Does opportunistic testing bias cognitive performance in primates? Learning from drop-outs.

ABSTRACT: Dropouts are a common issue in cognitive tests with non-human primates. One main reason for dropouts is that researchers often face a trade-off between obtaining a sufficiently large sample size and logistic restrictions, such as limited access to testing facilities. The commonly-used opportunistic testing approach deals with this trade-off by only testing those individuals who readily participate and complete the cognitive tasks within a given time frame. All other individuals are excluded from further testing and data analysis. However, it is unknown if this approach merely excludes subjects who are not consistently motivated to participate, or if these dropouts systematically differ in cognitive ability. If the latter holds, the selection bias resulting from opportunistic testing would

SUBMITTER: Schubiger MN 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6426242 | biostudies-literature | 2019

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature