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We don't know what you did last summer. On the importance of transparent reporting of reaction time data pre-processing

  • Hannah Loenneker (Corresponding author)
  • , Erin M. Buchanan (Corresponding author)
  • , Ana Martinovici (Corresponding author)
  • , Maximilian Primbs (Corresponding author)
  • , Mahmoud M. Elsherif (Corresponding author)
  • , Bradley James Baker (Corresponding author)
  • , Leonie Dudda (Corresponding author)
  • , Dušica Filipović Đurđević (Corresponding author)
  • , Ksenija Mišić (Corresponding author)
  • , Hannah Katharina Peetz (Corresponding author)
  • , Jan Phillip Röer (Corresponding author)
  • , Lars Schulze (Corresponding author)
  • , Lisa Wagner (Corresponding author)
  • , Julia Wolska (Corresponding author)
  • , Corinna Kührt (Corresponding author)
  • , Ekaterina Pronizius (Corresponding author)

    Publications: Contribution to journalArticlePeer Reviewed

    Abstract

    In behavioral, cognitive, and social sciences, reaction time measures are an important source of information. However, analyses on reaction time data are affected by researchers' analytical choices and the order in which these choices are applied. The results of a systematic literature review, presented in this paper, revealed that the justification for and order in which analytical choices are conducted are rarely reported, leading to difficulty in reproducing results and interpreting mixed findings. To address this methodological shortcoming, we created a checklist on reporting reaction time pre-processing to make these decisions more explicit, improve transparency, and thus, promote best practices within the field. The importance of the pre-processing checklist was additionally supported by an expert consensus survey and a multiverse analysis. Consequently, we appeal for maximal transparency on all methods applied and offer a checklist to improve replicability and reproducibility of studies that use reaction time measures.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)14-37
    Number of pages24
    JournalCortex
    Volume172
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - Mar 2024

    Austrian Fields of Science 2012

    • 501011 Cognitive psychology
    • 501006 Experimental psychology

    Keywords

    • Checklist
    • Pre-processing
    • Preprocessing
    • Reaction time
    • Transparency
    • Multiverse analysis
    • Expert consensus survey

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