Use multilevel modeling rather than difference scores to analyze switch costs with continuous predictors¶

Strategy · All strategies
Evidence · no claims cited

Description¶

The article advocates multilevel modeling over traditional subtraction-based difference scores for switch-cost analysis, noting it does not require "homoscedasticity (homogeneity of variances), compound symmetry, and sphericity" and permits "testing of interactions between discrete and continuous predictors." The authors modeled cross-level interactions between trial-type contrasts (within-subjects) and standardized inhibition or working-memory scores (between-subjects), trimming non-significant three-way interactions. This approach allowed direct tests of whether individual differences in executive skills moderated cost magnitudes while controlling perseveration.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Repeated-measures experimental data with trial-level observations nested within children
• Standardized predictor scores so effect magnitudes are directly comparable

Constraints¶

• As a class of the linear model, multilevel modeling retains some distributional assumptions

Target Learners¶

• preschool children in repeated-measures executive-task batteries

Target Learning Goals¶

• quantifying how individual executive skills relate to flexibility components

Related Strategies¶

• Model perseveration explicitly when computing switch costs in young children

Examples¶

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Key Sources¶

• Chevalier N., Sheffield T. D., Nelson J. M., Clark C. A. C., Wiebe S. A., Espy K. A. (2012). Underpinnings of the Costs of Flexibility in Preschool Children: The Roles of Inhibition and Working Memory. Developmental Neuropsychology. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3308575/