Alcohol research has shown that alcohol-related stimuli can disrupt behavioral control and attract more attention in alcohol drinkers. Stimuli typically used in tasks assessing these mechanisms are likely representative of an individual's history. Responses to visual stimuli that no longer closely resemble an individual's history may help shed light on whether these behaviors are due to classical conditioning or processes such as semantic priming. Hypotheses were tested using typical visual stimuli and modified, abstract versions in these tasks. 41 participants were exposed to these stimuli types while using a visual dot probe task. The difference in degree of attentional bias between real and modified stimuli was determined using gaze time. Individuals participated in two versions of the attentional bias-behavioral activation (ABBA) task. Proportion of inhibitory failure differences between versions was examined for the effects of stimuli modification on behavioral control. Results demonstrated that the sample did not exhibit an attentional bias to alcohol. Visual probe results yielded no differences between real and modified stimuli on attentional bias. ABBA performance indicated no differences as a result of image abstraction or stimuli type. Reasons for these findings and comparisons to similar research inquiries using the tasks the current thesis utilized were explored.

Language is an essential component of human behavior. It is ubiquitous, but more importantly, it is malleable and it is constantly changing. Part of the dynamic nature of informal communication is the introduction and adoption of new linguistic elements. Online communication provides a window into this informal public discourse; therefore, it may be useful for testing hypotheses about the processes underlying the acquisition and use of new words. The comprehension of informal language may lead to an understanding of how these new informal words are integrated into our mental lexicon. The current study was an electroencephalographic (EEG) investigation of the brain processes that underlie informal language. We recorded event-related potentials while participants engaged in a lexical decision task. For this experiment, participants made judgments about Twitter targets primed with semantically related or unrelated words. Classic psycholinguistic studies have shown very specific event-related potentials (ERPs) for semantic processing. Most notably, the N400 event-related potential component is an index of lexical expectancy and semantic relatedness. In contrast to the literature, we did not find classic N400 priming effects. However, our results revealed marked differences between informal and traditional targets. Our results suggest that informal language is more difficult to process than traditional language.

Research has shown that detecting and judging causal relationships requires associative learning and memory. Retrospective revaluation of causal cues requires associative memory (Aitken, Larkin, & Dickinson, 2001) to bind multiple cues together and use these associations to retrieve unseen cues for revaluation of their associative value. The difficulty that older adults experience with respect to retrospective revaluation could occur because of their deficit in associative binding and retrieval (Mutter, Atchley, & Plumlee, 2012). Like retrospective revaluation, blocking requires cue – outcome associative learning, but unlike retrospective revaluation, blocking does not require binding two cues together nor does it require using the resulting association between these cues for retrieval. Older adults display no deficit in blocking (Hannah, Allan, & Young, 2012; Holder & Mutter, in submission). To assess the effects of aging on associative learning and memory in causal judgment, this study examined age effects in retrospective revaluation and blocking using an allergy scenario in a streamed-trial task (Hannah, Crump, Allan, & Siegel, 2009; Hannah et al., 2012). This study found that older and younger adults both displayed blocking effects, which supports past research. Additionally, it was found that older and younger adults displayed retrospective revaluation in working memory. The ability for older adults to display retrospective revaluation in working memory is a new finding. It suggests that there may be a decrement in associative long-term memory, but associative processes in working memory may be intact.

The aim of the current study was to examine the differences in sport fan motivation factors between mainstream (Minor League baseball) and atypical (roller derby) fans. Eighty-one fans (40 Minor League baseball and 41 roller derby) completed an 8 question demographic survey, a 26-item Sport Fan Motivation Scale, a 7-item Sport Spectator Identification Scale, and a 10-item Sport Fan Exploratory Curiosity Scale. It was believed that fans of Minor League baseball would be more motivated by the entertainment factor than roller derby fans. While roller derby fans would be more motivated by eustress, group affiliation and family factors at the event than Minor League baseball fans. It was also predicted that roller derby fans would be more curious about new sports than Minor League baseball fans. Results showed that Minor League baseball fans were more motivated by the family aspects of the game than roller derby fans. Additionally, it was found that baseball fans were more curious about new sports in general than roller derby fans. Finally, the study found that roller derby fans were more motivated by the aesthetics of the game than Minor League baseball fans.

