Thesis (M.A.)--University of Texas at El Paso, 2009. / Title from title screen. Vita. CD-ROM. Includes bibliographical references. Also available online.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2009. / Title from first page of PDF file. Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 88-95).

Thesis (B.Sc)--University of Hong Kong, 1995. / "A dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Bachelor of Science (Speech and Hearing Sciences), The University of Hong Kong, April 28, 1995." Also available in print.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2005. / Title from first page of PDF file. Document formatted into pages; contains x, 153 p.; also includes graphics (some col.). Includes bibliographical references (p. 118-127). Available online via OhioLINK's ETD Center

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2007. / Title from first page of PDF file. Includes bibliographical references (p. 146-170).

Thesis (DPhil)--University of Stellenbosch, 2004. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: It is a general assumption in psychology that past social relationships and experiences influence present social behaviour. With attachment theory and current social-cognitive theory as conceptual basis, the present study focused on the association between past experiences with significant others and the current processing of interpersonal information. By means of a 2x3x4 experimental design the study investigated the influence of chronic accessibility and subliminal priming (of significant other representations) on the accuracy and speed of processing scripted interpersonal information. One hundred and thirty seven university students took part in two sessions no more than two weeks apart. In session one they completed the Attachment Style Questionnaire (ASQ; Feeny, Noller & Hanrahan, 1994), and provided the names of positive and negative significant others. According to a median split of the Confidence Scale of the ASQ, they were assigned to a chronic positive or a chronic negative group, assuming that the information based on predominantly positive or negative experiences with positive or negative significant others will be chronically more accessible. In session two, in an individual computer task, they were subliminally primed (33 ms) with a control word or the name of the positive or negative significant other to increase the accessibility of the appropriate memory structures. They were then asked to read a positive, negative, mixed or ambiguous script of an interpersonal event and complete a memory test of 36 interpersonal statements (nine positive, nine negative, nine ambiguous and nine filler statements). The accuracy and response time for every statement was recorded, and the response times of accurate responses for positive and negative scripts were included in the main analysis. Separate univariate analyses of the differences between positive and negative priming per polarity of chronic group and script supported the priming hypothesis. The average response time of the chronic negative group was fastest when they received a negative prime (p = .039), and the positive group was fastest when they received a positive prime (p = .000). The results of a two-way analysis of variance for chronic group and script showed a highly significant interaction effect between chronic group and script (p = .000). When the primes were congruent to the scripts, the chronic groups were significantly faster in recognising statements from a congruent script. The results supported the conjunctive model of priming. The implications of these findings for the understanding of the cognitive structures and processes involved in processing interpersonal information are discussed, with specific reference to relational schemas and attachment working models. Possible directions for future research as well as the application of the results are also described. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Dit is ‘n algemene aanname in die sielkunde dat sosiale verhoudinge en ervarings uit die verlede ‘n invloed het op huidige sosiale gedrag. Vanuit die bindingsteorie en die huidige sosiaal-kognitiewe teorie as konseptuele uitgangspunt, fokus die huidige studie op die assosiasie tussen ervaringe met betekenisvolle persone in die verlede en die huidige prosessering van interpersoonlike inligting. Met behulp van ‘n 2x3x4 eksperimentele ontwerp is ondersoek ingestel na die invloed van chroniese toeganklikheid en subliminale opwekking (van geheuevoorstellings van betekenisvolle ander) op die akkuraatheid en spoed waarmee interpersoonlike tekste verwerk word. Eenhonderd-sewe-en-dertig universiteitstudente het deelgeneem aan twee sessies wat nie meer as twee weke na mekaar plaasgevind het nie. Tydens sessie een het die deelnemers die Attachment Style Questionnaire (ASQ; Feeny, Noller & Hanrahan, 1994) voltooi en die name van positiewe en negatiewe betekenisvolle persone voorsien. Op grond van die mediaan-verdeling van die Selfvertroue Skaal van die ASQ is die deelnemers toegewys aan ’n chronies positiewe of chronies negatiewe groep, met die veronderstelling dat inligting gebaseer op oorwegend positiewe of negatiewe ervarings met positiewe of negatiewe betekenisvolle ander deurlopend meer toegankilk sal wees. Tydens sessie twee, wat ’n individuele rekenaartaak behels het, is ’n subliminale stimulus (33 ms) van ’n kontrole-woord, of die naam van ’n positiewe of negatiewe betekenisvolle ander aan hulle aangebied om die toeganklikheid van die toepaslike geheue-strukture verder te verhoog. Daarna is hulle versoek om ‘n positiewe, negatiewe, gemengde of dubbelsinnige teks van ’n interpersoonlike gebeurtenis te lees en ’n geheuetoets van 36 stellings te voltooi wat bestaan het uit nege positiewe, nege negatiewe, nege dubbelsinnige en nege neutrale stellings. Die akkuraatheid en reaksiespoed van elke stelling is gemeet en die reaksietyd van die akkurate response op stellings uit positiewe en negatiewe tekste is in die primêre ontleding ingesluit. Die resultate van onafhanklike eenveranderlike ontledings van die verskille tussen positiewe en negatiewe opwekking per polariteit van chroniese groep en teks, het die hipotese van opwekking ondersteun. Die gemiddelde responstyd van die chroniese negatiewe groep was die vinnigste wanneer hulle die negatiewe stimulus ontvang het (p = .039) en die van die positiewe groep was die vinnigste wanneer hulle die positiewe stimulus ontvang het (p = .000). Die resultate van ’n tweerigting variansieontleding van chroniese groep en teks het ‘n beduidende interaksie tussen chroniese groep en teks aangedui (p = .000). Wanneer die opwekkingstimuli kongruent met die tekste was, was die chroniese groepe betekenisvol vinniger in die herkenning van stellings van die kongruente teks. Die resultate ondersteun ’n konjunktiewe model van opwekking. Die implikasies van die bevindinge vir die verstaan van die kognitiewe strukture en prosesse betrokke by die verwerking van interpersoonlike inligting word bespreek, met spesifieke verwysing na verhoudingskemas en die gebruiksmodelle in bindingsteorie. Riglyne vir toekomstige navorsing op die gebied word verskaf, en die implikasies vir die praktiese toepassing van die resultate word bespreek.

