The Psychometric Research and Development Lab has an exciting new project crossing disciplines within Psychology

Sep 25, 2017

The Psychometric Research and Development (PRD) Lab has an exciting new project crossing disciplines within Psychology. A fifth year quantitative graduate student,Matthew Barrett, recently received a seed grant from the Center of Advanced Brain Imaging (CABI) to conduct his dissertation project titled “Integrating Neuroimaging and Behavioral Data Using the Multidimensional Generalized Graded Unfolding Model for the Response Process.” The project seeks to merge neuroimaging methodologies with a quantitative item response theory (IRT) model developed in the PRD Lab. It will measure the degree to which neural signal collected from a task performed during a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) session can inform and reduce error in parameter estimation in an IRT model using self-reported preference data from the same task. Simultaneously, information about the multidimensional latent continuum established by the IRT model will be utilized to increase signal-to-noise in the fMRI data. The $8,500 grant will be used to fund data collection at CABI; it is the first research project of its kind to attempt to interface the two data modalities.