Egon Dejonckheere

Perspective:
Open-ended responses can improve ESM data by grounding it in real-world experiences and phenomena as they are experienced in everyday life. Handbooks and guidelines on ESM should include sections on collecting and analyzing open-ended text items.
www.nature.com/articles/s44...

DUCOG — Conference 2026 Dubrovnik Conference on Cognitive Science

Join us in beautiful Dubrovnik for the XVII Dubrovnik Conference on Cognitive Science (21–24 May 2026)! This year’s theme focuses on adaptation and its limits across multiple timescales, individual differences, and mental health. Abstracts from all areas of cogsci welcome!
Visit: ducog.cecog.eu

Visualizing previous ratings improves measurement in ESM / EMA studies

✍️ New m-Path blogpost!

Should #ESM / #EMA researchers show participants' previous rating? 🎚️

We tested three response formats in a real-world EMA study. One clearly outperformed the others, with consequences for reliability and affect dynamics.

👉 Read the blog: blog.m-path.io/blog/blog-1/... 📱

more empirical evidence that the mean (and SD) are hard to beat...

Full paper: psycnet.apa.org/doiLanding?d...

#beatthemean #vanquishthevariance #affectdynamics

Should you gamify your ESM / EMA study?

m-Path blogpost time! 📝

Should you gamify your #ESM / #EMA study? 🎮

A cautionary tale on the use of virtual coins, streaks and instant rewards to boost response compliance in intensive longitudinal research…

👉 Read the blog: blog.m-path.io/blog/blog-1/....

📣 We are excited to share that a new paper by Eisele & colleagues has been accepted in Psychological Assessment: “The Distracted Participant? Experience Sampling Response Behavior and Participant Disturbance in Social Situations.”

osf.io/preprints/ps...

Are you using experience sampling/ mobile sensing or are interested in incorporating these naturalistic methods? Are you going to SPSP? Are you 0-6 years post PhD?
Sign up to join the early career mentoring session at 4:30 PM on Friday 02/27! www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0C4EAB...

I would like to start a veridicality movement in clinical psychology. I've realized this is my primary concern with network models. We *want* them to convey information flow and dynamics, but they're just lag-1 regression models at (relatively) glacial time scales. They don't reflect what we want.

Thrilled to announce the Oxford Psychological Networks Summer School (OxPNS)!

This is the first-ever psychological network analysis workshop in the UK, to be held in magical Oxford from June 22-26, 2026.

To apply and for more information, please visit: oxfordpns.com

A brief thread 🧵

Should participants use their own smartphone in ESM / EMA studies?

☕ Time for a new #m-Path blog post!

📱🤔 A classic #ESM / #EMA dilemma: Own smartphone or research-dedicated device?

It sounds trivial, but this choice subtly shapes how people respond. A rarely cited paper tested both, with non-obvious takeaways.

👉 Full breakdown: blog.m-path.io/blog/blog-1/...

Well deserved!! 👏

We’re launching a bi-weekly m-Path blog on #ESM / #EMA measurement, new papers & showcases.

🗓️ Every 2 weeks (Wed).

First up: item quality.
A paper by @gudruneisele.bsky.social introduces ESM-Q: a consensus checklist for good momentary items.

👉 Read the blog: blog.m-path.io/blog/our-blo...

Line chart of Google search interest for “Christmas gift wife” and “Christmas gift husband” from November 18 to December 24. Bold lines show the average pattern across 2020–2024, while lighter shaded lines represent individual years. Shaded areas highlight which term has higher search interest at each point in time. The chart shows that searches for gifts for wives peak later in December than searches for gifts for husbands.

🎄 Hope you’ve got all your presents ready 💝

Google search interest shows a stable pattern:

🎅 “Christmas gift wife” peaks just before Christmas Eve
🎅 “Christmas gift husband” peaks much earlier

#MerryChristmas to all of you! 🎁

📈 Google Trends (Nov 18–Dec 24, 2020–2024)
#dataviz #ggplot2

Interpretation Issues With the Patient Health Questionnaire Instructions This survey study assesses whether responses to the Patient Health Questionnaire reflect symptom frequency and severity.

Cool study in JAMA Psychiatry confirms what many have suspected for a while: PHQ (depression questionnaire) instructions are widely misinterpreted by patients. It is unfortunate that a questionnaire as shitty as PHQ-9 has become so ingrained & ubiquitous

jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

Inequalities in Exclusively Mobile Interventions Targeting Weight‐Related Behaviors: Systematic Review of Observational Studies Mobile health interventions are promising behavior change tools, but they might benefit deprived populations less due to disparities in intervention uptake, engagement, and effectiveness. Evidence so...

New paper out in Obesity Reviews #openaccess: Mobile interventions to promote healthier lifestyles are popular, but they risk widening existing health inequalities, and this already starts at intervention uptake!
Work funded by @ehps.bsky.social.
Read more: doi.org/10.1111/obr....

PS: The app also look great in Chinese 🍜!

Leveraging No-Code Digital Platforms for Designing an Integrated Smartphone-Based Ecological Momentary Intervention With Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Mental Health Care: Development and Usability ... Background: The rising burden of disease associated with mental disorders calls for evidence-based psychological interventions that can be swiftly scaled up. Blending smartphone-based mental health ap...

👉 Full O-A paper here: formative.jmir.org/2025/1/e77036

However, they showcase m-Path can be the alternative:

✔️ Full researcher independence in developing the app
✔️ Flexible building blocks they can fully tailor
✔️ Fast, theory-driven EMI development
✔️ A validated end product that outlives a single project or grant

In their review of 149 mental health apps, only 28.9% were publicly available and just *8.3%* could be adapted!

This highlights :

❌ Single-study apps are often not shared
❌ Prototypes aren’t flexible or maintainable
❌ Costly developer dependence
❌ Content that can’t be adapted afterward

📑 New paper by Stephanie Wong et al. captures exactly why m-Path exists.

A phased, user-centered study showing how EMIs can be built quickly, affordably, theory-informed, and at scale, and they used m-Path as their no-code platform.

What struck me was why they needed a platform like ours 👇:

Thanks! Probably at APS indeed!

Want to learn everything about #ESM / #EMA (and visit beautiful Leuven 🤭)?

Almost Simpson’s paradox!

a cartoon cat named tom is holding something in his hand ALT: a cartoon cat named tom is holding something in his hand

🫶

Lol, not sure if the double negative in your second sentence is what you meant 😦😘?!

M-path has a follow-up item specifically designed for that (see: manual.m-path.io/knowledge-ba...). No need to make different duplicates, protocols or versions!

Yes, easily done in m-Path. Feel free to reach out to us! (m-Path.io)

A full week of new insights in #ESM / #EMA measurement! 📏📱

A "frontier" RCT showing college students preferred LLM (ChatGPT-4) and peer feedback to teacher feedback, but teacher feedback most improved performance. I hope they analyze feedback for style. I wonder whether students positively responded to sycophancy in LLM. #PsychSciSky #AcademicSky #EduSky

Participants of the MITNB workshop, where we stand outside in a group of around 40 people

1st day of #MITNB meeting at @tesc-tilburgu.bsky.social. Excited for the week ahead, where we'll tackle measurement issues in #ESM, e.g. modeling processes across timescales, building a formal theory on measurement, and evaluating statistical assumptions in #ESM data.
Go teamwork <3