<p>Through nine experiments, this research advances knowledge about the influence of metaphors grounded in the visual sensory system on creative cognition by showing that perceiving ostensibly task-unrelated visual images that carry metaphoric meaning alters consumers&rsquo; creativity. While the results of Experiments 1a, 1b, and 2 provide convergent evidence that positive visual metaphors representing ideas like &ldquo;<i>I just had a light go on</i>&rdquo; increase consumers&rsquo; creative output, Experiments 3a and 3b reveals that a negative visual metaphor conveying ideas like &ldquo;<i> I am burnt out</i>&rdquo; decrease it. Experiments 4a and 4b show that aptness and familiarity moderate the metaphor creativity link, and Experiment 6 shows that the metaphor&ndash;creativity link is moderated by analogical reasoning skills. Experiment 5 uncovers the mediating role of creative intent. In addition to implying that marketers can use metaphors to enhance consumers&rsquo; creative feedback in areas like new product development, this research also makes important theoretical contributions by showing (1) that grounded visual metaphors (in addition to tangible objects or physical exercises) can not only raise but also lower creative output, (2) that the cognitive relationship to the metaphor alters the metaphor-creativity link, (3) that a unique cognitive skill alters the metaphor&ndash;creativity link, and (4) that consumers&rsquo; intentions explain that relationship. </p>

<p> Indirect metaphors are pervasive in everyday language: People talk about <i> long</i> vacations, <i>short</i> tempers, and <i>colorful </i> language. But, why do we use concrete lexical items that are associated with the physical world when we talk about abstract, or non-physical, concepts? A potential answer is provided by proponents of Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT), who propose that only a small set of the concepts which make up our conceptual system emerge directly from physical experience, and it is this small number of concepts that serves to structure the ways in which we think and talk about abstract concepts (Lakoff &amp; Johnson, 1980). This key assumption in cognitive linguistics&mdash;that our understanding of concrete concepts serves to ground our understanding of abstract concepts&mdash;is the focus of my research. Although indirect metaphors are thought to be the result of grounded conceptual connections, motivated by experiential knowledge and flowing from the physical to the non-physical (Grady, 1999), it is unclear whether people access these grounded connections when processing the meanings of indirect metaphors.</p><p> The prepositions <i>in</i> and <i>on</i> are an interesting test case for grounded connections: Both lexical items are used frequently by speakers not only to identify the location of one object relative to another but also to refer to more abstract relationships. Therefore, I experimentally investigated the possibility that grounded connections are available for use in tasks requiring on-line processing of these prepositions: Would participants make use of conceptual connections, and if so, would the characteristics associated with these conceptual connections be consistent with the CMT grounding assumption? Although the results for <i>in</i> were consistent with the CMT grounding assumption, the results for <i>on</i> were not. In fact, differences between <i>in</i> and <i>on</i> were found throughout stimulus development, and these differences were used to help explain this discrepancy. The patterns observed throughout this dissertation suggest that <i>in</i> may be more metaphorically active than <i>on </i>, meaning that <i>in</i>'s potential to participate in indirect metaphors is higher than <i>on</i>'s, and that one consequence of this higher metaphorical activity is an increase in the availability of grounded connections during on-line processing.</p>

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Pacific Graduate School of Psychology, 1990. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 51-07, Section: B, page: 3597. Chair: David Frey.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Pacific Graduate School of Psychology, 2000. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 61-03, Section: B, page: 1663. Adviser: William J. Froming.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2007. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 68-11, Section: B, page: 7686. Adviser: Gabriele Gratton. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 86-93) Available on microfilm from Pro Quest Information and Learning.

<p> Children with autism often have limited functional communication repertoires. One way to teach functional communication is through the use of an Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) device. Individuals who use an AAC device can be taught utterances (i.e., single words or phrases) through prompting and providing a consequence specific to the utterance in a mand, or a generalized conditioned reinforcer in a tact (Skinner, 1957). In the present study, five children diagnosed with autism were taught to emit utterances consisting of 26 &ldquo;core&rdquo; words that comprised 96% of words uttered by toddlers (as noted in a study by Banajee, Dicarlo, &amp; Stricklin, 2003). The children emitted the utterances by touching symbol sequences on the screen of the AAC device. Various utterances that included the 26 core words were taught using discrete-trial teaching methods, and the item specified in the utterance was presented following it (i.e., mand). A Language Activity Monitor (LAM), a software program that continuously recorded utterances, recorded target utterances emitted before, during, and after training. Two participants completed the training package, and three others experienced some training. Discrete-trial training was effective for all participants, and increased frequencies of some targeted words were evident outside of teaching sessions with the two participants who completed the study. The study showed that teaching a &ldquo;core vocabulary&rdquo; to children with autism using an augmentative communication device can lead to some generalization without further instruction. The study may lead to further research on how vocabulary is taught, as well as how it is taught to children with language delays. A major contribution of this study is the tracking of the verbal behavior generalization automatically and continuously across all phases.</p><p>

Flashbulb memories are highly vivid and long-lasting memories for events that are emotionally significant and personally important. These memories are held in very high confidence in accuracy over an extended period. In particular, individuals believe that they can remember the personal details surrounding the event such as where they were and what they were doing at the time the event occurred. Evidence from research, however, indicates that this may not be the case. The study of flashbulb memories has typically been confined to negative events such as September 11, 2001. In the current study, we employ the methods of Talarico and Rubin (2003) to investigate flashbulb memory formation to a positive event. The event is the assassination of Osama bin Laden, which resonated as a highly positive event for many Americans evidenced by the thousands of people flooding the streets of Washington, D.C. and New York City to celebrate. We examined various memory properties over a one-year period, including vividness, rehearsal, belief in accuracy, and consistency. Results confirm the formation of flashbulb memories to the assassination event, but results did not support many of the proposed hypotheses. Some differences were found for different testing groups (i.e., immediate versus one week delay), but these were not replicated at the one year follow-up. Overall, however, it is believed that the current event, while still a flashbulb memory, was not a strong enough event to stir strong emotions and form memories on par with 9/11.

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