Predicting and measuring how psychological processes change over time

What is it about?

Psychologists are interested in predicting and measuring psychological processes. To do this, we will usually conduct experiments where we observe behaviour in a controlled setting. We have sophisticated statistical tools to measure people's psychological processes in these settings. However, most of these tools are unable to measure how these processes **change** across time. For example, over the course of an experiment, people could learn, get bored, or tired, which means their psychological states change. We developed a mathematical modelling framework that lets researchers account for these contexts where psychological states change over time. Specifically, our new modelling framework outlines how we can predict and measure how the cognitive processes underlying decision-making vary systematically.

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Photo by Faustina Okeke on Unsplash

Photo by Faustina Okeke on Unsplash

Why is it important?

Being able to measure and predict how psychological states change over time is important if we want to be able to accurately understand psychological phenomenon. Using our models, we found that many psychological processes that people previously assumed were constant actually change systematically across time as a result of processes such as learning. Our model enables more accurate measurement of psychological processes, and let's researchers develop better theories that can account for dynamic processes.

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