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Updated: Apr 16, 2026

A Semantic Priming Event-related Potential ERP Task to Study Lexico-semantic and Visuo-semantic Processing in Autism Spectrum Disorder
Published on: April 12, 2018
Semantic primes theory may be helpful in designing questionnaires such as to prevent response shift
Antoine Vanier1, Alain Leplège2, Jean-Benoit Hardouin3
1U669 PSIGIAM, INSERM, 97 Boulevard de Port Royal, 75679 Paris Cedex 14, France; EA4275 "Biostatistics, Pharmacoepidemiology and Subjective Measures in Health Sciences", University of Nantes, 1 rue Gaston Veil, 44035 Nantes Cedex 1, France; Department of Biostatistics, UPMC Univ. Paris 06, 91 Boulevard de l'hôpital, 75013, Paris, France; Department of Biostatistics Public Health and Medical Informatics, AP-HP University Hospitals Pitié-Salpêtrière Charles-Foix, 47-83 Boulevard de l'hôpital, 75651 Paris Cedex 13, France.
Objectives:
The purpose of randomized control trials (RCTs) can be the assessment of the direct effect of treatment on health-related quality of life (HRQL). Response shift (RS) theory considers that a change in HRQL scores observed over time cannot be explained solely by a direct effect of a medical condition, it may also result from a change in the way people appraise their HRQL. The RS effect is a potential bias that is liable to compromise efficient assessment of the effect of treatment on HRQL.
Study Design And Setting:
We hypothesize a link between the RS effect on HRQL scores and the level of complexity of HRQL conceptualization.
Results:
We discuss how the impact of reconceptualization on scores depends on the complexity of the linguistic definition of a subjective construct and how for reprioritization the impact depends on the dimensionality. The linguistic theory of semantic primes is used to help identify how subjective constructs can be classified according to the complexity of their definitions.
Conclusion:
Finally, we suggest that the impact of the RS effect on HRQL scores could be avoided (or lessened) if questionnaires were designed with a rule of "the least semantic and psychometric complexity" in mind.
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