Pitfalls in the use of sensors in human sciences

1. Pitfalls in the use of sensors in human sciences Pitfall (http://www.thefreedictionary.com/pitfall) 1. An unapparent source of trouble or danger; a hidden hazard: "potential pitfalls stemming from their optimistic inflation assumptions" (New York Times). 2. A concealed hole in the ground that serves as a trap. Juni, 2011 Johan Trettvik

3. Theme of presentation Some of the pitfalls when using physiological data in the understanding of psychological phenomena…. And other things as well. Agenda: 0. Earlyuse of galvanic skin response in psychology 1. The individual and its environment 2. The physiology of what? 3. The hazard of cause and effect 4. The experiment and its status 5. Exploring the world and the value of a good theory at hand 6. Status

4. 0. Earlyuse of galvanic skin response in psychology C.G. Jung (1906): Studies in Word Analysis. Measuring the galvanic skin response to wordon a list hefoundthatsomewordsevokedlargerbodyresistance (sweat) thanothers. Thiswas, claimed Jung, an indicator of conflicts in patients, unconsciousfeelings and beliefs to befurtherexplored in therapy.

5. 1. The individual and its environment

6. Barker "One might think that psychology would have become informed about the fundamental nature of the ecological environment in the course of its study of the context of behavior. But this is not the case. It is not the case because psychology has attended almost exclusively to those elements of the environment that are useful in probing the behavior-relevant circuitry within the skins of its subjects." (Barker, 1968, p. 4)

7. The house(s) of psychology

8. Gibson "Zoology classifies [the animals] by heredity and anatomy, by phylum, class, order, genus, and species, but psychology can classify them by their way of life, as predatory or preyed upon, terrestrial or aquatic, crawling or walking, flying or nonflying, and arboreal or ground-living. We are more interested in ways of life than in heredity" (Gibson, 1979, p. 7).

9. 2. The physiology of what? "I will therefore only say this: that the latest breeze from the physiological horizon need not necessarily be the most important one." (James, 1881, http://www.readbookonline.net/readOnLine/23342/)

10. Canphysiologyspecifypsychologicalstates (like emotions)? James-Lange theory, ca. 1880  Yes, sort of Cannon-Bardtheory, ca. 1920  No, ANS not specificenough Lazarus theory, ca. 1970  Well, yes and no, youneed to ”evaluate” the contextfirst

11. GSR, heart rate, blood pressure and respiration rate akathe polygraph

12. Bio feedback

13. 3. The hazard of cause and effect Of course, thisdoes not happen for statisticians, but for usmortals it is verytempting to makeinferencesbasedoncorrellations. Bewary! Alsowhen it creeps in more subtle. And as a sidenote: Statisticalsignificanceis not the same as being (psychological) relevant! A ? B A B B A A B C A B

14. ”Stephen Kosslyn points to the "mind'seye" at the back of the brainwherevisualmemoriesarereplayedintoconsciousness. Both true and imagined scenes areplayedon the same screen, sometimesleading to confusion. ” http://www.hno.harvard.edu/gazette/1999/04.15/magnetism.html (link is dead) More onKosslyn: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Kosslyn

15. ”The mind’seye” "to what extent are we the authors, the creators, of our own experiences? How much are these predetermined by the brains or senses we are born with, and to what extent do we shape our brains through experiences?“ Sacks, O. (2010): The Mind’s Eye, London: Picador, p. 202 Whowe? Me?

16. 4. The experiment and its status "Psychology knows how people behave under the conditions of experiments and clinical procedures, but it knows little about the distribution of these and other conditions, and of their behavior resultants, outside of laboratories and clinics" Barker, 1968, p. 2

18. Why Most Published Research Findings are False "Corollary 3: The greater the number and the lesser the selection of tested relationships in a scientific field, the less likely the research findings are to be true." & " Corollary 4: The greater the flexibility in designs, definitions, outcomes, and analytical modes in a scientific field, the less likely the research findings are to be true." Ioannidis, 2005, p. 698

