From politics to sports to business, people are quick to categorize those at a considerable competitive disadvantage as "underdogs." Moreover, there is ample support that most unattached observers do not hesitate to align themselves with underdogs, a phenomenon termed "the underdog effect." While most dictionary definitions state that underdogs are "especially expected to lose," the present investigation argues that people often attribute optimistic qualities to underdogs and the exceeding of expectations. A series of studies was conducted to examine the lay-person definition of what an underdog means, as well as what motivations may play a role in the underdog effect. Study 1 investigated people's spontaneous definitions of underdogs by exploring the semantic network of the underdog construct through the use of the discrete associations method. Study 2 explored the hypothesized looming success component of being an underdog by asking participants to evaluate future success of underdogs vs. disadvantaged entities. Study 3 utilized the false recognition paradigm to explore schematic memory of success associated with the underdog construct, while the last study assessed whether people do truly support those at a competitive disadvantage or merely root against the favorite, as well as explored the possible role of the self in the underdog effect. Support for the looming success of the underdog was found in the first two studies while the last study demonstrated that strong self-identification with the underdog was highly correlated with support for it. Overall, the results of the current study suggest that people in American society believe that underdogs are unique exemplars which are expected to do significantly better than the initial expectations.

The experiments reported in this thesis investigate whether the current understanding of crossmodal spatial attention can be applied to rear space, and how sound parameters can modulate crossmodal spatial cuing effects. It is generally accepted that the presentation of a brief auditory cue can exogenously orient spatial attention to the cued region of space so that reaction times (RTs) to visual targets presented there are faster than those presented elsewhere. Unlike the conventional belief in such crossmodal spatial cuing effects, RTs to visual targets were equally facilitated from the presentation of an auditory cue in the front or in the rear, as long as the stimuli were presented ipsilaterally. Moreover, when an auditory cue and a visual target were presented from one of two lateral positions on each side in front, the spatial co-location of the two stimuli did not always lead to the fastest target RTs. Although contrasting with the traditional view on the importance of cue-target spatial co-location in exogenous crossmodal cuing effects, such findings are consistent with the evidence concerning multisensory integration in the superior colliculus (SC). Further investigation revealed that the presentation of an auditory cue with an exponential intensity change might be able to exogenously orient crossmodal spatial attention narrowly to the cued region of space. Taken together, the findings reported in this thesis suggest that not only the location but also sound parameters (e.g., intensity change) of auditory cues can modulate the crossmodal exogenous orienting of spatial attention.

abstract: In 2013, 1.8 million US drivers were responsible for rear-end collisions with other vehicles (NHTSA 2014), for which driver distraction has been identified as the main factor (Campbell, Smith & Najm, 2003; Knipling, Mironer, Hendricks, Tijerina, Everson, Allen & Wilson 1993; Wang, Knipling & Goodman, 1996). The ubiquity of cell phones and their use behind the wheel has played a major role in distracting these drivers. To mitigate this, some manufacturers are equipping vehicles with forward collision warning (FCW) systems. Generally, warnings that are perceived as being urgent produce lower response times. One technique for increasing perceived urgency of a warning is called looming, where the signal increases in or more dimensions over time. Looming warning signals have been shown to produce low response times, likely because the recipient perceives the signal as a potential approaching threat, prompting defensive reactions (Graziano and Cooke, 2006). The present study evaluates the effect of veridical (intensity increases at the rate of closure with the lead vehicle) and high urgency (intensity increases at a rate of Time to Collision minus 0.5 seconds) looming FCW, as well as a static FCW, on drivers’ brake reaction times in the presence of a secondary texting task. Participants’ brake reaction times were recorded as they followed a lead car in a driving simulator, encountering multiple sudden-braking events across the five conditions (a control condition as well as four counterbalanced conditions using a secondary texting task). In the four conditions with a secondary task, participants received no FCW, static FCW, veridical FCW, and high-urgency FCW, respectively. Performance data was analyzed using a repeated measures ANOVA, and a series of pairwise comparisons were then made using Bonferroni corrected pairwise t-tests. The presence of a visually and manually distracting secondary task (texting) seems to diminish the performance of the looming signals as compared to previous studies that did not use a distraction component. While looming FCW do seem to effectively lower BRTs when the driver is distracted, it is recommended that further research investigate the relationship between secondary task types and their respective levels of distraction, and the effectiveness of auditory looming FCW. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Applied Psychology 2016

