Assessing clinically relevant perceptual organization with multidimensional scaling techniques.
Multidimensional scaling (MDS) techniques provide a promising measurement strategy for characterizing individual differences in cognitive processing, which many clinical theories associate with the development, maintenance, and treatment of psychopathology. The authors describe the use of deterministic and probabilistic MDS techniques for investigating numerous aspects of perceptual organization, such as dimensional attention, perceptual correlation, within-attribute organization, and perceptual variability. Additionally, they discuss how formal quantitative models can be used, in conjunction with MDS-derived representations of individual differences in perceptual organization, to test theories about the role of cognitive processing in clinically relevant phenomena. They include applied examples from their work in the areas of eating disorders and sexual coercion.
Treat
Teresa A
TA
Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, USA. teresa.treat@yale.edu
McFall
Richard M
RM
Viken
Richard J
RJ
Nosofsky
Robert M
RM
MacKay
David B
DB
Kruschke
John K
JK
D003068:Coercion; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D001068:Feeding and Eating Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D007206:Individuality; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010468:Perceptual Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D011594:Psychometrics; D011902:Rape / Q000523:psychology