PSYC 231 Chapter Notes - Chapter 4: Statistical Inference, Null Hypothesis, Observational Error
20 Sep 2017
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Hypothetical factor that cannot be observed directly but is inferred from certain behaviours e. g. hunger is inferred to exist because of eating. Relates again to operational definitions: operational definition. Definition of a concept or variable in terms of precisely described operations, measures, or procedures. Research question: do we use visual images when we are thinking: construct visual images, measure reaction time. Do(cid:374)"t reall(cid:455) k(cid:374)o(cid:449) if people use this or are (cid:272)apa(cid:271)le of usi(cid:374)g this. Behavioural measure to find out if visual imagery actually exists. Mental rotation examples: task: determine if 2 objects are different or same but rotated, measured accuracy, more importantly, measured response time. Typical mental rotation results: as you increase rotation, response time increases, evidence that you were using imagery, that response time increased and how quickly you can rotate objects in your head (approx. 90 degrees per second: quantitative evidence for construct of visual imagery, with mental rotation being one type of this.
