The challenges of implementing hybrid baselines for the interpretation of longitudinal behavioral data from individuals
Establishing whether observed behavioral differences reflect meaningful change in an individual necessitates baselines specific to the individual and task. Automated hybrid solutions combine adaptive baselines with fixed thresholds. Applying this approach to behavioral science harbors challenges: the pronounced gap between observable measurement and underlying construct means ground truth is typically unavailable. A stepwise framework is proposed to determine and evaluate the validity of baselines for longitudinal behavioral measurements.
Authors
- Karl Øyvind Mikalsen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4672-7865)
- Philipp Homan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9034-148X)
- Lars Ailo Bongo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7544-2482)
- Brita Elvevåg (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0441-3729)
- Einar Holsbø (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9728-2088)
- Sandra Anna Just
- Enrico Tedeschi
Institutions
- University Hospital of North Norway (NO)
- University of Zurich (CH)
- ETH Zurich (CH)
- UiT The Arctic University of Norway (NO)
- Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin (DE)
Publication Details
- Journal
- npj Digital Medicine
- Published
- 2026-04-21
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41746-026-02668-5
- Primary Topic
- Behavioral and Psychological Studies
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- European Commission
- HORIZON EUROPE Framework Programme