A Conceptual and Empirical Review of 25 Years of Cognitive Assessment Using the Articulated Thoughts in Simulated Situations (ATSS) Think-Aloud Paradigm

Abstract

The present paper is a conceptual analysis and empirical review of research using the Articulated Thoughts in Simulated Situations (Davison et al. in Cogn Ther Res 7(1): 17-39, 1983) paradigm, a think-aloud cognitive assessment approach that is intended to capture ongoing thinking in an analogue, controlled environment of considerable interpersonal complexity. From an examination of over 25 years of the paradigm's usage and in light of comments from scores of ATSS users, we have expanded upon and updated an earlier review (Davison et al. in J Consult Clin Psychol 65(6): [950][951][952][953][954][955][956][957][958] 1997). In addition to an empirical update, we describe the ATSS in greater methodological and psychometric detail, highlight its strengths and discuss its weaknesses, address some practical concerns, and comment on the evidence accumulated from the close to 70 studies employing the paradigm. We conclude that the ATSS paradigm is useful in assessing complex cognitions in a variety of investigator-controlled situations.

Are Negative Automatic Thoughts Associated with ADHD in Adulthood?

“…Future studies should consider alternative measures and methods of assessing automatic thoughts patterns in ADHD. In addition to questionnaires, cognitive assessment approaches of ongoing thinking in a controlled environment such as the Articulated Thoughts in Simulated Situations paradigm may be beneficial (Zanov and Davison 2009). Future studies should also expand beyond the content of thoughts in ADHD to examine the role of cognitive processes.…”

Cognitive-Affective Change Mechanisms in Personalized Normative Feedback via the Articulated Thoughts in Simulated Situations Paradigm

“…The articulated thoughts themselves are recorded, transcribed, and later content-analyzed. Since the introduction of the paradigm, over 100 published studies attest to the validity of ATSS in accessing complex cognition across a wide array of domains [36,37].…”

“…This methodology could also prove to be of utility when piloting larger and more complex public health interventions, by allowing researchers to better understand how participants cognitively navigate the intervention content and how such cognitions relate to outcomes. Among the ATSS' advantages over other modes of assessment such as questionnaires and interviews are its situational specificity, investigator control, unconstrained response format, immediacy of assessment, unlimited choice of data coding approaches, empirical flexibility, detection of group-specific cognitive-affective differences, and the flexibility to study the cognitive aspects of a wide range of problems, including novel or sensitive domains of inquiry [35,37].…”

Parent-Based Interventions to Reduce Adolescent Problem Behaviors: New Directions for Self-Regulation Approaches

“…A second methodological strategy uses "think aloud" protocols in the paradigm of Articulated Thoughts in Simulated Situations (ATSS) (Zanov & Davison, 2010). In this approach, the individual is an active participant in an imagined situation shown on a computer screen vis-a-vis realistic animation.…”