Looming Maladaptive Style (LMS) was proposed to be an anxiety specific cognitive vulnerability factor. Perfectionism also acts as a vulnerability to both anxiety disorders and depression. Parenting is another factor associated with both anxiety and depression, with a majority of studies focusing on care and overprotection dimensions of parenting. These parenting dimensions have been reported to be associated with vulnerabilities to psychological disorders. The present study, aims to investigate the parental characteristics associated with LMS and perfectionism as well as testing the mediator roles of these constructs in the relationship of parental bonding to social anxiety and depression. To fulfill this aim, data was gathered from 389 university students all of whom were administered a questionnaire package composed of Looming Maladaptive Style Questionnaire- Revised (LMSQ-R), Parental Bonding Inventory (PBI), Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale (LSAS), Brief Fear of Negative Evaluation (BFNE) and Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). In order to obtain psychometric characteristics of LMSQ-R, the scale was administered to a group of 176 university students prior to the main study. Results revealed that both social looming and maladaptive perfectionism were associated with dimensions of parenting. Although perfectionism was associated with both social anxiety and depression, LMS was much more closely associated with social anxiety. Maladaptive perfectionism had a significant mediator role between all dimensions of PBI and depression. Perfectionism also mediated the relationship between maternal care and social anxiety. LMS was not found to have any mediator role. These results were discussed under the light of relevant literature.

Looming Maladaptive Style (LMS) was proposed to be an anxiety specific cognitive vulnerability factor. Perfectionism also acts as a vulnerability to both anxiety disorders and depression. Parenting is another factor associated with both anxiety and depression, with a majority of studies focusing on care and overprotection dimensions of parenting. These parenting dimensions have been reported to be associated with vulnerabilities to psychological disorders. The present study, aims to investigate the parental characteristics associated with LMS and perfectionism as well as testing the mediator roles of these constructs in the relationship of parental bonding to social anxiety and depression. To fulfill this aim, data was gathered from 389 university students all of whom were administered a questionnaire package composed of Looming Maladaptive Style Questionnaire- Revised (LMSQ-R), Parental Bonding Inventory (PBI), Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale (LSAS), Brief Fear of Negative Evaluation (BFNE) and Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). In order to obtain psychometric characteristics of LMSQ-R, the scale was administered to a group of 176 university students prior to the main study. Results revealed that both social looming and maladaptive perfectionism were associated with dimensions of parenting. Although perfectionism was associated with both social anxiety and depression, LMS was much more closely associated with social anxiety. Maladaptive perfectionism had a significant mediator role between all dimensions of PBI and depression. Perfectionism also mediated the relationship between maternal care and social anxiety. LMS was not found to have any mediator role. These results were discussed under the light of relevant literature.