The quantification of choice has been a major area of research for behavioural scientists for several decades. This is, in part, due to the discovery of the matching law (Herrnstein, 1961) which stipulates that relative response rates on concurrently available alternatives “match” the available relative reinforcement rates. This theoretical construct has been developed to describe response allocation in more complex situations, such as concurrent chains, and successfully describes both human and non-human behaviour. Typically, this phenomenon becomes evident when behaviour settles at an asymptote after several sessions of training where contingencies are held constant, and is often called “steady-state” behaviour. However, a fundamental question still remains: what causes matching – that is, what are the underlying momentary process(es) that produce matching? Researchers have suggested that what is necessary to answer this question is to take a molecular approach to the analysis of choice behaviour, thereby assessing choice in transition (Grace, 2002a). Recently, a new model of choice acquisition has been developed that appears to offer promise. It combines two separate mechanisms; a “winner-takes-all” categorical discrimination, and a linear-operator acquisition process (Grace & McLean, 2006). The initial results suggest this model could provide an alternative explanation for what underlies matching – that two separate processes are cooccurring in the acquisition of choice behaviour – allowing response allocation to be either linear or non-linear. This thesis extends the Grace and McLean model to include the situation of response strength ‘carrying-over’ from session to session to describe the process of acquisition gradually accumulating with experience. Moreover, additional assumptions have been added to describe temporal phenomena 2 and presumed discounting of previous experience on current choice behaviour. A steady-state version of the extended model was derived and, when fitted to published data sets, describes choice behaviour equally well when compared to existing models of steady-state choice. As a consequence of these additions, the Extended Decision Model (EDM) predicts a unique response allocation pattern – choice behaviour follows a bitonic function when initial-link durations were increased and the terminallink delays were held constant. The results from experiments presented in this thesis support this prediction, whilst steady-state analyses found the EDM was parameter invariant – differences between parameters from two schedule types across several archival data sets were non-significant, while existing steady-state models had significant differences. These findings provide further support for the claim that the EDM and the Decision Model (DM) mechanisms provide unique and accurate descriptions of the molecular processes governing choice behaviour. Moreover, the implication from these results is that the underlying assumption of the EDM and DM – that choice is determined by the propensity to respond rather than conditioned reinforcement – appears to have further foundation. This challenges the assumptions of existing models of choice behaviour and presents the possibility that probabilistic approaches are perhaps more appropriate for describing response allocations than discrete estimates of relative value when contingencies change.

The relationship between drinking patterns of college students and their measured level of assertiveness was examined in this study. The subjects were categorized into six groups based on their self-reported frequency and amount of drinking. They were also asked to record the number of drinks they had drunk in the prior week. The MacAndrews Alcoholism Scale and the Rathus Assertion Schedule were administered to all the subjects. Pearson Product-moment correlations were calculated to assess the relationship between levels of drinking, the number of drinks in the prior week and scores from the Rathus Assertion Schedule and the MacAndrews Alcoholism Scale. The subjects were divided into two groups based on their scores obtained on the MacAndrews Scale: those whose score was 26 or above (prealcoholics) and those whose score was below 26 (Non-prealcoholic). Pearson Product-moment correlations were calculated to assess the relationship between the variables for these two groups. The results of the analysis did not support previous research that heavy drinking is associated with lower levels of assertiveness in alcoholics. In contrast to previous findings with alcoholics, the results indicated a very limited positive relationship between these variables for the non-prealcoholics, particularly the males, and no relationship at all for the prealcoholic subjects. It is suggested that the lack of assertiveness observed in alcoholics may develop after the onset of their alcoholism. While it was expected that the drinking level of the subjects would be related to their scores on the MacAndrews Scale this was not the case. This finding suggests that drinking may not be a reliable predictor of alcoholism. Further research is suggested using a larger sample of only prealcoholics to determine what relationships exist between assertiveness, drinking and the prediction of alcoholism.

