TY - JOUR
T1 - On the interpretation of removable interactions
T2 - A survey of the field 33 years after Loftus
AU - Wagenmakers, Eric Jan
AU - Krypotos, Angelos Miltiadis
AU - Criss, Amy H.
AU - Iverson, Geoff
N1 - Funding Information:
The present research was supported by a Vidi grant from the Dutch Organization for Scientific Research (to E.J.W.) and National Science Foundation Grant 0951612 (to A.H.C.). A-M. K. is a scholar of the Alexander S. Onassis Public Benefit Foundation. We thank Rene Zeelenberg, Doug Hintzman, Geoff Loftus, and Roddy Roediger for helpful comments on an earlier draft of this article. Correspondence concerning this article may be addressed to E-J. Wagenmakers, University of Amsterdam, Department of Psychology, Roetersstraat 15, 1018 WB Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
PY - 2012
Y1 - 2012
N2 - In a classic 1978 Memory & Cognition article, Geoff Loftus explained why noncrossover interactions are removable. These removable interactions are tied to the scale of measurement for the dependent variable and therefore do not allow unambiguous conclusions about latent psychological processes. In the present article, we present concrete examples of how this insight helps prevent experimental psychologists from drawing incorrect conclusions about the effects of forgetting and aging. In addition, we extend the Loftus classification scheme for interactions to include those on the cusp between removable and nonremovable. Finally, we use various methods (i. e., a study of citation histories, a questionnaire for psychology students and faculty members, an analysis of statistical textbooks, and a review of articles published in the 2008 issue of Psychology andAging) to show that experimental psychologists have remained generally unaware of the concept of removable interactions. We conclude that there is more to interactions in a 2 × 2 design than meets the eye.
AB - In a classic 1978 Memory & Cognition article, Geoff Loftus explained why noncrossover interactions are removable. These removable interactions are tied to the scale of measurement for the dependent variable and therefore do not allow unambiguous conclusions about latent psychological processes. In the present article, we present concrete examples of how this insight helps prevent experimental psychologists from drawing incorrect conclusions about the effects of forgetting and aging. In addition, we extend the Loftus classification scheme for interactions to include those on the cusp between removable and nonremovable. Finally, we use various methods (i. e., a study of citation histories, a questionnaire for psychology students and faculty members, an analysis of statistical textbooks, and a review of articles published in the 2008 issue of Psychology andAging) to show that experimental psychologists have remained generally unaware of the concept of removable interactions. We conclude that there is more to interactions in a 2 × 2 design than meets the eye.
KW - Literature review
KW - Measurement scale
KW - Statistics in psychology
KW - Transformations
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84863562742&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84863562742&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3758/s13421-011-0158-0
DO - 10.3758/s13421-011-0158-0
M3 - Article
C2 - 22069144
AN - SCOPUS:84863562742
SN - 0090-502X
VL - 40
SP - 145
EP - 160
JO - Memory and Cognition
JF - Memory and Cognition
IS - 2
ER -