Spatial orientation of pigeons on a small scale was intensivelly studied in experiments using various types of arenas or mazes. In these experiments pigeons usually searched for food hidden in the goal area and they based their orientation on available landmarks. The development of new technologies allowed to test spatial cognition of pigeons also in virtual tasks, based exclusively on a schematic representation of an arena or maze on a touch screen. In experiments of this type pigeon marks the goal by pecking and it is rewarded by food from a feeder, located near the monitor. Study presented in this diploma thesis was based on combination of both types of spatial tasks. The information crucial for locating the goal was presented to pigeons on a computer screen in form of graphic stimuli, whereas the goal itself was formed by one of the 4 holes in corners of a transparent rectangular desk, standing in front of the monitor. Experiment with similar design was not yet published in the study of spatial cognition of pigeons. Two types of abstract graphic stimuli were tested. The first stimuli provided a spatial information about the location of a goal and had a form of small rectangular frame with a white spot in one of its corners. The frame represented the space of the response desk and the white spot...

Background: Visual food stimuli have been shown to influence desire to eat and may influence overall energy intake. The purpose of this study was to determine the influence, if any, that time of day has on the neural response to visual food stimuli, as measured by functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Methods: Using a crossover design, 15 healthy women were scanned using fMRI while presented with low- and high-energy pictures of food, once in the morning (6:30–8:30 am) and once in the evening (5:00–7:00 pm). Diets were identical on both days of the fMRI scans and were verified using weighed food records. Pictures used were based on the work of Sweet et al. (2012). Visual analog scales were used to record subjective perception of hunger and preoccupation with food prior to each fMRI scan. Results: Nine brain regions showed significantly higher activation for high energy stimuli compared to low energy stimuli (p < 0.05). Six areas of the brain showed lower activation in the evening to both high and low energy stimuli including parts of some reward pathways (p < 0.05). Subjectively, participants reported no difference in hunger by time of day (F(1, 14) = 1.84, p = 0.19), but felt they could eat more (F = 4.83, p = 0.04) and were more preoccupied with thoughts of food (F = 5.51, p = 0.03) in the evening compared to the morning. Conclusions: High energy food stimuli tended to produce greater fMRI responses than low energy foods in specific areas of the brain, regardless of time of day. However, evening scans showed a lower response to both food categories in some areas of the brain compared to the morning. These data may have clinical implications for fMRI measurement and practical implications for sensitivity to food cues and eating behavior.

BACKGROUND: Food-related visual cues may affect eating behavior and energy intake. The purpose of this study was to determine the neural response to pictures of food and whether or not the neural responses were associated with energy intake. METHODS: Using a cross-sectional design, 60 adults participated in this study. Each participant reported to the laboratory in a fasted state, were fitted with a 128-electrode electroencephalogram (EEG) net, and were shown pictures grouped into three categories: high-calorie foods, low-calorie foods, and distractor pictures. These pictures were shown in random order. Furthermore, participants were shown these pictures in one passive condition and two active conditions (also in random order). The passive condition required participants to view pictures in a relaxed state while neural responses were recorded. The active conditions required participants to be actively engaged with the picture by pressing or withholding a specified button on a keyboard (go/no go task). The active conditions included only high- and low-calorie foods. Event Related Potentials (ERP) of interest were the N2, P300, and late positive potential (LPP). The National Cancer Institute's Automated Self-administered 24-hour Dietary Recall (ASA24) was used to assess energy and macronutrient intake. RESULTS: The N2 amplitude, when amplitude for high-calorie pictures is subtracted from the amplitude of low-calorie pictures, was significantly different for each active condition (F = 41.23; p < 0.0001). However, neural responses to picture-type for the N2, P300 and LPP were not different (p > 0.05). The difference in N2 amplitude, for the high-calorie no go condition that results from the amplitude for low and high-calorie pictures being subtracted from each other, was significantly associated with carbohydrate intake (r = -0.263) and significantly predicted carbohydrate intake (regression coefficient = -56.821; p = 0.043) but not energy, fat, or protein intake (p > 0.05). Neither the P300 nor the LPP was correlated with or predicted energy and macronutrient intake (p > 0.05). CONCLUSION: The N2 differentiates depending on the no go stimulus. The difference in N2 amplitude, for the high-calorie no go condition, may be an index of carbohydrate intake. The P300 and LPP do not appear to differentiate between pictures of high- and low-calorie foods, nor do they correlate with energy or macronutrient intake.

