<p>Social media and mobile technology now provide consumers with the opportunity to continuously document or reflect on their moment-to-moment internal and external experiences. For instance, "tweets" are often written while one is consuming some experience, just as other forms of social media may be used in their respective ways for documentation or reflection while an experience is unfolding. But what effect does verbal documentation or reflection have on consumers' enjoyment of their time? The authors propose that when consumers can verbally document or reflect about topics other than the current experience, increased mind wandering can occur, which can help lead to reduced enjoyment. Testing the theoretical model through five experiments, the authors show that verbal documentation or reflection during an experience can reduce enjoyment, regardless of whether that experience is generally enjoyable or generally unenjoyable. However, the same effect does not occur when consumers are specifically asked to verbally document or reflect only about the experience they are taking part in. Verbal documentation or reflection right after an experience ends, which does not increase mind wandering during the experience, can lead to increased enjoyment when consumers are specifically asked to verbally document or reflect only about the experience they just took part in. Implications for the use of social media for verbal documentation and reflection by consumers and marketing managers are discussed.</p> / Dissertation

Empathy represents one multifaceted component of social cognition that is thought to be significantly impaired in individuals with schizophrenia. Psychophysical tasks of smell identification and hedonic processing of pleasant, neutral, and unpleasant odors share common neural networks involved in empathy. Therefore, we investigated the relationship between odor identification, odor ratings, and self-reported empathy in 25 outpatients with schizophrenia and 25 nonpsychiatric individuals. Group differences on empathy scores and unirhinal smell identification performance (with hedonic and intensity ratings) were examined, along with the relationships between smell identification scores, self-reported empathy, and schizophrenia symptomatology. The preliminary findings suggest that individuals with schizophrenia display significant differences from controls on measures of self-reported empathy, odor identification, and hedonic ratings of odors. Deficits in self-reported global and affective empathy were influenced by group and sex, whereas cognitive empathy was reduced across all patients in comparison to controls. Patients displayed reduced unirhinal odor identification accuracy for pleasant but not neutral or unpleasant odors in comparison to controls. Central to the overall aim of the current study, a robust positive correlation was observed between left- and right-nostril hedonic ratings for pleasant odors and self-reported global and affective empathy scores across all participants. In patients, we also found a statistical trend between affective empathy and left-nostril identification accuracy across all odors. Collectively, the results lend support to the role of olfactory-limbic brain regions in the hedonic processing of odors and suggest that aberrant performance observed in schizophrenia may be related to abnormalities in the anatomical and physiological substrates that also subserve empathy.

This study verifies previous econometric research which found that spreadsheet prices, when adjusted for quality improvement, decline over the period 1986-1993. New econometric work is presented for prepackaged word processing software. Using objective criteria for variable selection, the model yields declining quality-adjusted prices for word processing software over the period 1985-1994. / Master of Arts

This dissertation consists of two essays on housing, the first on estimation strategies for the valuation of a local disamenity and the second on the structure of the market for the services of real estate brokers. The purpose of the first essay is to apply hedonic and quasi-experimental methods to measure the value of any disamenity caused by communication antennas. Crucial to unbiased estimates is accounting for both endogenous antenna location and changes in unobservable housing and neighborhood characteristics. Spatial fixed effects are used to control for unobservable characteristics that can influence the location decisions of residents and the location of antennas. Panel data techniques are used to address both time invariant and time varying unobservables and to account for possible changes in the hedonic price function after construction of a nearby antenna. The estimates indicate that houses near communication antennas sell less than comparable houses not located near a communication antenna, and also highlight a shortcoming of applying the difference-in-differences technique to value a local disamenity when houses are affected by the presence of multiple sites. The second essay compares the performance of brand name franchised and independent real estate brokers with respect to list price, sales price, time on the market, and prevalence in areas with more out-of-state buyers using techniques that control for the different types of agents that choose to affiliate with franchised real estate brokerage firms. The results indicate that most of the difference in the sales price and the time it takes to locate a buyer can be explained by the types of agents that choose to affiliate with franchised brokerage firms, and that on average weaker agents choose to affiliate with franchised real estate firms. In addition, there is an indication that properties in areas with larger shares of out-of-state residents are more likely to be sold by a franchised broker. This result is consistent with the industrial organization literature on franchising that says franchising should be more prevalent in areas where consumers are less familiar with the local market.

