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Would You Agree If N Is Three? On Statistical Inference for Small N.

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Title: Would You Agree If N Is Three? On Statistical Inference for Small N.
Authors: Psarou, Eleni (AUTHOR), Katsanevaki, Christini (AUTHOR), Maris, Eric (AUTHOR), Fries, Pascal (AUTHOR)
Source: Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience. May2026, Vol. 38 Issue 5, p1078-1088. 11p.
Subjects: Sample size (Statistics), Error rates, Primates, Inferential statistics, Scientific observation
Abstract: Nonhuman primate studies traditionally use two or three animals. We previously used standard statistics to argue for using either one animal, for an inference about that sample, or five or more animals, for a useful inference about the population. A recently proposed framework argued for testing three animals and accepting the outcome found in the majority as the outcome that is most representative for the population. The proposal tests this framework under various assumptions about the true probability of the representative outcome in the population, that is, its typicality. On this basis, it argues that the framework is valid across a wide range of typicalities. Here, we show (1) that the error rate of the framework depends strongly on the typicality of the representative outcome; (2) that an acceptable error rate requires this typicality to be very high (87% for a single type of outlier), which actually renders empirical testing beyond a single animal obsolete; and (3) that moving from one to three animals decreases error rates mainly for typicality values of 70%–90% and much less for both lower and higher values. Furthermore, we use conjunction analysis to demonstrate that two out of three animals with a given outcome only allow to infer a lower bound to typicality of 9%, which is of limited value. Thus, the use of two or three animals does not allow a useful inference about the population, and if this option is nevertheless chosen, the inferred lower bound of typicality should be reported. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Copyright of Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience is the property of MIT Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
Database: Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection
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  Data: Would You Agree If N Is Three? On Statistical Inference for Small N.
– Name: Author
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Psarou%2C+Eleni%22">Psarou, Eleni</searchLink> (AUTHOR)<br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Katsanevaki%2C+Christini%22">Katsanevaki, Christini</searchLink> (AUTHOR)<br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Maris%2C+Eric%22">Maris, Eric</searchLink> (AUTHOR)<br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Fries%2C+Pascal%22">Fries, Pascal</searchLink> (AUTHOR)
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="JN" term="%22Journal+of+Cognitive+Neuroscience%22">Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience</searchLink>. May2026, Vol. 38 Issue 5, p1078-1088. 11p.
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Sample+size+%28Statistics%29%22">Sample size (Statistics)</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Error+rates%22">Error rates</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Primates%22">Primates</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Inferential+statistics%22">Inferential statistics</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Scientific+observation%22">Scientific observation</searchLink>
– Name: Abstract
  Label: Abstract
  Group: Ab
  Data: Nonhuman primate studies traditionally use two or three animals. We previously used standard statistics to argue for using either one animal, for an inference about that sample, or five or more animals, for a useful inference about the population. A recently proposed framework argued for testing three animals and accepting the outcome found in the majority as the outcome that is most representative for the population. The proposal tests this framework under various assumptions about the true probability of the representative outcome in the population, that is, its typicality. On this basis, it argues that the framework is valid across a wide range of typicalities. Here, we show (1) that the error rate of the framework depends strongly on the typicality of the representative outcome; (2) that an acceptable error rate requires this typicality to be very high (87% for a single type of outlier), which actually renders empirical testing beyond a single animal obsolete; and (3) that moving from one to three animals decreases error rates mainly for typicality values of 70%–90% and much less for both lower and higher values. Furthermore, we use conjunction analysis to demonstrate that two out of three animals with a given outcome only allow to infer a lower bound to typicality of 9%, which is of limited value. Thus, the use of two or three animals does not allow a useful inference about the population, and if this option is nevertheless chosen, the inferred lower bound of typicality should be reported. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
– Name: AbstractSuppliedCopyright
  Label:
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  Data: <i>Copyright of Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience is the property of MIT Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract.</i> (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
PLink https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=pbh&AN=193061845
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      – Type: doi
        Value: 10.1162/JOCN.a.2405
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      – Code: eng
        Text: English
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        PageCount: 11
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        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Error rates
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Primates
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Inferential statistics
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      – SubjectFull: Scientific observation
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      – TitleFull: Would You Agree If N Is Three? On Statistical Inference for Small N.
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            NameFull: Katsanevaki, Christini
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            NameFull: Maris, Eric
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            – D: 01
              M: 05
              Text: May2026
              Type: published
              Y: 2026
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