Abstract

Recently, an eye-tracking study found that Complexity and other R-PAS variables located in the Engagement and Cognitive Processing domain correlated with a proxy marker for cognitive effort and engagement. The goal of the current study was to test the robustness and validity of those eye-tracking findings by inspecting fMRI data. We hypothesized that the greater the level of engagement and cognitive effort put in place by a Rorschach test-taker, the greater the engagement of his/her cortical areas reflecting ongoing top-down attentional processes should be. We re-analyzed archival fMRI data from 26 healthy participants exposed to the Rorschach inkblots with the instruction to think of what they might be. The association of various Engagement and Cognitive Processing R-PAS scores to increased BOLD signals in the Dorsal Attention Network of the brain was examined. As expected, Complexity showed the strongest effect size across all R-PAS variables under investigation (d = 0.43), followed by Synthesis (d = 0.32) and Human Movement (d = 0.21). Noteworthy, the correlation between the effect sizes found in the current fMRI study and those found in the previously published eye-tracking study consists of an impressive r = .80.

摘要

最近，一项眼动追踪研究发现，位于参与和认知处理领域的复杂性和其他 R-PAS 变量与认知努力和参与的代理标记相关。当前研究的目标是通过检查 fMRI 数据来测试这些眼动追踪结果的稳健性和有效性。我们假设罗夏测试者的参与度和认知努力水平越高，他/她的皮层区域的参与度就应该越大，反映持续的自上而下的注意力过程。我们重新分析了 26 名暴露于罗夏墨迹的健康参与者的档案 fMRI 数据，并指导他们思考它们可能是什么。检查了各种参与和认知处理 R-PAS 分数与大脑背侧注意网络中增加的 BOLD 信号的关联。正如预期的那样，Complexity 在所有被调查的 R-PAS 变量中显示出最强的影响大小（d  = 0.43)，然后是合成 ( d  = 0.32) 和人体运动 ( d  = 0.21)。值得注意的是，当前 fMRI 研究中发现的效应大小与先前发表的眼动追踪研究中发现的效应大小之间的相关性包括令人印象深刻的r = .80。