How Smartphones Can Change Cognitive Science Research
Author Information
Author(s): Dufau Stephane, Duñabeitia Jon Andoni, Moret-Tatay Carmen, McGonigal Aileen, Peeters David, Alario F.-Xavier, Balota David A., Brysbaert Marc, Carreiras Manuel, Ferrand Ludovic, Ktori Maria, Perea Manuel, Rastle Kathy, Sasburg Olivier, Yap Melvin J., Ziegler Johannes C., Grainger Jonathan
Primary Institution: CNRS, UMR 6146, Marseille, France
Hypothesis
Can smartphone technology be used to collect cognitive science data from a diverse population?
Conclusion
Using smartphones allows researchers to gather data from thousands of participants worldwide, enhancing the study of cognitive processes.
Supporting Evidence
- The study collected data from 4157 participants in just four months.
- Smartphones provide high temporal and spatial resolution for cognitive experiments.
- Response time distributions from smartphones were similar to those obtained in laboratory conditions.
- The method allows for large-scale cross-linguistic comparisons.
- Participants could voluntarily provide demographic data for analysis.
Takeaway
This study shows that we can use smartphones to do science better by getting more people to help us with experiments, which helps us understand how our minds work.
Methodology
Participants used a smartphone app to perform a lexical decision task, providing data on response times and accuracy.
Potential Biases
Potential bias due to the demographic of smartphone users, primarily younger individuals.
Limitations
The study may have a sampling bias as many smartphone users are younger, but it also reaches a more diverse population than traditional methods.
Participant Demographics
Participants included a diverse population from various countries and languages.
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
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