19. ”Real life” is a game of croquet in Alice in Wonderland "'Get to your places!' shouted the Queen in a voice of thunder, and people began running about in all directions, tumbling up against each other; however, they got settled down in a minute or two, and the game began. Alice thought she had never seen such a curious croquet-ground in her life; it was all ridges and furrows; the balls were live hedgehogs, the mallets live flamingoes, and the soldiers had to double themselves up and to stand on their hands and feet, to make the arches. The chief difficulty Alice found at first was in managing her flamingo: she succeeded in getting its body tucked away, comfortably enough, under her arm, with its legs hanging down, but generally, just as she had got its neck nicely straightened out, and was going to give the hedgehog a blow with its head, it would twist itself round and look up in her face, with such a puzzled expression that she could not help bursting out laughing: and when she had got its head down, and was going to begin again, it was very provoking to find that the hedgehog had unrolled itself, and was in the act of crawling away: besides all this, there was generally a ridge or furrow in the way wherever she wanted to send the hedgehog to, and, as the doubled-up soldiers were always getting up and walking off to other parts of the ground, Alice soon came to the conclusion that it was a very difficult game indeed. "

20. 5. Exploring the world and the value of a good theory at hand =? penicillin http://www.cosmosmagazine.com/features/print/1463/how-i-discovered-viagra

21. A little person on a largerperson’sshoulder (Orion carryingCedalion)

22. Selectivereporting "While acupuncture is widely accepted as a medical treatment in various Asian countries, its use is much more contested in the West. These cultural differences have profoundly influenced the results of clinical trials. Between 1966 and 1995, there were forty-seven studies of acupuncture in China, Taiwan, and Japan, and every single trial concluded that acupuncture was an effective treatment. During the same period, there were ninety-four clinical trials of acupuncture in the United States, Sweden, and the U.K., and only fifty-six per cent of these studies found any therapeutic benefits. As Palmer notes, this wide discrepancy suggests that scientists find ways to confirm their preferred hypothesis, disregarding what they don’t want to see. Our beliefs are a form of blindness." The Truth Wears off, Jonah Lehrer: http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/12/13/101213fa_fact_lehrer

23. There is nothing more practical than a good theory– Kurt Lewin

24. 6. Status as suggestions: 1) Be wary about claims that physiology causes psychic activity (the "mental") or that psychic activity causes physiological response. Psychology and physiology holds two set of complimentary explanations, each with its field, tools and languages. They are at times interested in the same phenomena, and most projects are strengthened by using tools from both sides, but they are not (necessarily) causally related. 2) Begin with a description and understanding of the surroundings, the habitat and the environment. Select your level of description carefully depending on your interest. 3)Try to have clear hypothesis, with sharp operationalizations and abstractions to avoid muddling and confusion. Pick a sound and consistent theory.

25. References and suggestedreadings: • Barker, R. (1968): Ecological Psychology, Concepts and Methods for Studying the Environment of Human Behavior, Stanford: Stanford University Press • Bateson, G. (1972/2000): Steps to an Ecology of Mind. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press • Gibson, E. J. (1991): An Odyssey in Learning and Perception: Cambridge: The MIT Press • Gibson, J. J. (1966): The Senses Considered as Perceptual Systems. London: George Allen & Unwin Ltd. • Gibson, J. J. (1979/1986): The Ecological Approach to Visual Perception. Hillsdale: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers • Ioannidis, J. P. A. (2005): Why Most Published Research Findings Are False. PLoS Med 2(8): e124. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.0020124 • James, W. (1881): Reflex Action and Theism d.d. 11.06.09: http://www.readbookonline.net/readOnLine/23342/) • James, W. (1912/2003): Essays in Radical Empiricism. New York: Dover Publications, Inc. • Reed, E. S. (1996): Encountering the World: Toward an Ecological Psychology. New York: Oxford University Press • Reed, E. S. (1997): From Soul to Mind. The Emergence of Psychology from Erasmus Darwin to William James: New Haven: Yale University Press • Schoggen, P. (1989): Behavior Settings. Stanford: Stanford University Press