Under Review

The following articles have been submitted and are currently undergoing peer review or reproducibility checks. Get in touch at contact@replicationresearch.org if you want to join review so that we can plan accordingly. You can do so via our system or via PREreview.org.

• Pre-Review Revision

  A comment on “A Mother's Voice: Impacts of Spousal Communication Training on Child Health Investments”

  Evan Veer, Lenka Fiala
  Handling editor: not yet assigned
  Submitted: 2026-10-12

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  Abstract

  Björkman Nyqvist et al. (2024) evaluate a randomized experiment in rural Uganda that studies whether strengthening women’s communication skills within marriage can shift household decisions toward greater investment in child health. All treatments provide health and nutrition training, varying whether mothers or fathers are involved, while one additional treatment incorporates a communication skills curriculum for mothers, allowing the authors to isolate the effect of communication. The authors report five core findings: First, women offered communication training report improved relationship quality. Second, the communication treatment increases the frequency of discussions between spouses about health and finances, but does not improve men’s health knowledge, indicating limited information transmission. Third, communication training does not increase the adoption of health-promoting behaviors beyond the gains from women’s health training alone. Fourth, the communication training shifts household spending, particularly on meat and fish. Fifth, none of the treatments improves the study's primary child health outcomes. We successfully computationally reproduce the paper's main claims, and show that the results are robust to corrections for multiple hypothesis testing, inclusion of control variables in analyses, and an alternative definition of relationship quality measure.

• Pre-Review Revision

  The Different Meanings of Response Variability: A Preregistered Replication and Extension

  Leistner, Moritz, Balcerzak, Laura, Erhardt, Moritz, Wiedenroth, Anne, Wetzel, Eunike, Leising, Daniel
  Handling editor: not yet assigned
  Submitted: 2026-10-08

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  Abstract

  Response variability in questionnaires may reflect substantive differences, stable response tendencies, as well as careless responding, yet these interpretations are rarely examined together. In a preregistered laboratory study, 67 participants completed the same questionnaire under two truthful, an overtly careless, and a covertly careless instruction while adherence was monitored. We examined whether corrected response variability generalized across four content-diverse measures and how well common careless-responding indicators distinguished truthful from careless records. For the preregistered item-set operationalization, cross-measure correlations averaged r = .40 and .45 across the two truthful conditions, whereas the corresponding strict Baird-style correlations averaged r = .20 and .26. Overall corrected variability was highly stable across truthful assessments (item-set r = .92; strict r = .83) and remained moderately stable between truthful and careless conditions. Overall raw item-set variability was lower under careless instructions, whereas strict Baird-style variability was highest under covert carelessness. For carelessness in adherence-confirmed analyses, page time showed the strongest discrimination (AUCs = .85~.88), followed by retest correspondence, attention checks, and fake-adjective accuracy; longstring performed weakly. These findings indicate that response variability contains stable individual differences while also being sensitive to task engagement.

• Pre-Review Revision

  Mental Timing in Locomotion: Walking Across Real and Imagined Distances

  Elise E Van Caenegem, Gaëlle Lorge, Marcos Moreno-Verdú, Charlène Truong, Baptiste M Waltzing, Robert M Hardwick
  Handling editor: Irene Plank
  Submitted: 2026-09-09

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  Abstract

  Abstract

  The present study aimed to directly replicate the seminal findings of Decety et al. (1989), while also extending the original work with a larger sample size and additional statistical analyses.

  Thirty healthy adults completed both imagined and executed walking tasks over distances of 5, 10, and 15 meters. Participants also completed the Movement Imagery Questionnaire-3 (MIQ-3). Temporal correspondence between imagined and executed walking was assessed using repeated-measures ANOVA, correlation analyses, Bayesian equivalence tests, and Bland– Altman analyses.

  Walking duration increased significantly with distance, while no significant differences were observed between imagined and executed walking times. Bayesian equivalence tests provided evidence supporting temporal equivalence between the two modalities, and Bland–Altman analyses indicated good agreement with minimal systematic bias. Strong positive correlations were found between imagined and executed durations at all distances. MIQ-3 scores were not significantly associated with differences between imagined and executed walking durations.

  Overall, the findings successfully replicate and extend the original results reported by Decety et al. (1989), providing additional evidence supporting temporal equivalence between motor imagery and movement execution. By combining a larger sample size with contemporary statistical approaches, the present study strengthens support for the principle of functional equivalence for highly automated and cyclic movements.

