IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/intell/v69y2018icp16-23.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Curvilinear dependency of response accuracy on response time in cognitive tests

Author

Listed:
  • Chen, Haiqin
  • De Boeck, Paul
  • Grady, Matthew
  • Yang, Chien-Lin
  • Waldschmidt, David

Abstract

The relationship between response time and accuracy in cognitive tasks is an important topic in experimental cognitive psychology as well as in the domain of cognitive testing, but the relationship is much more difficult to capture for the latter. Using data involving five cognitive tests: three academic achievement tests (knowledge tests) and two reasoning tests (perceptual and quantitative reasoning), the relationship between response time and response accuracy is explored after controlling for possible confounds associated with individual and item differences. The tests are different in terms of contents and type of test (achievement or ability test), but it was nonetheless found for all tests that response accuracy shows the same kind of curvilinear dependency on response time. Accuracy rates first increase rather rapidly and then decrease more slowly as a function of response time. The turning point came earlier for the three knowledge tests than for the two ability tests. The results are not easily reconcilable with simple principles that may apply to tasks used in cognitive experimental psychology. Possible explanations refer to discontinuities in the cognitive processes such as switching strategies, or a decline of cognitive efficiency and increasing cognitive depletion with passing time while working on problems that take much more time than the common tasks in experimental psychology.

