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Voter information campaigns and political accountability: Cumulative findings from a preregistered meta-analysis of coordinated trials.

ABSTRACT: Voters may be unable to hold politicians to account if they lack basic information about their representatives' performance. Civil society groups and international donors therefore advocate using voter information campaigns to improve democratic accountability. Yet, are these campaigns effective? Limited replication, measurement heterogeneity, and publication biases may undermine the reliability of published research. We implemented a new approach to cumulative learning, coordinating the design of seven randomized controlled trials to be fielded in six countries by independent research teams. Uncommon for multisite trials in the social sciences, we jointly preregistered a meta-analysis of results in advance of seeing the data. We find no evidence overall that typical, nonpartisan voter information campaigns shape voter behavior, although exploratory and subgroup analyses suggest conditions under which informational campaigns could be more effective. Such null estimated effects are too seldom published, yet they can be critical for scientific progress and cumulative, policy-relevant learning.

SUBMITTER: Dunning T

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6609214 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Voter information campaigns and political accountability: Cumulative findings from a preregistered meta-analysis of coordinated trials.

Dunning Thad T Grossman Guy G Humphreys Macartan M Hyde Susan D SD McIntosh Craig C Nellis Gareth G Adida Claire L CL Arias Eric E Bicalho Clara C Boas Taylor C TC Buntaine Mark T MT Chauchard Simon S Chowdhury Anirvan A Gottlieb Jessica J Hidalgo F Daniel FD Holmlund Marcus M Jablonski Ryan R Kramon Eric E Larreguy Horacio H Lierl Malte M Marshall John J McClendon Gwyneth G Melo Marcus A MA Nielson Daniel L DL Pickering Paula M PM Platas Melina R MR Querubín Pablo P Raffler Pia P Sircar Neelanjan N

Science advances 20190703 7

Voters may be unable to hold politicians to account if they lack basic information about their representatives' performance. Civil society groups and international donors therefore advocate using voter information campaigns to improve democratic accountability. Yet, are these campaigns effective? Limited replication, measurement heterogeneity, and publication biases may undermine the reliability of published research. We implemented a new approach to cumulative learning, coordinating the design ...[more]

PMID: 31281891

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Project description:BackgroundAbnormal synchronization of neuronal activity in dopaminergic circuits is related to motor impairment in Parkinson's disease (PD). Vibrotactile coordinated reset (vCR) fingertip stimulation aims to counteract excessive synchronization and induce sustained unlearning of pathologic synaptic connectivity and neuronal synchrony. Here, we report two clinical feasibility studies that examine the effect of regular and noisy vCR stimulation on PD motor symptoms. Additionally, in one clinical study (study 1), we examine cortical beta band power changes in the sensorimotor cortex. Lastly, we compare these clinical results in relation to our computational findings.MethodsStudy 1 examines six PD patients receiving noisy vCR stimulation and their cortical beta power changes after 3 months of daily therapy. Motor evaluations and at-rest electroencephalographic (EEG) recordings were assessed off medication pre- and post-noisy vCR. Study 2 follows three patients for 6+ months, two of whom received daily regular vCR and one patient from study 1 who received daily noisy vCR. Motor evaluations were taken at baseline, and follow-up visits were done approximately every 3 months. Computationally, in a network of leaky integrate-and-fire (LIF) neurons with spike timing-dependent plasticity, we study the differences between regular and noisy vCR by using a stimulus model that reproduces experimentally observed central neuronal phase locking.ResultsClinically, in both studies, we observed significantly improved motor ability. EEG recordings observed from study 1 indicated a significant decrease in off-medication cortical sensorimotor high beta power (21-30 Hz) at rest after 3 months of daily noisy vCR therapy. Computationally, vCR and noisy vCR cause comparable parameter-robust long-lasting synaptic decoupling and neuronal desynchronization.ConclusionIn these feasibility studies of eight PD patients, regular vCR and noisy vCR were well tolerated, produced no side effects, and delivered sustained cumulative improvement of motor performance, which is congruent with our computational findings. In study 1, reduction of high beta band power over the sensorimotor cortex may suggest noisy vCR is effectively modulating the beta band at the cortical level, which may play a role in improved motor ability. These encouraging therapeutic results enable us to properly plan a proof-of-concept study.

Dataset Information

Voter information campaigns and political accountability: Cumulative findings from a preregistered meta-analysis of coordinated trials.

Publications

Voter information campaigns and political accountability: Cumulative findings from a preregistered meta-analysis of coordinated trials.

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