The study of feeding behavior, and in particular the study of subjective hedonic experience and objective measures of motivation, are central to understanding how appetite regulation can be compromised in certain individuals. Furthermore, with an integrated picture of physiological and behavioral changes that can occur as a result of energy deprivation what emerges is a better understanding of how palatable food can disrupt attempts at regulating body weight at lower levels of body energy stores. In Article I, the genetic association study examining a potential role for a dopamine-related polymorphism in weight loss, it was shown that contrary to the main hypothesis there was no association between TaqIA polymorphism and the amount of body weight loss. In Article II, it was shown that palatability and olfaction ratings increased as a result of a 24 hour fast and females demonstrated larger improvements in overall olfactory performance. Initial body weight was positively related to improved odor detection threshold and total odour score (TDI). Using the same population sample as Article II, Article III highlights that higher sensitivity to reward and disinhibition scores correlated with responding for palatable snack food stimuli in the relative-reinforcing value of food (RRV) task, further indicating that RRV has strong ties with impulsivity. There was a demonstrable lack of negative alliesthesia under the fasted condition where, after a 75% increase in ad libitum energy intake (EI) relative to the fed condition, this greater amount of food consumed was still rated as being more palatable than the lesser amounts consumed under the fed condition. In Article IV it was shown that an equicaloric (-25%) energy deficit by diet alone was a greater challenge to appetite regulation and resulted in greater compensatory increases in EI than deprivation by exercise alone. Independent of deprivation modality there were significant improvements in odour threshold scores. TDI score increased only under diet alone; furthermore, the noted increase in mean TDI score was positively related to increased ad libitum EI. The picture that emerges is that, acutely, a complete fast has more pronounced effects on appetite and ad libitum EI than dieting alone, which in turn had greater effects than exercise alone or controls. Also, TDI improved under all three methods of energy deprivation, but moreso under conditions of deprivation by diet alone.

Female mice exhibit a hardwired preference to investigate pheromones released by male conspecifics. The neural pathways that convey pheromonal inputs to brain regions controlling motivated behaviors remain largely unknown. One brain region known to process pheromonal information conveyed via main- and accessory olfactory bulb inputs is the Medial Amygdala (Me), a limbic structure comprised of anterior (MeA) and posterior (MeP) subdivisions. Electrolytic lesions of the MeP blocked the normal preference of estrous female mice to investigate urinary odors emitted from breeding as opposed to castrated males whereas lesions of either the MeA or MeP significantly reduced females' display of the receptive lordosis posture in response to male mounts. Quantitative analysis of synaptic puncta in the efferent projection targets of these two amygdaloid subregions, visualized using fluorescent anterograde tract tracing techniques, revealed that the MeA and MeP differentially innervate several forebrain regions. The medial olfactory tubercle (mOT; a component of the ventral striatum) receives dense monosynaptic input from the MeA and responds selectively to breeding male (but not female) soiled bedding volatiles, indexed by augmented FOS expression. Using injections of the retrograde tracer, cholera toxin B (CTb), neurons were identified in the MeA and ventral tegmental area (VTA) that projected to the mOT in female mice and which also co-expressed FOS after exposure to breeding male, but not female, soiled bedding/urinary volatiles. This suggests that the MeA and VTA convey opposite-sex (male) pheromonal information to the mOT. Bilateral dopaminergic lesions of the anteromedial VS (a region which includes the mOT) eliminated females' preference for breeding male vs. female urinary pheromones, suggesting that dopaminergic modulation in the VS is necessary for the display of these behaviors. Lastly, bilateral silencing of mOT neuronal firing by the activation of the inhibitory DREADD receptor, hM4Di, induced by intraperitoneal injection of its ligand (CNO), also disrupted females' preference to investigate urinary odors from breeding males; this deficit was reversed when saline was administered instead of CNO. The Me, VTA, and mOT are essential segments of a neural reward circuit that motivates estrous female mice to seek out male pheromones, thereby facilitating mate recognition and reproductive success.