• Under review (1st round)

  No evidence for Nonconscious Goal Pursuit in Novel Environments: A Replication of Eitam et al.’s (2008) Experiment 2

  Jason M. Prenoveau, Matthew W Kirkhart
  Handling editor: Steven Verheyen
  Submitted: 2026-09-03

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  Abstract

  In two experiments, Eitam, Hassin, and Schul (2008) found evidence that priming of nonconscious goal pursuit could extend beyond reproductions of past associations and facilitate novel learning, specifically implicit learning. Given the implications of such findings and dearth of subsequent investigations of this phenomenon, we conducted a direct replication of their second experiment using materials graciously shared by the original authors. Despite using a sample size that provided .80 power to detect the original effect size, we failed to find evidence that priming of nonconscious goal pursuit facilitated implicit learning. Our replication was conducted as part of the Reproducibility Project: Psychology (Open Science Collaboration, 2015) and study preregistration, materials, and data are available online (https://osf.io/edcr7).

• With editor (1st decision)

  Re-analyzing ``I Hope to Hell Nothing Goes Back to The Way It Was Before'': COVID-19, Marginalization, and Native Nations

  Indridi Indridason
  Handling editor: Lukas Wallrich, SRC: Flavio Azevedo
  Submitted: 2026-06-04

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  Abstract

  Foxworth et al. (2022) examine the influence of partisanship, along with socio-economic factors, on the spread of COVID-19 among Native American tribes and conclude that tribes in states with Republican governors and where Trump received more votes in the 2016 election fared worse. While their argument and findings sound plausible, the study is flawed methodologically. The most significant issue is that the analysis focuses on the count of cases while not accounting adequately for vast differences in the population of the tribes. Re-analyze the data, I demonstrate that partisanship does appear to be correlated with the spread of COVID-19, but the magnitude of the effect is an order of magnitude smaller than that implied by Foxworth et al.’s (2022) analysis. However, the large proportion of tribes that register no COVID cases casts doubts on those findings, as it is unclear whether these represent the actual absence of COVID or issues with the data collection.

• With editor (2nd decision)

  Are Redundant Labels Helpful during Category Learning? Replication of Lupyan, Rakison, & McClelland (2007)

  Caroline Kaicher, Ellen Markman, Laura Gwilliams
  Handling editor: Lydia Riedl
  Submitted: 2026-05-02

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  Abstract

  Labels are often advantageous for category learning. However, this may not be true for children as they learn subordinate, fine-grained object categories. In preparation for future research on subordinate category learning in children, we aimed to refine a procedure investigating the label advantage during subordinate category learning in adults. Thus, we conducted an online replication of Experiment 2 from Lupyan, Rakison, & McClelland (2007), which compares category learning under an auditory or written label condition versus a no label and non-linguistic cue condition in adults. We failed to replicate the key result, that those who received labels learned the categories faster.

• With authors (1st revision)

  How to analyze a replication study

  Daniel Lakens, Nina Maria Leach, Antal Haans, Duygu Uygun Tunç, Mehmet Necip Tunç
  Handling editor: Ingmar Visser
  Submitted: 2026-04-30

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  Abstract

  Replication studies play an important role in scientific knowledge generation, but researchers lack a coherent account of how to conclude whether a finding has been replicated. This paper provides such an account by connecting methodological falsificationism and the Neyman-Pearson approach to statistical inferences in the context of the analysis of replication studies. From this perspective, the goal of a replication study is to examine whether the same basic statement that was made in an original study can also be made when new data are collected in a faithful empirical realization of the original test. If the original study made an ordinal claim based on a statistical decision rule, the replication study should evaluate whether the same claim can be made using the same inferential criterion. We argue that the original effect size estimate should also be treated as part of the original claim, and therefore that replication studies should additionally examine whether the effect size differs meaningfully from the original estimate. We illustrate how such comparisons can be performed for correlations by using equivalence tests and point out the importance of reflecting on which difference between replication studies is large enough to matter. More broadly, we argue that researchers should choose an analysis strategy for replication studies where their philosophy of science and statistical framework are coherently aligned.

