eprintid: 22279
rev_number: 16
eprint_status: archive
userid: 2870
dir: disk0/00/02/22/79
datestamp: 2016-12-12 09:00:59
lastmod: 2017-01-20 11:17:54
status_changed: 2016-12-12 09:00:59
type: doctoralThesis
metadata_visibility: show
creators_name: Lerche, Veronika
title: Parameter Estimation in Diffusion Modeling:
Guidelines on Requisite Trial Numbers and Estimation Procedures
subjects: ddc-150
divisions: i-100200
adv_faculty: af-10
cterms_swd: Diffusionsmodell
cterms_swd: Mathematische Psychologie
cterms_swd: Parameterschätzung
abstract: The Diffusion Model (Ratcliff, 1978) is a mathematical model that allows the disentangling of several cognitive processes involved in binary decision tasks. Although the model has gained in popularity within the last decade, strikingly little is known about the prerequisites of diffusion modeling. In this thesis, based on both simulation studies and test-retest studies, the performance of different estimation procedures and numbers of trials was compared. The studies were based on fast-dm-30, the newest version of the program fast-dm, which has been extended to include three different optimization criteria (Kolmogorov-Smirnov, Maximum Likelihood, and Chi-Square). The three main guidelines that emerged from this research were: (1) Chi-Square performs worse than the other two criteria for small- to medium-sized trial numbers; (2) Increasing the number of trials beyond 500 is of limited advantage as the precision of parameter estimation improves only marginally; and (3) Fixing the intertrial variabilities of drift rate and starting point can bring about more reliable estimates of the four main diffusion model parameters (i.e., drift rate, threshold separation, starting point, and nondecision time).
date: 2016
id_scheme: DOI
id_number: 10.11588/heidok.00022279
ppn_swb: 1655383973
own_urn: urn:nbn:de:bsz:16-heidok-222799
date_accepted: 2016-12-02
advisor: HASH(0x55f3693f0b50)
language: eng
bibsort: LERCHEVEROPARAMETERE2016
full_text_status: public
citation:   Lerche, Veronika  (2016) Parameter Estimation in Diffusion Modeling: Guidelines on Requisite Trial Numbers and Estimation Procedures.  [Dissertation]     
document_url: https://archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/volltextserver/22279/1/diss_lerche_veronika_2016.pdf