IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/nathum/v7y2023i10d10.1038_s41562-023-01640-7.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Inattentive responding can induce spurious associations between task behaviour and symptom measures

Author

Listed:
  • Samuel Zorowitz

    (Princeton University)

  • Johanne Solis

    (Rutgers University)

  • Yael Niv

    (Princeton University
    Princeton University)

  • Daniel Bennett

    (Monash University)

Abstract

Although online samples have many advantages for psychiatric research, some potential pitfalls of this approach are not widely understood. Here we detail circumstances in which spurious correlations may arise between task behaviour and symptom scores. The problem arises because many psychiatric symptom surveys have asymmetric score distributions in the general population, meaning that careless responders on these surveys will show apparently elevated symptom levels. If these participants are similarly careless in their task performance, this may result in a spurious association between symptom scores and task behaviour. We demonstrate this pattern of results in two samples of participants recruited online (total N = 779) who performed one of two common cognitive tasks. False-positive rates for these spurious correlations increase with sample size, contrary to common assumptions. Excluding participants flagged for careless responding on surveys abolished the spurious correlations, but exclusion based on task performance alone was less effective.

Suggested Citation

  • Samuel Zorowitz & Johanne Solis & Yael Niv & Daniel Bennett, 2023. "Inattentive responding can induce spurious associations between task behaviour and symptom measures," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 7(10), pages 1667-1681, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:nathum:v:7:y:2023:i:10:d:10.1038_s41562-023-01640-7
    DOI: 10.1038/s41562-023-01640-7
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-023-01640-7
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41562-023-01640-7?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.

    Citations

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


    Cited by:

    1. Caroline J. Charpentier & Qianying Wu & Seokyoung Min & Weilun Ding & Jeffrey Cockburn & John P. O’Doherty, 2024. "Heterogeneity in strategy use during arbitration between experiential and observational learning," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-20, December.

    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:nat:nathum:v:7:y:2023:i:10:d:10.1038_s41562-023-01640-7. 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.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    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.