Analyzing Response Time Distributions
Methodological and Theoretical Suggestions for Prospective Memory Researchers
Abstract
The analysis of response times from prospective memory experiments has resulted in multiple theoretical propositions about the role of attention in prospective memory. Extant theories of prospective memory are in good agreement that attention is necessary for detecting intention-related cues. However, these theories were primarily formulated to describe differences in mean reaction times across experimental conditions. While this approach has been fruitful for establishing a fundamental relation between attention and prospective memory, reaction time modeling techniques can be applied to prospective memory data to better constrain theorizing. In the current work, the ex-Gaussian distribution is fit to data from a prospective memory task. The results from this analysis suggest that modeling reaction time data has the potential for clarifying our understanding of the role of attention in prospective memory.
References
2007). Explaining the many varieties of working memory variation: Dual mechanisms of cognitive control. In , Variation in working memory (pp. 76–106). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
(2010). Individual differences in event-based prospective memory: Evidence for multiple processes supporting cue detection. Memory & Cognition, 38, 304–311.
(in press ). A comparison of activity-based and event-based prospective memory. Applied Cognitive Psychology.2003). QMLE: Fast, robust and efficient estimation of distribution functions based on quantiles. Behaviour Research Methods, Instruments & Computers, 35, 485–492.
(2008a). Prospective memory costs: General or specific? Poster presented at the 49th annual meeting of the Psychonomic Society, Chicago, IL.
(2008b). Number of cues influence the cost of remembering to remember. Memory & Cognition, 36, 149–156.
(2004). Fitting distributions using maximum likelihood: Methods and packages. Behaviour Research Methods, Instruments & Computers, 36, 742–756.
(2008). Prospective memory and metamemory: The skilled use of basic attentional and memory processes. In , The psychology of learning and motivation, Vol. 48, (pp. 145–173). San Diego, CA: Elsevier.
(2010). Prospective memory and what costs do not reveal about retrieval processes: A commentary on Smith et al. (2007). Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 36, 1082–1088.
(2005). Multiple processes in prospective memory retrieval: Factors determining monitoring versus spontaneous retrieval. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 134, 327–342.
(2003). A two-process model of strategic monitoring in event-based prospective memory: Activation/retrieval mode and checking. International Journal of Psychology, 38, 245–256.
(2004). QMPE: Estimating Lognormal, Wald and Weibull RT distributions with a parameter dependent lower bound. Behavior Research Methods, Instruments & Computers, 36, 277–290.
(1991). Analysis of response time distributions: An example using the Stroop task. Psychological Bulletin, 109, 340–347.
(2005). Task interference in time-based, event-based, and dual intention prospective memory conditions. Journal of Memory and Language, 53, 430–444.
(1965). Inferred components of reaction times as functions of foreperiod duration. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 69, 382–386.
(2011). What can the diffusion model tell us about prospective memory? Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology, 65, 69–75.
(2010). Neural correlates of attentional and mnemonic processing in event-based prospective memory. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 69, 382–386.
(1967). Computational analysis of present-day American English. Providence, RI: Brown University Press.
(2008). Three case studies in the Bayesian analysis of cognitive models. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 15, 1–15.
(2006). A Bayesian approach to diffusion models of decision making and response time. In , Advances in neural information processing systems, Vol. 19, (pp. 809–815). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
(1986). Response times. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
(2005). On the relationship between effort toward an ongoing task and cue detection in event-based prospective memory. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 31, 68–75.
(2002). The dynamics of intention retrieval and coordination of action in event-based prospective memory. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 28, 652–659.
(2009). Psychological interpretation of ex-Gaussian and shifted Wald parameters: A diffusion model analysis. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 16, 798–817.
(2000). Strategic and automatic processes in prospective memory retrieval: A multiprocess framework. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 14, 127–144.
(1963). Stochastic latency mechanisms. In , Handbook of mathematical psychology, (Vol. 1, pp. 309–360). New York, NY: Wiley.
(2003). Tutorial on maximum likelihood estimation. Journal of Mathematical Psychology, 47, 90–100.
(1978). A theory of memory retrieval. Psychological Review, 85, 59–108.
(1993). Methods for dealing with reaction time outliers. Psychological Bulletin, 114, 510–532.
(1976). Retrieval processes in recognition memory. Psychological Review, 83, 190–214.
(2005). A hierarchical model for estimating response time distributions. Psychonomic Bulletin and Review, 12, 195–223.
(2003). The cost of remembering to remember in event-based prospective memory: Investigating the capacity demands of delayed intention performance. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 29, 347–361.
(2010). What costs do reveal and moving beyond the cost debate: Reply to Einstein and McDaniel (2010). Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 36, 1089–1095.
(2004). A multinomial model of prospective memory. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 30, 756–777.
(2005). The effects of working memory resource availability on prospective memory: A formal modeling approach. Experimental Psychology, 52, 243–256.
(2007). The cost of event-based prospective memory: Salient target events. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 33, 734–746.
(2001). The time course of perceptual choice: The leaky, competing accumulator model. Psychological Review, 108, 550–592.
(2002). Lapses of intention and performance variability reveal age-related increases in fluctuations of executive control. Brain & Cognition, 49, 402–419.
(1993). Proactive interference and the dynamics of free recall. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 19, 1024–1039.
(2006). Single versus dual process models of lexical decision performance: Insights from RT distributional analysis. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 32, 1324–1344.
(