Suggested Citation

  • Chen, Haiqin & De Boeck, Paul & Grady, Matthew & Yang, Chien-Lin & Waldschmidt, David, 2018. "Curvilinear dependency of response accuracy on response time in cognitive tests," Intelligence, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 16-23.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:intell:v:69:y:2018:i:c:p:16-23
    DOI: 10.1016/j.intell.2018.04.001
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160289617302933
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.intell.2018.04.001?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Wim Linden & Cees Glas, 2010. "Statistical Tests of Conditional Independence Between Responses and/or Response Times on Test Items," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 75(1), pages 120-139, March.
    2. Chun Wang & Zhewen Fan & Hua-Hua Chang & Jeffrey A. Douglas, 2013. "A Semiparametric Model for Jointly Analyzing Response Times and Accuracy in Computerized Testing," Journal of Educational and Behavioral Statistics, , vol. 38(4), pages 381-417, August.
    3. Maria Bolsinova & Jesper Tijmstra, 2016. "Posterior Predictive Checks for Conditional Independence Between Response Time and Accuracy," Journal of Educational and Behavioral Statistics, , vol. 41(2), pages 123-145, April.
    4. Wim van der Linden, 2007. "A Hierarchical Framework for Modeling Speed and Accuracy on Test Items," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 72(3), pages 287-308, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Inhan Kang & Minjeong Jeon & Ivailo Partchev, 2023. "A Latent Space Diffusion Item Response Theory Model to Explore Conditional Dependence between Responses and Response Times," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 88(3), pages 830-864, September.
    2. Th'eo Durandard & Matteo Camboni, 2024. "Comparative Statics for Optimal Stopping Problems in Nonstationary Environments," Papers 2402.06999, arXiv.org, revised Jul 2024.
    3. Inhan Kang & Paul Boeck & Roger Ratcliff, 2022. "Modeling Conditional Dependence of Response Accuracy and Response Time with the Diffusion Item Response Theory Model," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 87(2), pages 725-748, June.
    4. Kang, Inhan & De Boeck, Paul & Partchev, Ivailo, 2022. "A randomness perspective on intelligence processes," Intelligence, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    5. Sun-Joo Cho & Sarah Brown-Schmidt & Paul De Boeck & Matthew Naveiras & Si On Yoon & Aaron Benjamin, 2023. "Incorporating Functional Response Time Effects into a Signal Detection Theory Model," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 88(3), pages 1056-1086, September.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Maria Bolsinova & Jesper Tijmstra, 2019. "Modeling Differences Between Response Times of Correct and Incorrect Responses," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 84(4), pages 1018-1046, December.
    2. Maria Bolsinova & Paul Boeck & Jesper Tijmstra, 2017. "Modelling Conditional Dependence Between Response Time and Accuracy," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 82(4), pages 1126-1148, December.
    3. Dylan Molenaar & Paul Boeck, 2018. "Response Mixture Modeling: Accounting for Heterogeneity in Item Characteristics across Response Times," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 83(2), pages 279-297, June.
    4. Sandip Sinharay & Peter W. van Rijn, 2020. "Assessing Fit of the Lognormal Model for Response Times," Journal of Educational and Behavioral Statistics, , vol. 45(5), pages 534-568, October.
    5. Chun Wang & Gongjun Xu & Zhuoran Shang, 2018. "A Two-Stage Approach to Differentiating Normal and Aberrant Behavior in Computer Based Testing," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 83(1), pages 223-254, March.
    6. Minjeong Jeon & Paul Boeck & Jevan Luo & Xiangrui Li & Zhong-Lin Lu, 2021. "Modeling Within-Item Dependencies in Parallel Data on Test Responses and Brain Activation," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 86(1), pages 239-271, March.
    7. Kang, Inhan & De Boeck, Paul & Partchev, Ivailo, 2022. "A randomness perspective on intelligence processes," Intelligence, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    8. Inhan Kang & Paul Boeck & Roger Ratcliff, 2022. "Modeling Conditional Dependence of Response Accuracy and Response Time with the Diffusion Item Response Theory Model," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 87(2), pages 725-748, June.
    9. Steffi Pohl & Esther Ulitzsch & Matthias Davier, 2019. "Using Response Times to Model Not-Reached Items due to Time Limits," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 84(3), pages 892-920, September.
    10. Inhan Kang & Minjeong Jeon & Ivailo Partchev, 2023. "A Latent Space Diffusion Item Response Theory Model to Explore Conditional Dependence between Responses and Response Times," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 88(3), pages 830-864, September.
    11. Jinxin Guo & Xin Xu & Zhiliang Ying & Susu Zhang, 2022. "Modeling Not-Reached Items in Timed Tests: A Response Time Censoring Approach," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 87(3), pages 835-867, September.
    12. Hua-Hua Chang, 2015. "Psychometrics Behind Computerized Adaptive Testing," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 80(1), pages 1-20, March.
    13. M. Marsman & H. Sigurdardóttir & M. Bolsinova & G. Maris, 2019. "Characterizing the Manifest Probability Distributions of Three Latent Trait Models for Accuracy and Response Time," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 84(3), pages 870-891, September.
    14. Hyeon-Ah Kang & Yi Zheng & Hua-Hua Chang, 2020. "Online Calibration of a Joint Model of Item Responses and Response Times in Computerized Adaptive Testing," Journal of Educational and Behavioral Statistics, , vol. 45(2), pages 175-208, April.
    15. Steven Andrew Culpepper & James Joseph Balamuta, 2017. "A Hierarchical Model for Accuracy and Choice on Standardized Tests," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 82(3), pages 820-845, September.
    16. Edison M. Choe & Jinming Zhang & Hua-Hua Chang, 2018. "Sequential Detection of Compromised Items Using Response Times in Computerized Adaptive Testing," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 83(3), pages 650-673, September.
    17. Sora Lee & Daniel M. Bolt, 2018. "Asymmetric Item Characteristic Curves and Item Complexity: Insights from Simulation and Real Data Analyses," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 83(2), pages 453-475, June.
    18. Yi-Hsuan Lee & Zhiliang Ying, 2015. "A Mixture Cure-Rate Model for Responses and Response Times in Time-Limit Tests," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 80(3), pages 748-775, September.
    19. Frederik Coomans & Abe Hofman & Matthieu Brinkhuis & Han L J van der Maas & Gunter Maris, 2016. "Distinguishing Fast and Slow Processes in Accuracy - Response Time Data," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 11(5), pages 1-19, May.
    20. Susu Zhang & Zhi Wang & Jitong Qi & Jingchen Liu & Zhiliang Ying, 2023. "Accurate Assessment via Process Data," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 88(1), pages 76-97, March.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:intell:v:69:y:2018:i:c:p:16-23. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/intelligence .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.