Model-based estimation of subjective values using choice tasks with probabilistic feedback
Publication date: August 2017 Source:Journal of Mathematical Psychology, Volume 79 Author(s): Kentaro Katahira, Shoko Yuki, Kazuo Okanoya Evaluating the subjective value of events is a crucial task in the investigation of how the brain implements the value-based computations by which living systems make decisions. This task is often not straightforward, especially for animal subjects. In the present paper, we propose a novel model-based method for estimating subjective value from choice behavior. The proposed method is based on reinforcement learning (RL) theory. It draws upon the premise that a subject tends to choos...
Source: Journal of Mathematical Psychology - June 21, 2017 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
A necessary and sufficient condition for unique skill assessment
Publication date: August 2017 Source:Journal of Mathematical Psychology, Volume 79 Author(s): Jürgen Heller, Pasquale Anselmi, Luca Stefanutti, Egidio Robusto The skill-based extension of the theory of knowledge structures forms the framework for addressing the problem of whether it is possible to uniquely assess the skills underlying the solution behavior exhibited on some set of items. Technically speaking, the paper strives for characterizing the so-called conjunctive skill functions, assigning to each item a subset of skills sufficient for solving it, that allow for singling out a unique state of a given compete...
Source: Journal of Mathematical Psychology - June 11, 2017 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
A hierarchical Bayesian approach to distinguishing serial and parallel processing
Publication date: August 2017 Source:Journal of Mathematical Psychology, Volume 79 Author(s): Joseph W. Houpt, Mario Fifić Research in cognitive psychology often focuses on how people deal with multiple sources of information. One important aspect of this research is whether people use the information in parallel (at the same time) or in series (one at a time). Various approaches to distinguishing parallel and serial processing have been proposed, but many do not satisfactorily address the mimicking dilemma between serial and parallel classes of models. The mean interaction contrast (MIC) is one measure designed to im...
Source: Journal of Mathematical Psychology - June 4, 2017 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Regret theory: State dominance and expected utility
Publication date: August 2017 Source:Journal of Mathematical Psychology, Volume 79 Author(s): Haim Levy Choices made according to regret theory ( R T ) may violate the expected utility ( E U ) model. We propose a stochastic dominance ( S D ) method for comparing R T and E U paradigms holistically, without focusing on a specific axiom or on a specific numerical example. We show that in some important cases, including the two-state case, e.g., war or peace, Republican or Democratic Party winning the Presidential election etc., R T does not violate both E U and Cumulative Prospect Theory ( C P T ). Obviously, when E U is ...
Source: Journal of Mathematical Psychology - May 31, 2017 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Optimal group decision: A matter of confidence calibration
Publication date: Available online 3 May 2017 Source:Journal of Mathematical Psychology Author(s): Sébastien Massoni, Nicolas Roux The failure of groups to make optimal decisions is an important topic in human sciences. Recently this issue has been studied in perceptual settings where the problem could be reduced to the question of an optimal integration of multiple signals. The main result of these studies asserts that inefficiencies in group decisions increase with the heterogeneity of its members in terms of performances. We assume that the ability of agents to appropriately combine their private information depend...
Source: Journal of Mathematical Psychology - May 4, 2017 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Beyond-quantum modeling of question order effects and response replicability in psychological measurements
Publication date: Available online 2 May 2017 Source:Journal of Mathematical Psychology Author(s): Diederik Aerts, Massimiliano Sassoli de Bianchi A general tension-reduction (GTR) model was recently considered (Aerts and Sassoli de Bianchi 2015a, 2015b) to derive quantum probabilities as (universal) averages over all possible forms of non-uniform fluctuations and explain their considerable success in describing experimental situations also outside of the domain of physics, for instance in quantum models of cognition and decision. This result also highlighted the possibility of observing violations of the predictions o...
Source: Journal of Mathematical Psychology - May 3, 2017 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Gaussian counter models for visual identification of briefly presented, mutually confusable single stimuli in pure accuracy tasks
Publication date: Available online 28 April 2017 Source:Journal of Mathematical Psychology Author(s): Massimiliano Tamborrino, Susanne Ditlevsen, Bo Markussen, Søren Kyllingsbæk When identifying confusable visual stimuli, accumulation of information over time is an obvious strategy of the observer. However, the nature of the accumulation process is unresolved: for example it may be discrete or continuous in terms of the information encoded. Another unanswered question is whether or not stimulus sampling continues after the stimulus offset. In the present paper we propose various continuous Gaussian counter models o...