• Under review (2nd round)

  Too Soon to Dismiss? A Reanalysis of Forster and Neugebauer (2024) Highlighting the Role of Effect Heterogeneity in Evaluating Factorial Surveys

  Benjamin Schimke, Silvia Annen, Melanie Hochmuth
  Handling editor: Susanne Adler
  Submitted: 2026-04-22

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  Abstract

  This replication study critically examines the findings and conclusions of Forster and Neugebauer (2024), who question the external validity of factorial surveys in capturing real-world behavior. Using the publicly available data from the original study, we reassess the effects of educational signals and ethnic origin. Our analyses show that the original results do not withstand all robustness checks and that theoretically derived effect heterogeneities across occupational fields provide more nuanced explanations. These findings challenge the general claim that factorial surveys are unsuitable for studying hiring processes and instead underscore the importance of context-sensitive modeling. We argue that factorial surveys remain a valuable methodological tool, particularly when heterogeneity is explicitly addressed in both design and analysis.

• With author (Pre-Review revision)

  Educational Systems and the Trade-Off between Labour Market Allocation and Equality of Educational Opportunity. A replication of Bol and van de Werfhorst (2013)

  Claudia Traini
  Handling editor: Lukas Wallrich
  Submitted: 2026-02-25

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  Abstract

  Bol and van de Werfhorst’s article published in 2013 represents a milestone for researchers studying the effect of educational institutions on micro-level outcomes. In the above-mentioned article, tracking and other concepts, like vocational enrolment and vocational specificity, have been operationalized into numerical indicators and then used in regression models in order to establish their associations with individual outcomes. This article points out that Bol and van de Werfhorst’s analyses contain two errors. First, their model specifications disregard the role played by a confounder i.e., political orientation of policy makers. Second, their analytical strategy does not adequately correct for the fact that the dependent variables are estimated from external data. I replicate their analyses regarding social inequality of educational attainment (OE) and educational gradient in occupational attainment (ED) correcting for both errors. These new findings do not support the existence of a trade-off between labour market allocation and equality of educational opportunity when it comes to educational and occupational attainment.

• Copy-Editing

  No evidence of differences between hierarchical versus distinction relations in self-based ACT exercises: A critical reanalysis of Foody et al. (2013) and Foody et al. (2015)

  Ian Hussey
  Handling editor: Janik Goltermann
  Submitted: 2026-02-03

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  Abstract

  The evidential link between Relational Frame Theory (RFT) and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is a matter of on-going debate. Foody et al. (2013) is frequently cited as evidence for ACT’s concept of Self-as-Context and as evidence for the ties between ACT’s middle level clinical terms and the more basic account of language and cognition provided by RFT. However, the failed replication study by Foody et al. (2015) typically goes uncited. Given their importance, I critically re-evaluate the results of both articles. I found several issues, the most important of which was that the central claim does not correspond with the reported analyses. When I extracted summary statistics from both studies and used them to conducte a multiverse analysis, that mapped directly onto the original claim (i.e., that the hierarchy condition reduced distress more than the distinction condition), null results were found under every set of conditions. Taken together, results illustrate how weak or flawed research practices and uncritical citation of results can hinder cumulative science and evidence based clinical practice.

  Lay Summary

  This paper examines whether a well-known therapy, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), is truly supported by a theory about how people think and use language. An earlier study is often cited as strong evidence for this link, but a later study that tried to repeat the findings and didn’t get the same results is often overlooked. The author took a look at both studies and found that the main conclusion of the original study doesn’t seem to match what the data actually show. Then, the author used a “multiverse analysis” to explore all the different choices researchers could make when analyzing results. Across all of these choices, the same result appeared every time: there was no clear evidence supporting the original claim.

• With author (1st revision)

  Perceptual Decoys Do Not Reliably Bias Choice: Boundary-Condition Evidence

  Daniela Ibarra, Gaurav Suri
  Handling editor: Steven Verheyen
  Submitted: 2025-11-15

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  Abstract

  Abstract

  The decoy effect occurs when adding an inferior third option biases choice between two others, even though the decoy is rarely chosen. While robust in value-based decisions, evidence in perceptual tasks is mixed. Using the rhesus-macaque paradigm from Parrish et al. (2015), we tested whether a perceptual decoy effect generalizes to humans. Participants ( n = 50) completed 400 trials. Contrary to our preregistered prediction, we found no reliable decoy effect. Accuracy improved on the hardest trials (Level 1) when a decoy was present, response times were slower in decoy conditions than baseline, and accuracy was higher for tall versus wide rectangles, consistent with the vertical–horizontal asymmetry. The relatively wide spacing of stimuli may have reduced grouping and attentional clustering; because spacing was not manipulated, this remains a hypothesis for future tests. Results suggest that context effects in perceptual choice operate under narrower boundary conditions than in value-based domains.