Evidence map›Paper›PMID 39630407›Full record

ArticleBehavior research methods2024

Establishing construct validity for dynamic measures of behavior using naturalistic study designs.

Roberto C French, Daniel P Kennedy, Anne C Krendl

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Behavior research methods, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
5citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

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Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

5 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Article
  3. Disentangling the role of executive function and episodic memory in older adults' performance on dynamic theory of mind tasks.Neuropsychology, development, and cognition. Section B, Aging, neuropsychology and cognition · 2025
    Article
  4. Article
  5. Observational
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors.

Roberto C FrenchDepartment of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Indiana University, 1101 E. 10th Street, Bloomington, IN, 47405, USA. robfren@iu.edu.
Daniel P KennedyDepartment of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Indiana University, 1101 E. 10th Street, Bloomington, IN, 47405, USA.
Anne C KrendlDepartment of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Indiana University, 1101 E. 10th Street, Bloomington, IN, 47405, USA.

Funding

Using complex video stimuli to elucidate atypical brain functioning in ASDR01MH110630 · NIMH · TRUSTEES OF INDIANA UNIVERSITY · PI Daniel Patrick Kennedy · 2017 to 2026
$5.6M
Understanding how social connectedness protects older adults' cognitive health: the role of social cognitionR01AG070931 · NIA · TRUSTEES OF INDIANA UNIVERSITY · PI KRENDL, ANNE CATHERINE, PERRY, BREA LOUISE · 2020 to 2024
$3.6M
Dynamic approaches to understanding social cognitive aging: A social network neuroscience approachR01AG075044 · NIA · TRUSTEES OF INDIANA UNIVERSITY · PI Richard F Betzel, Anne Catherine Krendl · 2022 to 2026
$2.7M
NIA NIH HHS R01 AG070931NIA NIH HHS R01 AG075044NIMH NIH HHS R01 MH110630
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

There has been a recent surge of naturalistic methodology to assess complex topics in psychology and neuroscience. Such methods are lauded for their increased ecological validity, aiming to bridge a gap between highly controlled experimental design and purely observational studies. However, these measures present challenges in establishing construct validity. One domain in which this has emerged is research on theory of mind: the ability to infer others' thoughts and emotions. Traditional measures utilize rigid methodology which suffer from ceiling effects and may fail to fully capture how individuals engage theory of mind in everyday interactions. In the present study, we validate and test a novel approach utilizing a naturalistic task to assess theory of mind. Participants watched a mockumentary-style show while using a joystick to provide continuous, real-time theory of mind judgments. A baseline sample's ratings were used to establish a "ground truth" for the judgments. Ratings from separate young and older adult samples were compared against the ground truth to create similarity scores. This similarity score was compared against two independent tasks to assess construct validity: an explicit judgment performance-based paradigm, and a neuroimaging paradigm assessing response to a static measure of theory of mind. The similarity metric did not have ceiling effects and was significantly positively related to both the performance-based and neural measures. It also replicated age effects that other theory of mind measures demonstrate. Together, our multimodal approach provided convergent evidence that dynamic measures of behavior can yield robust and rigorous assessments of complex psychological processes.

Indexed as

Theory of MindAdolescentAdultAgedEmotionsFemaleHumansJudgmentMaleMiddle AgedReproducibility of ResultsResearch DesignYoung AdultDynamic and static stimuliNaturalistic taskNeuroimagingTheory of mind

Identifiers

PMID39630407
PMCPMC12010416

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.