Spelling is a measure of the precision of lexical representations, which is important for word reading, comprehension, and writing. Performance on spelling tests is typically assessed in terms of correctness. We asked whether nonbinary measures of spelling errors provide additional information about lexical quality. Letter distance was the number…

Children are interviewed to provide information about past events in various contexts (e.g., police interviews, court proceedings, therapeutic interviews). During an interview, various factors may influence the accuracy of children's responses to questions about recent events. However, behavioral research in this area is limited. Sparling et al.…

The relationship between confidence and accuracy has long been an important and controversial topic within the field of human memory. In a recent review article, Schwartz (2024). "Inferential theories of retrospective confidence." Metacognition & Learning.) competently summarized some of the key empirical findings on this issue and…

Purpose: Although social media platforms have made information about autism more accessible to the general public, concerns have been raised about the unfiltered nature of the content they host. In the current study, we examined the reach and accuracy of videos providing informational content about autism on TikTok, a popular social media…

Children are vulnerable to disease, yet are poor at recognising and avoiding sickness. Thus, the current study aims to recruit 5- to 9-year-olds (anticipated 50% female, 60% White, 60% Hispanic/Latine) to test whether children's sickness perception is malleable and can be improved through training. We created developmentally appropriate stories…

We explored the practicality of relatively small item pools in the context of low-stakes Computer-Adaptive Testing (CAT), such as CAT procedures that might be used for quick diagnostic or screening exams. We used a basic CAT algorithm without content balancing and exposure control restrictions to reflect low stakes testing scenarios. We examined…

Theories of self-regulated learning suggest a positive link between knowledge monitoring accuracy (the ability to predict test performance) and performance on tests. Put differently, students who accurately monitor their knowledge of course content more efficiently regulate study of course materials. However, a plethora of literature indicates…

Distances derived from word embeddings can measure a range of gradational relations--similarity, hierarchy, entailment, and stereotype--and can be used at the document- and author-level in ways that overcome some of the limitations of weighted dictionary methods. We provide a comprehensive introduction to using word embeddings for relation…

Purpose: Phonetic forced alignment has a multitude of applications in automated analysis of speech, particularly in studying nonstandard speech such as children's speech. Manual alignment is tedious but serves as the gold standard for clinical-grade alignment. Current tools do not support direct training on manual alignments. Thus, a trainable…

Although AI transformer models have demonstrated notable capability in automated scoring, it is difficult to examine how and why these models fall short in scoring some responses. This study investigated how transformer models' language processing and quantification processes can be leveraged to enhance the accuracy of automated scoring. Automated…

The early detection of neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs) can significantly improve patient outcomes. The differential burden of non-synonymous de novo mutation among NDD cases and controls indicates that de novo coding variation can be used to identify a subset of samples that will likely display an NDD phenotype. Thus, we have developed an…

In this work, we introduce a novel oversampling technique, the theory of inheritance and Gower distance-based oversampling (TIGO) method, designed to address class imbalance issues in mixed categorical and continuous variables data set. Drawing inspiration from genetic inheritance principles, TIGO synthesizes new minority class data,…

We examined the efficacy of a Model Statement to detect opinion lies. A total of 93 participants discussed their opinion about the recent strikes on two occasions, 1 week apart. In one interview they told the truth and in the other interview they lied. Each interview consisted of two phases. In Phase 1 they discussed their alleged opinion (truth…

Contextual shifts are crucial for episodic memory, setting event boundaries during event segmentation. While lab research provides insights, it often lacks the complexity of real-world experiences. We addressed this gap by examining perceptual and conceptual boundaries using virtual reality (VR). Participants acted as salespeople, interacting with…

Purpose: Academic anxiety is a common phenomenon in the college student population, which has an important impact on students' psychological health and academic performance. Therefore, by exploring the effects of college students' professional commitment and achievement goal orientation variables on academic anxiety, it helps to understand…