Karst environments are interconnected landscapes vulnerable to degradation. Many instances of anthropogenic karst disturbance are unintentional, and occur because of the public's lack of understanding or exposure to karst knowledge. When attempts are made to educate the general public about these landscapes, the concepts taught are often too abstract to be fully understood. Thus, karst educational pursuits must use only the most efficient and effective learning materials. A technique useful for assessing educational effectiveness of learning materials is eye-tracking, which allows scientists to quantitatively measure an individual's points of interest and eye movements when viewing a 2D or 3D visualization. Visualization developers use eye-tracking data to create graphics that hold the observer's attention and, thereby, enhance learning about a particular concept. This study aimed to assess and improve the educational effectiveness of 2D karst visualizations by combining eye-tracking techniques with Geographic Information Systems, knowledge assessments, and semi-structured interviews. The first phase of this study consisted of groups of 10 participants viewing 2D karst visualizations with one category of manipulated visual stimuli. The second phase consisted of groups of 10-15 participants viewing 2D karst visualizations that were created based on the results from the first phase. The results of this study highlighted both effective stimuli in karst visualizations and stimuli that hinder the educational effectiveness of visualizations.

Five humans were exposed to a matching to sample task in which the delay (range = 0 to 32 seconds) between sample stimulus offset and comparison onset was manipulated across conditions. Auditory stimuli (1” tone) and arbitrary symbols served as sample stimuli for three (S1, S2, S3) and two (S4 and S5) subjects, respectively. Uppercase English letters (S, M, and N) served as comparison stimuli for all subjects. Results show small but systematic effects of the retention interval on accuracy and latency to selection of comparison stimuli. The results fail to show a difference between subjects exposed to auditory and visual sample stimuli. Some reasons for the failure to note a difference are discussed.

Titel: Se, hör &amp; shoppa! En undersökning kring hur det med visuell och auditiv stimuli går att påverka kundens rörelsemönster och köpbeteende i butik. Författare: Klara Johansson, Marina Johansson Handledare: Professor Bertil Hultén Examinator: Universitetslektor Leif V Rytting Kurs: Företagsekonomi III – Examensarbete inriktning detaljhandel och service management (kandidat) 15hp Problemformulering: Hur påverkas kundens rörelsemönster och köpbeteende i en butiksmiljö med hjälp av visuella stimuli samt auditivt stimuli? Syfte: Syftet med examensarbetet är att undersöka, analysera och klargöra huruvida kundens rörelsemönster och köpbeteende kan påverkas med hjälp av sensoriska stimuli. Vi vill med hjälp av en multisensorisk upplevelse, vita pilar samt ljudet av fågelkvitter, försöka påverka kundens vägval i butiken för att bidra till att denne ska uppmärksamma större del av butiksytan. Metod: Examensarbetet har utformats med ett deduktivt angreppssätt. Vi har gjort en kvantitativ analys med en experimentell ansats. En omfattande litteraturstudie har legat till grund för de hypoteser som formulerats, i syfte att svara på forskningsfrågan. Primärdata har samlats in genom sammanlagt 1347 observationer på Plantagen i Kalmar. Slutsats: En slutsats av arbetet är att kunderna påverkas till att följa visuella stimuli i form av pilar. Det är därmed möjligt att påverka kunden att se mer av butikens yta med hjälp av visuella stimuli. Vi kan även visa att tillsättning av auditivt stimuli och visuella stimuli påverkar köpbeteendet i form av tid spenderad i experimentzonen, men det behövs vidare forskning för att utreda i vilken grad påverkan sker. Nyckelord: Sinnesmarknadsföring, visuell stimuli, auditiv stimuli, butiker, rörelsemönster, multisensorik, kongruens / Title: See, hear &amp; shop! A Study of how visual and auditory stimuli can influence the customer's movement patterns and buying behaviour in store. Authors: Klara Johansson, Marina Johansson Supervisor: Professor Bertil Hultén Ph.D. Examiner: Senior Lecturer Leif V Rytting Ph.D. Course: Business economies III – Retail and service management (C level) Issues: How are the customer's movement patterns and buying behaviour affected in store with the help of visual and auditory stimuli? Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate, analyse and clarify whether the customer's movement patterns and buying behaviour can be affected by means of sensory stimuli. With the help of sensory marketing, white arrows and bird song, we want to influence the customer's choice of direction in the store with the purpose of making the customer notice a wider part of the store. Methodology: The thesis has been designed with a deductive approach. We have done a quantitative analysis with an experimental approach. An extensive search for literature has been the basis of the hypotheses formulated, in order to answer the research question. Primary data were collected through a total of 1347 observations at Plantagen in Kalmar. Findings: A finding of this thesis is that customers are influenced to follow the visual stimuli by the means of white arrows. It is thereby possible to affect customers to notice a wider part of the store by the means of visual stimuli. We can also show that adding auditory stimuli and visual stimuli can affect the buying behaviour in the matter of time spent in the experimental zone, although further research is required to exam to which extent the impact occurs. Keywords: Sensory marketing, visual stimuli, auditory stimuli, in stores, movement patterns, multisensory, congruence

