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Published on: February 19, 2015
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Doing Experimental Psychological Research from Remote: How Alerting Differently Impacts Online vs. Lab Setting
Fiorella Del Popolo Cristaldi1, Umberto Granziol1, Irene Bariletti1
1Department of General Psychology, University of Padova, Via Venezia 8, 35131 Padova, Italy.
Brain Sciences
|August 26, 2022
Summary
Online studies in experimental psychology are valid, replicating lab findings for reaction times (RTs) and accuracy. Behavioral performance is more sensitive to alerting in online settings, showing varied efficiency based on response rates.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Experimental Psychology
- Human Behavior
Background:
- The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated online research in experimental psychology.
- Online studies collect detailed behavioral measures like reaction times (RTs) and accuracy.
- The impact of participant alertness on online vs. lab performance is not well understood.
Purpose of the Study:
- To compare behavioral performance in online and in-lab settings using the dynamic temporal prediction (DTP) task.
- To investigate the influence of alerting levels on RTs and accuracy across the adult lifespan.
- To determine if online data collection is methodologically sound for psychological research.
Main Methods:
- Administered the dynamic temporal prediction (DTP) task online and in-lab.
- Manipulated participants' alerting levels by alternating slow and fast response rate conditions.
- Compared data distribution, RTs, accuracy, and time-on-task effects across age groups (19-69 years).
Main Results:
- Replicated in-lab findings for RTs and accuracy in the online setting, despite a general RT delay.
- Observed an interaction between setting and task demands: slower RTs in low-urgency conditions, no delay in faster conditions.
- Online settings showed heightened sensitivity to task-induced alerting shifts compared to lab settings.
Conclusions:
- Online data collection is methodologically sound for eliciting comparable effects to lab-based research.
- Behavioral performance in online studies is more sensitive to alerting modulation than in lab settings.
- Online research offers a valid alternative for studying cognitive processes like temporal prediction and alertness.
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