Background: Research reproducibility and effect replication has become a topic of major concern throughout the social sciences. During the last decade, low replication rates of published research findings became a major issue across disciplines in the social and behavioral sciences, leading to the public proclamation of a "replication…

This paper aims to advocate for a balanced approach to model fit evaluation in structural equation modeling (SEM). The ongoing debate surrounding chi-square test statistics and fit indices has been characterized by ambiguity and controversy. Despite the acknowledged limitations of relying solely on the chi-square test, its careful application can…

The replication crisis in social and behavioral sciences has raised concerns about the reliability and validity of empirical studies. While research in the literature has explored contributing factors to this crisis, the issues related to analytical tools have received less attention. This study focuses on a widely used analytical tool -…

The ability to organize variable sensory signals into discrete categories is a fundamental process in human cognition thought to underlie many real-world learning problems. Decades of research suggests that two learning systems may support category learning and that categories with different distributional structures (rule-based,…

Bayesian approach is becoming increasingly important as it provides many advantages in dealing with complex data. However, there is no well-defined model selection criterion or index in a Bayesian context. To address the challenges, new indices are needed. The goal of this study is to propose new model selection indices and to investigate their…

The current study adds to a growing body of behavioral research aimed at learning about changes in behavior over time. In this proof-of-concept study, functional analyses were conducted every 6-8 weeks with eight children diagnosed with ASD receiving early intervention services at a community-based clinic. The goal of this study was to develop a…

Although assessment for special education services continues to be a primary role of school psychologists, an increased role in behavioral assessment and treatment has been noted over time. This indicates a need for behavior analytic research within the school psychology literature. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the frequency…

The US continues to transition toward a majority-minority composition and this trend has advanced most rapidly for school-aged children. Clinical work with diverse populations, and their families, calls for specialized skills and training experiences; however, these are not yet strongly reflected in most pre-service training programs in applied…

Background: There has been a rapid increase in the number of, and demand for, organisations offering behavioural science advice to government over the last ten years. Yet we know little of the state of science and the experiences of these evidence providers. Aims and objectives: To identify current practice in this emerging field and the factors…

With its long tradition, research on misconceptions helps to understand how concepts are learned and how learning in the disciplines can be supported. Up to now, research on misconceptions has focused on natural sciences, while research on misconceptions in behavioral sciences is scarce, not to say absent. In this study an attempt was made to…

Theories of memory consolidation suggest that initially rich, vivid memories become more gist-like over time. However, it is unclear whether gist-like representations reflect a loss of detail through degradation or the blending of experiences into statistical averages, and whether the strength of these representations increases, decreases, or…

Lag schedules increase operant variability. Several researchers have explored their clinical and educational applications, especially to address repetitive behavior or limited repertoires in individuals with autism spectrum disorder. In the current study, we provide the first comprehensive synthesis and appraisal of lag schedule research in…

In this Methods Showcase Article, we outline a workflow for running behavioral experiments online, with a focus on experiments that rely on presentation of complex stimuli and measurement of reaction times, which includes many psycholinguistic experiments. The workflow that we describe here relies on three tools: OpenSesame/OSWeb (open source)…

Behavior analysis is the scientific study of behavior. Radical behaviorism is the worldview of behavior analysts and this perspective drives how we think about behavior, assess the influences on behavior, and develop strategies to change behavior. There is evidence that some behavior analysts are using interventions that are not conceptually…

Composite scores are an exceptionally important psychometric tool for behavioral science research applications. A prototypical example occurs with self-report data, where researchers routinely use questionnaires with multiple items that tap into different features of a target construct. Item-level missing data are endemic to composite score…