Despite considerable theoretical interest in the social functions of gossip, to date there has been very little empirical research conducted examining the social consequences of gossip. This study will apply an experimental lab manipulation to explore the conditions under which different types and different frequencies of gossip affect certain attitudes—power and liking—towards gossipers. Within the context of a modified dictator game, confederates communicated three types (prosocial, self-relevant, and neutral) and two frequencies (low and high) of gossip to participants. Results were expected to show that high frequency gossipers would be perceived as more powerful than low-frequency gossipers. Perceptions of power were also predicted to differ across the three types of gossip conveyed. Moreover, I hypothesized that self-relevant and prosocial gossipers would be significantly more likable more than neutral gossipers. Lastly, frequency was expected to have different effects on liking depending on whether the gossip transmitted was neutral or not. Results did not confirm any of the main hypotheses. However, this study has established a strong theoretical foundation for examining how others perceive gossipers by helping clarify key social functions of gossip and shed light on reputational ramifications for those who gossip.

The current study sought to test the existence of a phenomenon known as sensory-specific satiety, in which attentional bias for food cues is specifically diminished for a consumed food, and the role of gender in such biases. In order to do so, the experiment used a version of the Flanker Task in which participants were shown image groups containing a target image and congruent or incongruent distracting flanker images. Participants (17 males, 22 females) were randomly assigned to consume one of two foods depicted in the flanker task (Ritz Bitz sandwiches or miniature Golden Oreos). Results did not support the idea of sensory-specific satiety, as we found a general reduction in reaction time rather than interactions in target/flanker congruency, suggesting that task performance was not driven by attentional bias to the food cues. However, there was an interesting interaction effect for session, consumption, and gender, such that women were faster than men for the consumed food post-satiety. Results may be explained by differences in motivation potentially caused by dissimilarities in dopamine levels. Additionally, results of the current experiment in combination with previous research could provide insight on gender differences in obesity.

The quantification of choice has been a major area of research for behavioural scientists for several decades. This is, in part, due to the discovery of the matching law (Herrnstein, 1961) which stipulates that relative response rates on concurrently available alternatives “match” the available relative reinforcement rates. This theoretical construct has been developed to describe response allocation in more complex situations, such as concurrent chains, and successfully describes both human and non-human behaviour. Typically, this phenomenon becomes evident when behaviour settles at an asymptote after several sessions of training where contingencies are held constant, and is often called “steady-state” behaviour. However, a fundamental question still remains: what causes matching – that is, what are the underlying momentary process(es) that produce matching? Researchers have suggested that what is necessary to answer this question is to take a molecular approach to the analysis of choice behaviour, thereby assessing choice in transition (Grace, 2002a). Recently, a new model of choice acquisition has been developed that appears to offer promise. It combines two separate mechanisms; a “winner-takes-all” categorical discrimination, and a linear-operator acquisition process (Grace & McLean, 2006). The initial results suggest this model could provide an alternative explanation for what underlies matching – that two separate processes are cooccurring in the acquisition of choice behaviour – allowing response allocation to be either linear or non-linear. This thesis extends the Grace and McLean model to include the situation of response strength ‘carrying-over’ from session to session to describe the process of acquisition gradually accumulating with experience. Moreover, additional assumptions have been added to describe temporal phenomena 2 and presumed discounting of previous experience on current choice behaviour. A steady-state version of the extended model was derived and, when fitted to published data sets, describes choice behaviour equally well when compared to existing models of steady-state choice. As a consequence of these additions, the Extended Decision Model (EDM) predicts a unique response allocation pattern – choice behaviour follows a bitonic function when initial-link durations were increased and the terminallink delays were held constant. The results from experiments presented in this thesis support this prediction, whilst steady-state analyses found the EDM was parameter invariant – differences between parameters from two schedule types across several archival data sets were non-significant, while existing steady-state models had significant differences. These findings provide further support for the claim that the EDM and the Decision Model (DM) mechanisms provide unique and accurate descriptions of the molecular processes governing choice behaviour. Moreover, the implication from these results is that the underlying assumption of the EDM and DM – that choice is determined by the propensity to respond rather than conditioned reinforcement – appears to have further foundation. This challenges the assumptions of existing models of choice behaviour and presents the possibility that probabilistic approaches are perhaps more appropriate for describing response allocations than discrete estimates of relative value when contingencies change.

Thesis (M.A.)--Carleton University, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 73-77). Also available in electronic format on the Internet.