In lane departure warning systems (LDWS) it is important that the auditory warning triggers a fast and appropriate reaction from the driver. The rumble strip noise is a suitable warning to alert the driver of an imminent lane departure. A short reaction time is important in lane departure scenarios, where a late response may have fatal consequences. For abstract sounds an increase in intensity can influence the perceived urgency level of the warning, which may also trigger a faster reaction from the listener. In this thesis, the effect of a rumble strip warning with looming (increasing) intensity was analyzed by letting test persons drive a driving simulator and measuring how quickly they reacted to the auditory warning. These results were compared with those for a rumble strip warning with a constant intensity, and two versions of an abstract warning; constant intensity and looming intensity. A survey regarding the perceived urgency, annoyance and acceptance of the warnings was also carried out. The results show no differences in reaction time between the four warning signals. This may be because the test persons expected the warnings, or because of their limited experience. The survey suggests that adding a looming intensity to the rumble strip warning results in a higher urgency, while keeping the annoyance low, which could be of importance to avoid unwanted reactions from the driver. / I varningssystem för personbilar används ofta ett system som signalerar ett stundande ofrivilligt lämnande av körfältet, s.k. lane departure warning systems (LDWS), genom att en varningssignal ljuder. Det är viktigt att en sådan akustisk varningssignal frammanar en snabb och lämplig reaktion från föraren. Ljudet av en bullerräffla är en lämplig varningssignal för detta ändamål. En kort reaktionstid är viktig när fordon är på väg att ofrivilligt lämna körfältet, då en långsam reaktion kan ha förödande konsekvenser. Studier på abstrakta akustiska varningssignaler har visat att en ökande intensitet kan få en varning att verka mer brådskande, vilket i sin tur kan leda till att lyssnaren reagerar snabbare. I denna rapport analyseras hur ett bullerräffleljuds ökande intensitet påverkar förarens reaktionstid. Analysen gjordes genom att mäta reaktionstiden hos testpersoner som körde en bilsimulator med fyra olika varningssignaler; en bullerräffleljudsvarning och en abstrakt varning, båda med konstant intensitet och ökande intensitet. Reaktionstiderna för de olika signalerna jämfördes, varpå en enkät utfärdades där testpersonerna uppgav hur brådskande och irriterande de uppfattade varningarna, samt till vilken grad de skulle acceptera varningarna i ett verkligt körscenario. Resultaten visar inga skillnader i reaktionstid mellan varningarna, vilket kan bero på att testpersonerna förutsåg när varningarna skulle komma, eller på grund av deras begränsade erfarenhet av bullerräffleljud. Enkätens utfall antyder att bullerräffleljudsvarningen med ökande intensitet är mer brådskande än versionen med konstant intensitet, men att irritationsnivån inte påverkas när intensiteten ökar, vilket kan vara viktigt för att inte framkalla oönskade reaktioner hos föraren.

Many autistic adults experience debilitating anxiety that interferes with their daily functioning. Atypical sensory processing and intolerance of uncertainty are cognitive processes linked to atypical limbic system functioning and impaired fear conditioning as potential mediators of anxiety in autism. A previous fear conditioning study using fMRI found atypical amygdala functioning in autism when the threat stimulus was only partially reinforced. The first aim of this dissertation is a multimethod examination of brain and psychophysiological response in autistic and in neurotypical adults during a fear conditioning/extinction task with the threat stimulus reinforced 100% percent of the time. We were also interested in the responses of autistic and neurotypical adults during an auditory looming task that requires no learning contingencies. We used fMRI, pupillometry, and skin conductance response as the dependent measures. Results demonstrated a significant main effect for insula activation, but not amygdala activation, during the 100%-reinforcement fear conditioning task with no between-group differences or group x condition interactions. There were likewise no condition differences (Safe vs Threat) for amygdala in the auditory looming task. However, the autism group demonstrated increased insula response to both Threat and Safe auditory conditions of the looming task, suggesting the autism group utilized alternative cognitive resources than the neurotypical group. Results indicate intact fear conditioning and extinction in autism for more certain conditions and suggests that behavioral (exposure) anxiety treatments for phobias could be useful under certain conditions. Results of this study are inconsistent with the atypical/hyperactive amygdala hypotheses of anxiety with autism and inconsistent with the portion of the South & Rodgers (2017) anxiety model regarding the importance of intolerance of uncertainty in autism samples.

Ringing phones are common in work space environments in the 21th century and while capturing the attention of the call-taker they also tend to disrupt people in the surrounding environment. This study aims to investigate the attentional capturing effect of ringtones by comparing sudden and increasing onsets with quiet and noise masking conditions while participants undertook a test of short-term memory for serial order (serial recall). The experiment presented new evidence that increasing ringtone sounds have a disruptive effect on serial recall processing. A masking noise background, however, successfully eliminated the effect of the increasing ringtone sound.  In contrary to what was anticipated, the ringtone with the sudden onset did not cause an attentional capture effect, suggesting at least in behavioural terms, it was successfully ignored. The results are discussed in relation to the literature on looking effects. Increasing ringtone sounds may appear looming, with sudden onset sounds decreasing in volume appearing receding. The central idea is that looming sounds are more disruptive to serial recall because they cause a diversion of attention from the serial recall task so as to react to the apparently approaching sound. The disruption attributable to looming sounds may be a form of attentional capture that is more specific than those triggered by deviant events within a to-be-ignored stream of sounds.

