cogpsych-literature-positioning

Literature Positioning (cogpsych-literature-positioning)

Cognitive Psychology gives you room for a substantial introduction — but length is a trap if it becomes a catalogue. Positioning here is about the theoretical contrast class: which models or accounts you adjudicate, what they predict, and why the existing evidence cannot settle the question your program settles. Position against rival models and prior programs, not against a long chronology.

When to trigger

• Drafting the Introduction / theoretical framing
• A reviewer said the contribution is "incremental," "already shown," or "not clearly novel relative to model X"
• You have a large literature and must organize it around the theoretical question
• Connecting a specific model comparison to a broad question about cognition

How to position in a model-driven venue

1. Open with the theoretical question, framed as a live debate between accounts — not a textbook history of the phenomenon.
2. Name the rival accounts precisely and state what each predicts. The reader should see the fork the field is stuck on.
3. Show why existing evidence cannot settle it. Prior studies confound the accounts, lack a model fit, or test only one design point — make the gap a theoretical gap, not "little is known."
4. State the contribution early. By the end of the Introduction the reader knows the question, the model(s), the discriminating design, and what is new (adjudication, formalization, boundary, or a new model).
5. Cite to anchor the debate, not to pad. The works that define the rival accounts and the closest prior programs earn slots; exhaustive background does not.

Reviews, replications, and extensions

• An integrative review must reorganize the field around a theoretical claim, not list studies.
• Frame a replication/extension around the theoretical stakes (which model it tests, why the prior result's design was inconclusive), not as a bare repetition.

Positioning triage (organize around the debate)

Candidate citation role	Keep?	Why it earns a slot in Cognitive Psychology
Defines a rival account you adjudicate	always	the contrast class; without it the fork is invisible
Closest prior program you beat/extend	always	this is the contribution's benchmark
Establishes the discriminating signature	usually	reviewers check the prediction is real
Model/method provenance	usually	construct and modeling validity are scrutinized
Background-completeness citation	cut first	length is not an excuse for a catalogue

Worked micro-example (illustrative)

A recognition-memory program positions against the dual-process tradition. Weak framing: "Recognition memory has been studied for decades (refs 1-40)." Venue-fit framing:

Question: Does recognition rest on one continuous strength signal or on a
          distinct threshold recollection process?
Rivals:   UVSD (single continuous signal) vs. DPSD (familiarity + threshold
          recollection); they predict different z-ROC shapes.
Why unsettled: most prior tests fit one model only, or use designs where the
          z-ROC shape is not diagnostic, so the fork persists.
Contribution (stated in the Introduction):
          Three experiments engineered to make the z-ROC shape diagnostic,
          with both models fit and compared, adjudicate the debate.
Breadth:  the answer constrains models of memory used across cognitive aging,
          eyewitness, and decision research.

Positioning-stage reviewer pushback and the venue fix

Reviewer pushback	Cognitive Psychology fix
"Contribution is incremental"	name the theoretical fork you close, not a longer literature tour
"Already shown by model X"	state what X cannot account for and how your design discriminates it
"Reads as a catalogue"	reorganize the Introduction around the rival accounts and the discriminating prediction
"First to show" overclaim	downgrade to "first to adjudicate X vs. Y under a diagnostic design"; cite priors honestly

Anti-patterns

• A long chronological review that never names the rival accounts or the fork
• Burying the model comparison and the contribution after pages of phenomenon history
• Positioning against effects rather than against the theories/models that explain them
• "First to show" claims that ignore the closest prior model or program
• Citing exhaustively to seem thorough instead of anchoring the debate

Output format

【Theoretical question】the live debate between accounts
【Rival accounts】what each predicts
【Why unsettled】how prior evidence fails to discriminate them
【Contribution】adjudication / formalization / boundary / new model — stated early?
【Anchor citations】the works that define the rivals + closest priors
【Breadth】who across cognition inherits the answer
【Next】cogpsych-study-design

Supplementary resources

• ../../resources/official-source-map.md — scope, article length, and house style