Biomedical subjects

J Musch

Publications and source records attributed to J Musch.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2000

On belief bias in syllogistic reasoning.

A multinomial model is used to disentangle the respective contributions of reasoning processes and response bias in conclusion-acceptance data that exhibit belief bias. A model-based meta-analysis of 22 studies reveals that such data are structurally too sparse to allow discrimination of different accounts of belief bias. Four experiments are conducted to obtain richer data, allowing deeper tests through the use of the multinomial model. None of the current accounts of belief bias is consistent with the complex pattern of results. A new theory of belief bias is proposed that assumes that most reasoners construct only one mental model representing the premises as well as the conclusion or, in the case of an unbelievable conclusion, its logical negation. New predictions derived from the theory are confirmed in 4 additional studies.

Attitude↗

PubMed1999

Test anxiety versus academic skills: a comparison of two alternative models for predicting performance in a statistics exam.

BACKGROUND: Two competing theoretical models to explain academic performance were proposed. The interference model stresses the detrimental effect of task-irrelevant thoughts during the test-taking situation whereas the deficit model suggests Study Habits and domain-specific skills as main predictors of test performance. AIMS: The study compares the two models by determining the relative contribution of Test Anxiety, Study Habits, and Maths Skill to performance in a statistics exam. SAMPLE: Sixty-six undergraduate students who were enrolled in the first semester of two parallel introductory statistic courses participated in the study. METHOD: Hierarchical regression analyses were performed on the performance in the final statistics exam. The unique variance attributable to Test Anxiety, Study Habits, and Maths Skill was calculated. RESULTS: Both Maths Skill and Test Anxiety added unique variance in explaining performance, whereas Study Habits did not. Although Maths Skill emerged as relatively more important than Test Anxiety, a purely deficit-based account nevertheless appears untenable because interfering effects of Test Anxiety during the examination also contributed an important portion of variance. CONCLUSIONS: It is recommended that cognitive-attentional accounts stressing test anxiety be supplemented by a deficit formulation, and that multimodal counselling address both Test Anxiety and skill deficits. COMMENT: Methodological problems in investigating the causal relationship between skill deficits, anxiety, and performance are discussed.

Adult↗

PubMed1997

List-context effects in evaluative priming.

Evaluative priming effects are often found in the evaluative decision task, in which persons judge the affective connotation (positive vs. negative) of a target word. The present experiments examined list-context effects to test whether evaluative and semantic priming follow the same laws. In Experiment 1, evaluative priming was found at prime-target stimulus onset asynchronies (SOAs) of 0 ms and 100 ms, but not at SOAs of--100, 200, 600, and 1,200 ms. Experiment 2 manipulated SOA (0, 200, and 1,200 ms) and the proportion (25%, 50%, and 75%) of the prime-target pairs that were evaluatively related. Contrary to the typical finding that increases in the proportion of related prime-target pairs lead to increased priming at long but not short SOAs, an effect of consistency proportion was found at SOAs of 0 ms (for reaction times) and 200 ms (in the accuracy data), but not at the 1,200-ms SOA. The pattern of results is discussed in relation to possible explanatory mechanisms of evaluative priming.

Adult↗

PubMed1997

[The proportion affect in affective priming: replication and evaluation of a theoretical explanation].

In the paradigm of the evaluative decision task, K. C. Klauer, C. Rossnagel and J. Musch (1997) have been able to show that in affective priming, contrary to semantic priming, a list context effect occurs already at a short SOA, whereas it does not occur at long SOAs. As a possible explanation of this surprising context effect at a short SOA, a matching mechanism was proposed. The theoretically important consistency proportion effect at an SOA of 0 ms could be replicated in an experiment with 40 participants. The results of a subsequent recognition test, however, suggest that the consistency proportion effect is not mediated by the supposed relatedness-checking mechanism. The Stroop paradigm may provide a better theoretical framework for the explanation of affective priming than the previously assumed analogy to semantic priming.

Adult↗

PubMed1996

[Mental images and mental models].

Two experiments are conducted to assess the involvement of the visouspatial sketchpad of working memeory in propositional and spatial reasoning, using a dual-task methodology. While a concurrent tracking task was found to interfere with spatial reasoning, no such interference was found with propositional reasoning. The results are discussed with respect to the mental-models theory of reasoning.

Adult↗