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Abstract
A recent report in Consciousness and Cognition provided evidence from a study of the
rubber hand illusion (RHI) that supports the multisensory principle of inverse effectiveness
(PoIE). I describe two methods of assessing the principle of inverse effectiveness
('a priori' and 'post-hoc'), and discuss how the post-hoc method is affected by the
statistical artefact of 'regression towards the mean'. I identify several cases where
this artefact may have affected particular conclusions about the PoIE, and relate
these to the historical origins of 'regression towards the mean'. Although the conclusions
of the recent report may not have been grossly affected, some of the inferential statistics
were almost certainly biased by the methods used. I conclude that, unless such artefacts
are fully dealt with in the future, and unless the statistical methods for assessing
the PoIE evolve, strong evidence in support of the PoIE will remain lacking.