The word-frequency effect (WFE) in recognition memory refers to the finding that more rare words are better recognized than more common words. We demonstrate that a familiarity-discrimination model operating on data from a semantic word-association space yields a robust WFE in data on both hit rates and false-alarm rates. Our modeling results suggest that word frequency is encoded in the semant...

Item response theory is a large sample procedure to estimate item parameters based on individual response strings. However, what happens when the data available to estimate item parameters is small? This situation is common when new assessment items are tried out for inclusion in future operational assessments, commonly called field testing. In field tests, many items are spread out over a fixe...

Objective The objective of this study was to report the item response theory (IRT) calibration of an 18-item bank to measure general physical function (GPF) in a wide range of conditions and evaluate the validity of the derived scores. Methods All 18 items were administered to a large sample of patients (n=2337) who responded to the items in the context of their outpatient rehabilitation care...

BACKGROUND We tested the properties of the 18 Household Food Security Survey (HFSS) items, and the validity of the resulting food security classifications, in an English-speaking middle-income country. METHODS Survey of primary school children in Trinidad and Tobago. Parents completed the HFSS. Responses were analysed for the 10 adult-referenced items and the eight child-referenced items. Ite...

Two groups of rabbits were trained on a brightness discrimination task. A two-choice discrimination apparatus was used. By means of food reward one group of rabbits was trained to open the darkest gate, the other was trained to open the brightest gate. The second group learned significantly faster than the first one.

OBJECTIVES To develop a one-dimensional version of the 22-item Zarit Caregiver Burden Interview (ZBI) by applying item response theory approaches. METHODS The answers to the 22-item ZBI of 241 caregivers participating in a clinical trial were analyzed 1) with a Mokken nonparametric item response theory analysis to ascertain the dimensional structure underlying the scale and obtain a one-dimen...

PURPOSE The present work describes how vocabulary ability as assessed by 3 different forms of the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT; Dunn & Dunn, 1997) can be placed on a common latent metric through item response theory (IRT) modeling, by which valid comparisons of ability between samples or over time can then be made. METHOD Responses from 2,625 cases in a longitudinal study of 697 pers...

In more than one respect, visual search for the most salient or the least salient item in a display are different kinds of visual tasks. The present work investigated whether this difference is primarily one of perceptual difficulty, or whether it is more fundamental and relates to visual attention. Display items of different salience were produced by varying either size, contrast, color satura...

OBJECTIVE Education is expected to have an effect on differential item functioning (DIF) on the 15-item Modified Boston Naming Test in the Korean version of the Consortium to Establish a Registry for Alzheimer's Disease Assessment Packet (BNT-KC). However, no study has examined DIF in the BNT-KC. METHODS We used the item response theory to investigate the impact of education on the DIF in the...

AIM To develop and psychometrically test the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit-Nursing Knowledge and Skills Test - a multiple-choice test for measuring the key nursing knowledge and skills required for safe, competent practice. BACKGROUND Intensive care graduate nurse residency or orientation programmes are key strategies in the development of safe and competent practitioners. Essential to these...