Ringtones are a common distracting sound in modern workspaces. In an earlierexperiment, ringtones increasing in volume (looming) produced greater attentional capture effectin the context of serial short-term memory, than ringtones with sudden onsets that decreased involume (receding). To determine whether this effect occurred merely because the loudest part ofthe looming ringtone coincided with the most sensitive part of the serial short-term memory task,this study repeated the sound conditions of the first experiment, but altered their timing. In thisstudy, the onset of the ringtones were brought forward in time such that the loudest part of thelooming ringtone now coincided with the part of the serial short-term memory task wherein theonset of the looming ringtone occurred in the first experiment. The looming ringtone againproduced more disruption than the receding ringtone, which failed to disrupt performance relativeto the quiet control condition. The presence of a masking sound eliminated the looming ringtoneeffect, as in the previous study. The results here support previous work demonstrating that thelooming sounds give rise to attentional capture and that this reflects an evolutionary adaptation tounconsciously react to approaching sounds/objects.

Le vieillissement dit "naturel", affecte physiologiquement les structures auditives périphériques; il en va de même du collicule supérieur (CS) lors du traitement des signaux auditifs et visuels. Chez le rat âgé, la sensibilité auditive périphérique diminue et l’extraction des attributs des signaux auditifs est modifiée, et ce, dès les noyaux cochléaires (premiers relais centraux de la voie auditive ascendante). De plus, les propriétés spectrales, temporelles et directionnelles des neurones auditifs du CS sont altérées lors du vieillissement. Ceci se manifeste aussi au niveau de l’organisation topographique de la sensibilité à la direction qui est abolie au sein des couches profondes du CS. Dans la même optique, l’extraction des attributs des fréquences spatiales concentriques mobiles (en présence ou en absence d’objet sonore modulé en amplitude) est altérée aussi au niveau des neurones audiovisuels du CS lors du vieillissement. En effet, au niveau spatial, chez l’animal âgé, la présence de déficits visuels est particulièrement marquée par une diminution de la sensibilité aux stimuli visuels et audiovisuels mobiles et rapides lors du déplacement de l’organisme dans son environnement. Compte tenu de l’ampleur des changements qui s’installent avec le vieillissement au niveau des structures périphériques et centrales, inévitablement, les mécanismes nerveux de la plasticité audiovisuelle de bas niveau, i.e. au niveau des neurones du CS, sont perturbés. En outre, chez l’animal âgé, le gain audiovisuel induit par l’activité des neurones du CS ne produit pas d’amélioration notable par rapport à la modalité unisensorielle. Dans l’ensemble, ces résultats montrent que le vieillissement perturbe l’activité neuronale du CS permettant de détecter les informations sensorielles pertinentes dans un environnement audiovisuel complexe. / Age-related physiological changes affect the peripheral auditory structures; this also applies to the superior colliculus (SC) auditory and visual processes. In aged rats, the peripheral hearing sensitivity decreases and at more central regions, particularly the first central node, in the ascending auditory projections, auditory processing of sounds is altered. Furthermore, at the level of the SC, spectral, temporal and directional properties of auditory neurons are also altered during aging. In addition, no systematic directional spatial arrangement is encountered among the neurons of aged rats, implying that the topographical organization of the auditory directional map is abolished in the deep layers of the SC. Moreover, in a condition where SC visual neurons are stimulated with looming concentric sinusoidal gratings (in the presence or in the absence of modulated audio signals), visual deficits in aged animals are particularly marked by a decrease in sensitivity to fast moving visual and audiovisual stimuli during self-motion. Given the links of age-related changes in the peripheral and in the central structures, inevitably, the mechanisms underlying the neuronal audiovisual plasticity, in the low-level (SC), are somehow disrupted. Specifically, in aged animals, the presence of the auditory stimulus when coupled with the visual signal did not enhance the response activity of the visual neurons. This seems to suggest that the mechanism that may serve to amplify the visual signal under weak or ambiguous and noisy conditions thus improving greater behavioral relevance of detecting rapidly approaching visual and audiovisual moving objects during self-motion is altered with aging. Overall, these results show that aging disrupts the SC neuronal activity that enables detection of relevant sensory information in a complex audiovisual environment.