Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2006. / Title from first page of PDF file. Includes bibliographical references (p. 94-103).

Eye movements in reading are sensitive to foveal and parafoveal word features. Whereas the influence of orthographic or phonological parafoveal information on gaze control is undisputed, there has been no reliable evidence for early parafoveal extraction of semantic information in alphabetic script. Using a novel combination of the gaze-contingent fast-priming and boundary paradigms, we demonstrate semantic preview benefit when a semantically related parafoveal word was available during the initial 125 ms of a fixation on the pre-target word (Experiments 1 and 2). When the target location was made more salient, significant parafoveal semantic priming occurred only at 80 ms (Experiment 3). Finally, with short primes only (20, 40, 60 ms) effects were not significant but numerically in the expected direction for 40 and 60 ms (Experiment 4). In all experiments, fixation durations on the target word increased with prime durations under all conditions. The evidence for extraction of semantic information from the parafoveal word favors an explanation in terms of parallel word processing in reading.

Dosimetric characteristics of a CVD single crystal diamond detector have been evaluated. Detector stability, linearity, optimal bias, temperature dependence, directional dependence, priming and pre-irradiation behaviour, depth dose curves and dose profiles were investigated. The optimal bias was determined to be 50 V. The detector stability measurement showed a too large variation for absolute dosimetry in a day to day measurement, but acceptable variation during one and the same day. The linearity constant, , in the relation between signal and dose rate, (Fowler 1966), was determined to 0.978 and 0.953 for two detectors. The sub-linearity was also observed in the depth dose curves and could be eliminated with a correction method. The diamond detector showed smaller temperature dependence than the EFD silicon diode. The directional dependency was, <1 %, up to at least ± 15˚ and therefore no angular correction is needed. A priming dose of 0.6 Gy was determined, which is considerably smaller than for existing detectors on the market. After pre-irradiation with electrons (8 and 18 MeV) a large and permanent desensitization of up to 31 % / 500 Gy was detected. This is in contradiction to what previous published articles claim. 15 MV photons also reduced the sensitivity of the detector, but no evidence that 5 MV photons do has been found. A 50 Gy dose of 180 MeV protons did not reduce the sensitivity either. The detector dose rate linearity was improved by electron pre-irradiation. The dose profile penumbras of the diamond detector were, for the most part, smaller than the RK ionization chamber, indicating a better spatial resolution.

Lord and Brown (Lord, Brown, & Freiberg, 1999; Lord & Brown, 2004) suggest that leaders may impact followers by priming certain goals or ideals in their followers’ minds, which in turn influence judgment and behaviour. The current research examined whether transformational and transactional leaders unconsciously affect the values followers adopt and the goals they pursue, specifically the impact leaders have on follower self-interest. Although the relationship between leadership and self-interest has attracted a good deal of theoretical attention, little empirical work has been conducted to explore the impact of leadership on self-interest. Using established priming techniques, I demonstrated in three studies that transformational and transactional leaders affect self-interest in characteristic ways. In Study 1, participants read about a transformational and transactional leader and were subsequently primed with the image of one of the leaders. The results showed that participants primed with the transformational leader exhibited lower self-interest than those primed with the transactional leader. Study 2 replicated this effect, and demonstrated that the image of the leaders had a nonconscious effect on participants’ self-interest that was measurable after a delay of three days. Furthermore, this study found that participants’ pre-existing levels of prosocial values moderated the effectiveness of the prime. Study 3 extended the results of the first two studies by demonstrating that priming participants with a transformational leader significantly lowered self-interest in a context where individual gain was salient, and the transactional leader increased self-interest in a context focused on collective outcomes.

This project investigated the statistical learning of musical expectancy. As a secondary goal, the effects of the perceptual properties of tone set familiarity (Western vs. Bohlen-Pierce) and textural complexity (melody vs. harmony) on the robustness of that learning process were assessed. A series of five experiments was conducted, varying in terms of these perceptual properties, the grammatical structure used to generate musical sequences, and the methods used to measure musical expectancy. Results indicated that expectancies can indeed be developed following statistical learning, particularly for materials composed from familiar tone sets. Moreover, some expectancy effects were observed in the absence of the ability to successfully discriminate between grammatical and ungrammatical items. The effect of these results on our current understanding of expectancy formation is discussed, as is the appropriateness of the behavioural methods used in this research.

The effective of additional muscle mass in a priming exercise on cardiac output (Q) and pulmonary oxygen uptake (VO2) kinetics (mean response time, s) were determined in cyclists. Outcomes were measured over four trials, each consisting of a 6-minute legs alone (UAL) or arms and legs (ULO) warm-up, 3 minute passive recovery, then 6 minutes leg cycling (PAL, PLO; respectively). Q was significantly higher preceding exercise onset with PAL compared to PLO or ULO (0.72 ± 0.13 vs. 0.58 ± 0.09, 0.43 ± 0.09 L∙min-1; respectively, P < 0.05). Q kinetics did not differ between unprimed (ULO: 38.9 ± 8.6) and primed exercise regardless of muscle mass (PLO: 38.6 ± 11.0; PAL: 40.7 ± 11.3). VO2 kinetics were faster (P < 0.05) with PAL (36.9 ± 6.0) compared to ULO (58.7 ± 10.5). Muscle mass employed during priming exercise had only slight effect on subsequent VO2 and Q responses.