Identifying and locating specific objects amidst irrelevant, distracting items can be difficult when one is unsure of where, or even what, to look for. Priming the perceptual/cognitive system for specific features or objects is one way of helping observers to locate and identify target items (e.g., Grice&Gwynne, 1985; Laarni and Hakkinen, 1994). Past research has demonstrated that priming single features does indeed affect search performance (e.g., Hailston&Davis, 2006; Huang&Pashler, 2005). But, what happens when more than one feature is primed? Does priming two features result in better performance than priming only one? What about three features? How does feature priming compare to simply priming the entire object itself? The current research addressed these questions with a series of three visual search experiments. In the first experiment performance in simple feature search was compared against triple-conjunction search performance. Three prominent models of visual search were compared to see which best predicted actual performance. In the second and third experiments the effects of multiple feature priming on search accuracy were examined in a triple-conjunction search (Experiment 2) and a whole-object search (Experiment 3). Moreover, in Experiment 3 the effectiveness of whole-object primes were compared to multiple-features primes. Results show that none of the three models can accurately predict performance in all cases, suggesting some modification of each is necessary. Furthermore, valid primes resulted in performance benefits, and these benefits increased with the number of primed features. Finally, no performance costs of invalid priming were observed in the current experiments.

[Truncated abstract] The finding that less time is needed to evaluate the valence of a target when it is preceded by a prime of the same valence, as opposed to one of the opposite valence, has become known as the affective priming effect. The research reported here investigated a new model of the mechanisms underlying affective priming effects, which focuses on the role of specific emotions within global valence categories. Specifically, this model stipulates that when presented with a stimulus that elicits particular emotions, the area of the brain corresponding to that emotion is automatically stimulated. This in turn will produce a diffuse activation of meaning nodes that are associated with that emotion. This emotion-based priming model departs from previous spreading activation accounts of affective priming, as it suggests that the facilitation effects observed in such studies may be due primarily to spreading activation via emotion-congruent, rather than valence-congruent, nodes. The overarching goal of the empirical research programme reported here was to test predictions based on this model. In three studies, facilitation effects ascribable to specific emotion-based congruence (e.g., fear-fear) were compared with those ascribable to global valence-based congruence (e.g., negative-negative) alone (i.e., in the absence of emotion-based congruence). Participants made valence judgements on targets which represented one of five basic human emotions: one positive (happy) and four negative (disgust, fear, sad, and anger). ... The fundamental design elements were the same across all three studies: the only difference was in the stimulus format of the prime-target pairs: emotion-laden scenes were used in Study One; facial expressions in Study Two; and emotion-laden words in Study Three. Results showed that, in comparison to the neutral and incongruent baselines, there were significant emotion-based priming effects across all stimulus formats. This result was also consistent across all of the negative emotions employed. Significant valence-based priming effects were, however, also obtained in each of the three studies, although these effects were more inconsistent than those obtained for emotion-based priming. That is, reaction times were significantly shorter on valence-congruent than on neutral and incongruent baseline trials, but only for a portion of the tests performed across the three studies. In Studies One and Two, reaction times were consistently shorter for emotion-congruent prime-target pairs than for valence-congruent prime-target pairs. This trend was absent in Study Three, in which word stimuli were used. These results indicate that while reaction times were facilitated, albeit inconsistently, for valence-congruent prime-target pairs, they were facilitated significantly further for emotion-congruent pairs when picture-based stimuli were used. The emotion-based and valence-based priming effects obtained across the three studies are discussed in terms of three competing theories: (i) spreading activation via global valence nodes, (ii) spreading activation via emotion centres, and (iii) expectancy-based processes. A dual-process hypothesis of affective priming is then proposed. The plausibility of the hypothesis is then explored through a synthesis and re-examination of results reported in previous affective priming research. Directions for future research to elaborate and extend on this work are discussed.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2007. / Title from first page of PDF file. Includes bibliographical references (p. 86-90).

Language is a cultural construct, and the relationship between words is taught. Priming research has long investigated the relationship between related and unrelated words. Similar research has been seen in music relationships, but most of these investigate harmonic relations despite the melodic relationship being the one listeners are mostly likely to describe. Further, these studies typically measure existing relationships and do not attempt to teach a new relationship, nothing that most adults are experienced musical listeners. This study seeks to establish a new melodic relationship (the enigmatic Scale) in addition to a familiar one (the major Scale) while measuring response time to the musical sequences. A baseline was conducted in which participants listened to a musical sequence and selected via response box if the final note is consonant (major Scale) or dissonant (enigmatic Scale). Following baseline a training section occurred in which participants heard sequences ranging from 2-7 notes and were provided feedback for correct and incorrect responses. Following completion of the training participants completed a post-test identical to baseline. Behavioral results are discussed in relation to Palmer's (2009) concept of the repertoire.