Combining Speed and Accuracy in Cognitive Psychology: Is the Inverse Efficiency Score (IES) a Better Dependent Variable than the Mean Reaction Time (RT) and the Percentage Of Errors (PE)?
Experiments in cognitive psychology usually return two dependent variables: the percentage of errors and the reaction time of the correct responses. Townsend and Ashby (1978, 1983) proposed the inverse efficiency score (IES) as a way to combine both measures and, hence, to provide a better summary o...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Ubiquity Press
2011-02-01
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| Series: | Psychologica Belgica |
| Online Access: | http://www.psychologicabelgica.com/articles/53 |
| _version_ | 1811286457424281600 |
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| author | Raymond Bruyer Marc Brysbaert |
| author_facet | Raymond Bruyer Marc Brysbaert |
| author_sort | Raymond Bruyer |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Experiments in cognitive psychology usually return two dependent variables: the percentage of errors and the reaction time of the correct responses. Townsend and Ashby (1978, 1983) proposed the inverse efficiency score (IES) as a way to combine both measures and, hence, to provide a better summary of the findings. In this article we examine the usefulness of IES by applying it to existing datasets. Although IES does give a better summary of the findings in some cases, mostly the variance of the measure is increased to such an extent that it becomes less interesting. Against our initial hopes, we have to conclude that it is not a good idea to limit the statistical analyses to IES without further checking the data. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-13T03:00:14Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-dc38760efdc14028a8a1477ffd7aea75 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 0033-2879 2054-670X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-13T03:00:14Z |
| publishDate | 2011-02-01 |
| publisher | Ubiquity Press |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Psychologica Belgica |
| spelling | doaj.art-dc38760efdc14028a8a1477ffd7aea752022-12-22T03:05:28ZengUbiquity PressPsychologica Belgica0033-28792054-670X2011-02-0151151310.5334/pb-51-1-553Combining Speed and Accuracy in Cognitive Psychology: Is the Inverse Efficiency Score (IES) a Better Dependent Variable than the Mean Reaction Time (RT) and the Percentage Of Errors (PE)?Raymond Bruyer0Marc Brysbaert1Institute of Research in Psychological Science; Systems and Cognition Neuroscience, University of Louvain-la-NeuveDepartment of Experimental Psychology, Ghent UniversityExperiments in cognitive psychology usually return two dependent variables: the percentage of errors and the reaction time of the correct responses. Townsend and Ashby (1978, 1983) proposed the inverse efficiency score (IES) as a way to combine both measures and, hence, to provide a better summary of the findings. In this article we examine the usefulness of IES by applying it to existing datasets. Although IES does give a better summary of the findings in some cases, mostly the variance of the measure is increased to such an extent that it becomes less interesting. Against our initial hopes, we have to conclude that it is not a good idea to limit the statistical analyses to IES without further checking the data.http://www.psychologicabelgica.com/articles/53 |
| spellingShingle | Raymond Bruyer Marc Brysbaert Combining Speed and Accuracy in Cognitive Psychology: Is the Inverse Efficiency Score (IES) a Better Dependent Variable than the Mean Reaction Time (RT) and the Percentage Of Errors (PE)? Psychologica Belgica |
| title | Combining Speed and Accuracy in Cognitive Psychology: Is the Inverse Efficiency Score (IES) a Better Dependent Variable than the Mean Reaction Time (RT) and the Percentage Of Errors (PE)? |
| title_full | Combining Speed and Accuracy in Cognitive Psychology: Is the Inverse Efficiency Score (IES) a Better Dependent Variable than the Mean Reaction Time (RT) and the Percentage Of Errors (PE)? |
| title_fullStr | Combining Speed and Accuracy in Cognitive Psychology: Is the Inverse Efficiency Score (IES) a Better Dependent Variable than the Mean Reaction Time (RT) and the Percentage Of Errors (PE)? |
| title_full_unstemmed | Combining Speed and Accuracy in Cognitive Psychology: Is the Inverse Efficiency Score (IES) a Better Dependent Variable than the Mean Reaction Time (RT) and the Percentage Of Errors (PE)? |
| title_short | Combining Speed and Accuracy in Cognitive Psychology: Is the Inverse Efficiency Score (IES) a Better Dependent Variable than the Mean Reaction Time (RT) and the Percentage Of Errors (PE)? |
| title_sort | combining speed and accuracy in cognitive psychology is the inverse efficiency score ies a better dependent variable than the mean reaction time rt and the percentage of errors pe |
| url | http://www.psychologicabelgica.com/articles/53 |
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