A reminder on millisecond timing accuracy and potential replication failure in computer-based psychology experiments: An open letter

Behavior Research Methods
Richard R Plant

Abstract

There is an ongoing 'replication crisis' across the field of psychology in which researchers, funders, and members of the public are questioning the results of some scientific studies and the validity of the data they are based upon. However, few have considered that a growing proportion of research in modern psychology is conducted using a computer. Could it simply be that the hardware and software, or experiment generator, being used to run the experiment itself be a cause of millisecond timing error and subsequent replication failure? This article serves as a reminder that millisecond timing accuracy in psychology studies remains an important issue and that care needs to be taken to ensure that studies can be replicated on current computer hardware and software.

References

Jul 12, 2002·Behavior Research Methods, Instruments, & Computers : a Journal of the Psychonomic Society, Inc·Richard R PlantTom Whitehouse
Jul 2, 2003·Behavior Research Methods, Instruments, & Computers : a Journal of the Psychonomic Society, Inc·Richard R PlantTom Whitehouse
Sep 10, 2004·Behavior Research Methods, Instruments, & Computers : a Journal of the Psychonomic Society, Inc·Richard R PlantGarry Turner
May 4, 2013·Cognitive, Affective & Behavioral Neuroscience·Richard R Plant, Philip T Quinlan
Jan 10, 2014·Journal of Neurophysiology·Michael J Crosse, Edmund C Lalor
May 29, 2014·Journal of Experimental Psychology. General·Josine Verhagen, Eric-Jan Wagenmakers
Oct 11, 2014·PloS One·Pablo GaraizarDiego López-de-Ipiña
Nov 20, 2014·Behavior Research Methods·Jonathan S BarnhoornHenk van Steenbergen
Dec 10, 2014·Human Brain Mapping·Holger F SperdinTheodor Landis
Nov 1, 2012·Perspectives on Psychological Science : a Journal of the Association for Psychological Science·Harold Pashler, Eric-Jan Wagenmakers

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Citations

Apr 1, 2016·BMC Bioinformatics·Miguel A Vadillo, Pablo Garaizar
Jul 17, 2016·Behavior Research Methods·Stian Reimers, Neil Stewart
Aug 18, 2016·Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology·Joshua P SalmonGail A Eskes
Sep 17, 2017·Behavior Research Methods·Pablo Garaizar, Miguel A Vadillo
Mar 14, 2018·Behavior Research Methods·Gong-Liang ZhangYang Zhang
Nov 3, 2020·Frontiers in Human Neuroscience·Jameson HoldenMark Tommerdahl
Oct 27, 2020·Journal of Experimental Social Psychology·Lukas RöselerChristian Seida
Jan 28, 2021·Military Medicine·Oleg FavorovMark Tommerdahl
Nov 4, 2020·Behavior Research Methods·Alexander Anwyl-IrvineJo K Evershed
Jul 10, 2021·Behavior Research Methods·Tricia X F Seow, Tobias U Hauser
Apr 29, 2019··Andreas SchmidFlorian Bockes

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