are typically biased in favor of the information seekerâs own opinion (confirmation bias). Less is known about how knowledge about othersâ opinions affects this confirmatory information search. In the present study, the authors manipulated feedback about othersâ opinions and anticipation of group interaction. As predicted, the effect of knowledge about othersâ opinions on confirmatory information search depended on whether participants anticipated interacting with these others. Specifically, minority members anticipating a group discussion exhibited a particularly strong confirmation bias, whereas minority members who did not anticipate a discussion predominantly sought information opposing their opinion. For participants not anticipating group interaction, confidence about the correctness of oneâs decision mediated the impact of knowledge about othersâ opinions on confirmatory information search. Results are discussed with regard to the debiasing effect of preference heterogeneity on confirmatory information search in groups
A plea for minimally biased naturalistic philosophy
Naturalistic philosophers rely on literature search and review in a number of ways and for different purposes. Yet this article shows how processes of literature search and review are likely to be affected by widespread and systematic biases. A solution to this problem is offered here. Whilst the tradition of systematic reviews of literature from scientific disciplines has been neglected in philosophy, systematic reviews are important tools that minimize bias in literature search and review and allow for greater reproducibility and transparency. If naturalistic philosophers wish to reduce bias in their research, they should then supplement their traditional tools for literature search and review by including systematic methodologies
The science of psychoanalysis
For psychoanalysis to qualify as scientific psychology, it needs to generate data that can evidentially support theoretical claims. Its methods, therefore, must at least be capable of correcting for biases produced in the data during the process of generating it; and we must be able to use the data in sound forms of inference and reasoning. Critics of psychoanalysis have claimed that it fails on both counts, and thus whatever warrant its claims have derive from other sources. In this article, I discuss three key objections, and then consider their implications together with recent developments in the generation and testing of psychoanalytic theory. The first and most famous is that of âsuggestionâ; if it sticks, clinical data may be biased in a way that renders all inferences from them unreliable. The second, sometimes confused with the first, questions whether the data are or can be used to provide genuine tests of theoretical hypotheses. The third will require us to consider the question of how psychology can reliably infer motives from behavior. I argue that the clinical method of psychoanalysis is defensible against these objections in relation to the psychodynamic model of mind, but not wider metapsychological and etiological claims. Nevertheless, the claim of psychoanalysis to be a science would be strengthened if awareness of the methodological pitfalls and means to avoid them, and alternative theories and their evidence bases, were more widespread. This may require changes in the education of psychoanalysts
Landscape of standing variation for tandem duplications in Drosophila yakuba and Drosophila simulans
We have used whole genome paired-end Illumina sequence data to identify
tandem duplications in 20 isofemale lines of D. yakuba, and 20 isofemale lines
of D. simulans and performed genome wide validation with PacBio long molecule
sequencing. We identify 1,415 tandem duplications that are segregating in D.
yakuba as well as 975 duplications in D. simulans, indicating greater variation
in D. yakuba. Additionally, we observe high rates of secondary deletions at
duplicated sites, with 8% of duplicated sites in D. simulans and 17% of sites
in D. yakuba modified with deletions. These secondary deletions are consistent
with the action of the large loop mismatch repair system acting to remove
polymorphic tandem duplication, resulting in rapid dynamics of gain and loss in
duplicated alleles and a richer substrate of genetic novelty than has been
previously reported. Most duplications are present in only single strains,
suggesting deleterious impacts are common. D. simulans shows larger numbers of
whole gene duplications in comparison to larger proportions of gene fragments
in D. yakuba. D. simulans displays an excess of high frequency variants on the
X chromosome, consistent with adaptive evolution through duplications on the D.
simulans X or demographic forces driving duplicates to high frequency. We
identify 78 chimeric genes in D. yakuba and 38 chimeric genes in D. simulans,
as well as 143 cases of recruited non-coding sequence in D. yakuba and 96 in D.
simulans, in agreement with rates of chimeric gene origination in D.
melanogaster. Together, these results suggest that tandem duplications often
result in complex variation beyond whole gene duplications that offers a rich
substrate of standing variation that is likely to contribute both to
detrimental phenotypes and disease, as well as to adaptive evolutionary change.Comment: Revised Version- Accepted at Molecular Biology and Evolutio
If Analytic Philosophy of Religion is Sick, Can It Be Cured?
In this paper, I argue that, if âthe overrepresentation of Christian theists in analytic philosophy of religion is unhealthy for the field, since they would be too much influenced by prior beliefs when evaluating religious argumentsâ (De Cruz and De Smedt (2016), 119), then a first step toward a potential remedy is this: analytic philosophers of religion need to restructure their analytical tasks. For one way to mitigate the effects of confirmation bias, which may be influencing how analytic philosophers of religion evaluate arguments in Analytical Philosophy of Religion (APR), is to consider other points of view. Applied to APR, this means considering religious beliefs, questions, and arguments couched in non-Christian terms. In this paper, I focus on Islam in particular. My aim is to show that Islam is a fertile ground of philosophical questions and arguments for analytic philosophers of religion to engage with. Engaging with questions and arguments couched in non-Christian terms would help make work in APR more diverse and inclusive of religions other than Christianity, which in turn would also be a first step toward attracting non-Christians to APR
Reducing Offline Evaluation Bias in Recommendation Systems
Recommendation systems have been integrated into the majority of large online
systems. They tailor those systems to individual users by filtering and ranking
information according to user profiles. This adaptation process influences the
way users interact with the system and, as a consequence, increases the
difficulty of evaluating a recommendation algorithm with historical data (via
offline evaluation). This paper analyses this evaluation bias and proposes a
simple item weighting solution that reduces its impact. The efficiency of the
proposed solution is evaluated on real world data extracted from Viadeo
professional social network.Comment: 23rd annual Belgian-Dutch Conference on Machine Learning (Benelearn
2014), Bruxelles : Belgium (2014
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