Source: Journal of Mathematical Psychology - April 29, 2017 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Compressed representation of Learning Spaces
Publication date: Available online 19 April 2017 Source:Journal of Mathematical Psychology Author(s): Marcel Wild Learning Spaces are certain set systems that are applied in the mathematical modeling of education. We propose a wildcard-based compression (without loss of information) of such set systems to facilitate their logical and statistical analysis. Under certain circumstances compression is the prerequisite to calculate the Learning Space in the first place. There are connections to the dual framework of Formal Concept Analysis and in particular to so called attribute exploration. (Source: Journal of Mathematical Psychology)
Source: Journal of Mathematical Psychology - April 20, 2017 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Corrigendum to “Using MCMC chain outputs to efficiently estimate Bayes factors” [J. Math. Psychol. 55 (2011) 367–378]
Publication date: Available online 19 April 2017 Source:Journal of Mathematical Psychology Author(s): Richard D. Morey, Jeffrey N. Rouder, Michael S. Pratte, Paul L. Speckman (Source: Journal of Mathematical Psychology)
Source: Journal of Mathematical Psychology - April 20, 2017 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Advanced analysis of quantum contextuality in a psychophysical double-detection experiment
Publication date: Available online 8 April 2017 Source:Journal of Mathematical Psychology Author(s): Víctor H. Cervantes, Ehtibar N. Dzhafarov The results of behavioral experiments typically exhibit inconsistent connectedness, i.e., they violate the condition known as “no-signaling,” “no-disturbance,” or “marginal selectivity.” This prevents one from evaluating these experiments in terms of quantum contextuality if the latter understood traditionally (as, e.g., in the Kochen–Specker theorem or Bell-type inequalities). The Contextuality-by-Default (CbD) theory separates contextuality from inconsistent con...
Source: Journal of Mathematical Psychology - April 10, 2017 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Well-graded families of NaP-preferences
Publication date: April 2017 Source:Journal of Mathematical Psychology, Volume 77 Author(s): Alfio Giarlotta, Stephen Watson A NaP-preference (necessary and possible preference) is a pair of nested reflexive relations on a set such that the smaller is transitive, the larger is complete, and the two components jointly satisfy natural forms of mixed completeness and transitive coherence. A NaP-preference is normalized if its smaller component is a partial order. We show that normalized NaP-preferences on a finite set are well-graded in the sense of Doignon and Falmagne (1997). (Source: Journal of Mathematical Psychology)
Source: Journal of Mathematical Psychology - February 26, 2017 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Online learning of symbolic concepts
We describe how sampling algorithms can be brought to bear on this problem, leading to the prediction that humans will exhibit the same failure modes as sampling algorithms. In particular, we show that humans get stuck in “garden paths”—initially promising hypotheses that turn out to be sub-optimal in light of subsequent data. Susceptibility to garden paths is sensitive to the availability of cognitive resources. These phenomena are well-explained by a Bayesian model in which humans stochastically update a sample-based representation of the posterior over a compositional hypothesis space. Our model provides a framewo...
Source: Journal of Mathematical Psychology - February 23, 2017 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Monotonicity as a tool for differentiating between truth and optimality in the aggregation of rankings
Publication date: April 2017 Source:Journal of Mathematical Psychology, Volume 77 Author(s): Raúl Pérez-Fernández, Pedro Alonso, Irene Díaz, Susana Montes, Bernard De Baets The choice of the ranking that best captures the preferences of several voters on a set of candidates has been a matter of study for centuries. An interesting point of view on this problem is centred on the notion of monotonicity. In this paper, we deal with an aspect of monotonicity that has not been addressed before: if there is a true ranking on the set of candidates and every voter expresses a ranking on the set of candidates, then the nu...
Source: Journal of Mathematical Psychology - February 20, 2017 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Sequential sampling, magnitude estimation, and the wisdom of crowds
Publication date: Available online 10 February 2017 Source:Journal of Mathematical Psychology Author(s): Ulrik W. Nash Sir Francis Galton (Galton, 1907) conjectured the psychological process of magnitude estimation caused the curious distribution of judgments he observed at Plymouth in 1906. However, after he published Vox Populi, researchers narrowed their attention to the first moment of judgment distributions and its often remarkable alignment with the truth, while it became customary to explain this wisdom of crowds effect using ideas of statistics more than psychology, and without considering possible interactions ...
Source: Journal of Mathematical Psychology - February 10, 2017 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Relations between best, worst, and best –worst choices for random utility models
Publication date: February 2017 Source:Journal of Mathematical Psychology, Volume 76, Part A Author(s): André de Palma, Karim Kilani, Gilbert Laffond For random utility models and under very mild assumptions, using the inclusion–exclusion principle, we derive an identity which expresses the probability that an alternative is the worst choice within a finite set of alternatives as an alternating sum of best choice probabilities. Under slightly stronger assumptions on the distribution of the vector of random utilities, we also derive an identity for the joint best–worst choice probability that an alternative is the...
Source: Journal of Mathematical Psychology - January 28, 2017 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
