Re-analysing the data from Moffatt et al. (2020): What can we learn from an under-powered absence of difference?

Moffatt et al. (2020) reported the results of an experiment (N = 26 in the final sample) comparing the facial electromyographic correlates of mental rumination and distraction, following an experimentally induced stressor. Based on the absence of significant difference (and BFs between 3.6 and 4.3) in the perioral muscular activity between the rumination and distraction conditions, Moffatt et al. (2020) concluded that *self-reported* inner experience was unrelated to peripheral muscular activity as assessed using surface electromyography. In this short commlentary, we show that there is limited evidence for the main conclusion put forward by Moffatt et al. (2020), and we suggest ways forward, both from a theoretical and a methodological perspective. Complete source code, reproducible analyses, and figures are available at https://osf.io/ba3gk/.

Moffatt 等人（2020年）报告了一项实验结果（最终样本量为 N = 26），该实验比较了在实验性诱导的压力源之后，心理沉思与分心的面部肌电图相关特征。基于沉思与分心条件之间近口周肌肉活动不存在显著差异（以及贝叶斯因子介于 3.6 和 4.3 之间），Moffatt 等人（2020年）得出结论，*自我报告的* 内在体验与使用表面肌电图评估的外周肌肉活动无关。在本篇简短评论中，我们展示了对于 Moffatt 等人（2020年）所提出的主要结论存在有限的证据，并从理论和方法论的角度提出了未来研究方向。完整的源代码、可复现的分析和图表可在 https://osf.io/ba3gk/ 查找。