The study of feeding behavior, and in particular the study of subjective hedonic experience and objective measures of motivation, are central to understanding how appetite regulation can be compromised in certain individuals. Furthermore, with an integrated picture of physiological and behavioral changes that can occur as a result of energy deprivation what emerges is a better understanding of how palatable food can disrupt attempts at regulating body weight at lower levels of body energy stores. In Article I, the genetic association study examining a potential role for a dopamine-related polymorphism in weight loss, it was shown that contrary to the main hypothesis there was no association between TaqIA polymorphism and the amount of body weight loss. In Article II, it was shown that palatability and olfaction ratings increased as a result of a 24 hour fast and females demonstrated larger improvements in overall olfactory performance. Initial body weight was positively related to improved odor detection threshold and total odour score (TDI). Using the same population sample as Article II, Article III highlights that higher sensitivity to reward and disinhibition scores correlated with responding for palatable snack food stimuli in the relative-reinforcing value of food (RRV) task, further indicating that RRV has strong ties with impulsivity. There was a demonstrable lack of negative alliesthesia under the fasted condition where, after a 75% increase in ad libitum energy intake (EI) relative to the fed condition, this greater amount of food consumed was still rated as being more palatable than the lesser amounts consumed under the fed condition. In Article IV it was shown that an equicaloric (-25%) energy deficit by diet alone was a greater challenge to appetite regulation and resulted in greater compensatory increases in EI than deprivation by exercise alone. Independent of deprivation modality there were significant improvements in odour threshold scores. TDI score increased only under diet alone; furthermore, the noted increase in mean TDI score was positively related to increased ad libitum EI. The picture that emerges is that, acutely, a complete fast has more pronounced effects on appetite and ad libitum EI than dieting alone, which in turn had greater effects than exercise alone or controls. Also, TDI improved under all three methods of energy deprivation, but moreso under conditions of deprivation by diet alone.

No description available.

No description available.

Pour une grande majorité d’espèces, l’olfaction contribue à la survie, et pour d’autres elle suscite en plus des réponses hédoniques qui guident les comportements, qu’ils soient appétitifs ou aversifs. C’est le cas notamment de l’espèce humaine chez qui les réponses hédoniques aux odeurs contribuent de façon importante à la régulation de certains de nos comportements (plaisir alimentaire, plaisir d’humer, reproductif peut être). Bien que cette valeur émotive que l’on confère à l’odorat soit incontestée, son déterminisme reste encore flou et finalement peu étudié. Un grand nombre de données de la littérature mettent l’accent sur le rôle de l’expérience et de l’apprentissage sur la mise en place des réponses hédoniques chez l’Homme. Cependant, même si ces données nous éclairent sur les déterminants de la perception émotionnelle des odeurs à l’âge adulte, elles ne précisent pas leur évolution temporelle : quel rôle jouent le développement humain, les connaissances acquises durant les apprentissages, qu’ils soient implicites ou explicites ? La présente thèse a tenté d’apporter des éléments de réponse à ces deux questions à travers deux études. Pris dans leur ensemble, les résultats de ce travail de thèse suggèrent ainsi que les réponses hédoniques aux odeurs seraient la résultante d’un équilibre entre des facteurs externes, tels que les caractéristiques physicochimiques des odorants, et des facteurs internes plus cognitifs, tels que les connaissances sémantiques acquises à travers l’expérience et plus particulièrement l’exposition précoce / For a large majority of species, olfaction contributes to survival, and for others it induces hedonic responses that guide behavior, whether appetitive or aversive. This is particularly true for the human species in which the hedonic responses to odors contribute significantly to the regulation of some behaviors (food pleasure, the pleasure of smelling flowers, reproduction may be). While the emotional value of smells is undisputed, its determinism is still unclear, and little studied. A large number of scientific data emphasize the role of experience and learning on the development of hedonic responses in humans. However, although these data highlight the determinants of emotional perception of odors in adulthood, they do not specify their temporal evolution: what is the role of human development and of knowledge acquired during learning? This thesis has attempted to provide answers to these questions through two studies. Taken together, the results of this work suggest that hedonic responses to odors are the result of a balance between external factors such as physicochemical properties of odorants, and internal and more cognitive factors, such as semantic knowledge acquired through experience and especially early exposure