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Comparing the Frequency Effect Between the Lexical Decision and Naming Tasks in Chinese
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The potential for experimenter bias effects in word recognition experiments.

K I Forster1

  • 1Department of Psychology, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA. kforster@u.arizona.edu

Memory & Cognition
|February 24, 2001
PubMed
Summary

Experimenters can introduce bias in word recognition studies by intuitively selecting word pairs. This bias, demonstrated by above-chance prediction accuracy, could skew results by 16-38 milliseconds.

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Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Psychology
  • Psycholinguistics
  • Experimental Psychology

Background:

  • Word recognition experiments often compare matched word sets.
  • Potential for experimenter bias exists when numerous equally matched word pairs are available.
  • Bias extent correlates with experimenter's intuitive understanding of word difficulty.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To assess the potential for experimenter bias in word recognition studies.
  • To quantify the impact of experimenter intuition on lexical decision tasks.
  • To determine if experimenter experience influences bias.

Main Methods:

  • Experimenters predicted reaction times for frequency-matched word pairs in a lexical decision task.
  • Predictions were compared against actual reaction time data.
  • Experimenter accuracy and its relation to experience were analyzed.

Main Results:

  • Experimenters showed significant above-chance accuracy in predicting word difficulty.
  • Accuracy was independent of the experimenters' years of experience.
  • Potential for spurious effect sizes between 16 and 38 milliseconds was identified.

Conclusions:

  • Experimenter intuition can introduce bias in word recognition research.
  • This bias can lead to potentially misleading effect sizes.
  • Researchers should be aware of and mitigate this potential source of error.