The effective of additional muscle mass in a priming exercise on cardiac output (Q) and pulmonary oxygen uptake (VO2) kinetics (mean response time, s) were determined in cyclists. Outcomes were measured over four trials, each consisting of a 6-minute legs alone (UAL) or arms and legs (ULO) warm-up, 3 minute passive recovery, then 6 minutes leg cycling (PAL, PLO; respectively). Q was significantly higher preceding exercise onset with PAL compared to PLO or ULO (0.72 ± 0.13 vs. 0.58 ± 0.09, 0.43 ± 0.09 L∙min-1; respectively, P < 0.05). Q kinetics did not differ between unprimed (ULO: 38.9 ± 8.6) and primed exercise regardless of muscle mass (PLO: 38.6 ± 11.0; PAL: 40.7 ± 11.3). VO2 kinetics were faster (P < 0.05) with PAL (36.9 ± 6.0) compared to ULO (58.7 ± 10.5). Muscle mass employed during priming exercise had only slight effect on subsequent VO2 and Q responses.

Past research has examined the many ways individuals behave in response to unconscious primes. For instance, unconsciously activating stereotypes leads people to exhibit behavior that parallels the target stereotype (e.g., Bargh, Chen, & Burrows, 1996; Dijksterhuis & van Knippenberg, 1998). Priming methodology has also been extended to inducing mortality salience, such that specific behaviors emerge in response to thinking about one’s own death. Two theories, socioemotional selectivity theory and terror management theory, hypothesize how individuals cope with thoughts about the end of life. The present study attempted to extend past research by comparing older and younger adults’ responses to unconscious mortality salience. Fifty-nine younger adults and 52 older adults were randomly assigned to one of two prime conditions: death prime or negative prime. The unconscious primes were administered through word searches, which contained 20 target words related to each prime. Defenses to the primes were assessed via suitability ratings and reaction times to a picture-caption task, which contained both neutral and emotional (positive and negative) captions paired with neutral pictures. A defense was operationalized as higher suitability ratings and faster reaction times to the positive captions, as well as lower suitability ratings and slower reaction times to the negative captions. Based on terror management theory, it was expected that individuals who were primed with death would display specific defensive behavioral responses as compared to those who were primed with negativity, regardless of age. Socioemotional selectivity theory, however, predicts that these defenses may also emerge when older adults are primed with negativity due to the increased tendency for older adults, relative to younger adults, to automatically implement default emotion regulatory goals. Analyses revealed that both younger and older adults embraced the neutral and positive captions after being primed with death. Participants primed with negativity were also more likely to embrace positivity. Age differences emerged such that younger adults were faster when reacting to emotional captions in the death condition than in the negative condition. Conversely, older adults primed with negativity reacted faster to emotional captions than those primed with death. Implications for terror management theory and socioemotional selectivity theory are discussed. Overall, both young and older adults displayed defenses to prime-activated threats of death and negativity. The implementation of death-related defenses was stronger for younger adults than the implementation of negativity-related defenses, but the opposite was true for older adults.

Language production depends upon the context in which words are named. Renaming previous items results in facilitation while naming pictures semantically related to previous items causes interference. A computational model (Oppenheim, Dell, & Schwartz, 2010) proposes that both facilitation and interference are the result of using naming events as “learning experiences” to ensure future accuracy. The model successfully simulates naming data from different semantic interference paradigms by implementing a learning mechanism that creates interference and a boosting mechanism that resolves interference. This study tested this model’s assumptions that semantic interference effects in naming are created by learning and resolved by boosting. Findings revealed no relationship between individual performance across semantic interference tasks, and measured learning and boosting abilities did not predict performance. These results suggest that learning and boosting mechanisms do not fully characterize the processes underlying semantic interference when naming.

Due to rising number of products on the shelves of stores and the fact that about 70% of buying decisions are made at the point-of-purchase, retailers and marketers are growingly investing on in-store advertising material to grab their customers’ attention. Thus, measuring the effectiveness of the in-store material in catching consumers’ attention would be highly of interest of marketers. In this study we have investigated the priming effect of in-store print advertisement on the visual attention of consumers. An experiment was conducted in a Swedish retail store where using eye-tracking technology, the visual behavior of two groups of participants who had been exposed to in-store product signs was captured. The results of this study shows that participants who had looked at a product sign, noted (fixated at least once) that product on the shelf earlier while the number of fixations on the target products was not directly influenced. An implication for managers is that they can use in-store product signs to manipulate the visual attention of consumers in a way that designated brands are attended earlier.