Pelo menos uma parte do ambiente no qual uma resposta produz uma consequência ganha controle sobre a resposta. Geralmente, a parte que ganha o controle correlaciona com a consequência. Partes não correlacionadas podem dificultar ou facilitar a aquisição do controle por as partes correlacionadas e até mesmo ganhar controle por si mesmas. Esta tese trata sobre o papel que partes do ambiente não correlacionadas com a consequência têm no estabelecimento de controle de estímulos. O capítulo 1 é uma revisão sobre o estabelecimento de controle com ênfase nas propriedades do ambiente. O Capítulo 2 descreve dois experimentos que avaliaram controle por porções do ambiente não correlacionadas com a consequência. Experimentos anteriores com uma tarefa de reconhecimento sugeriram controle por partes de estímulos com forma humana não correlacionadas com a consequência. Os resultados do Experimento 2 mostraram com uma tarefa operante que o teste de reconhecimento mede controle por aspectos do ambiente não correlacionadas com a consequência e que o controle de porções não correlacionadas podem dificultar ou até impedir o controle pelas partes correlacionadas. O Capítulo 3 descreve três experimentos que avaliaram a influência da forma dos estímulos no controle por estímulos não correlacionadas. Os resultados mostraram que porções não correlacionadas de estímulos em formato humano tinham uma chance maior de controlar o responder do que estímulos com os mesmos componentes em formato não-humano. O capítulo 4 descreve três experimentos que avaliaram controle por porções do ambiente não correlacionadas com a consequência com cruzes formadas por quadrados que tinham contato uns aos outros ou que tinham uma pequena distância entre eles. Os resultados mostraram que partes dos estímulos formados por quadrados desconectados ganhou controle sobre a responder, mas não ganharam controle quando as cruzes estavam formadas por estímulos unidos / At least part of the environment in which a response produces a consequence always gains control over the response. As a rule, the portion that gains control correlates with the consequence. Uncorrelated portions may hinder or facilitate the acquisition of control by the correlated ones and even gain control by themselves. The present dissertation deals with the role that portions of the environment uncorrelated with the consequence play on the establishment of stimulus control. Chapter 1 is a review on the establishment of control with emphases on the properties of the environment. Chapter 2 describes two experiments that evaluated control by portions of the environment uncorrelated with the consequence. Previous experiments with a recognition task suggested control over responding by portions of human-like stimuli uncorrelated with the consequence. Results from Experiment 2 demonstrated with an operant task that the recognition task measures control by aspects of the environment uncorrelated with the consequence and that control by uncorrelated portions of the stimuli may hinder or prevent control by the correlated portions. Chapter 3 describes three experiments that evaluated the influence of the stimulis shape on the acquisition of control by uncorrelated features. Results showed that uncorrelated portions of stimuli in human format had a greater chance of gaining control over responding than stimuli with the same components in nonhuman format. Chapter 4 describe two experiments that evaluated control by portions of the environment uncorrelated with the consequence with crosses formed by squares that touched each other or that had a small distance between them. Results showed that portions of the stimuli formed by disconnected squares gained control over responding, but they did not gain control when the crosses were formed by united stimuli

Pelo menos uma parte do ambiente no qual uma resposta produz uma consequência ganha controle sobre a resposta. Geralmente, a parte que ganha o controle correlaciona com a consequência. Partes não correlacionadas podem dificultar ou facilitar a aquisição do controle por as partes correlacionadas e até mesmo ganhar controle por si mesmas. Esta tese trata sobre o papel que partes do ambiente não correlacionadas com a consequência têm no estabelecimento de controle de estímulos. O capítulo 1 é uma revisão sobre o estabelecimento de controle com ênfase nas propriedades do ambiente. O Capítulo 2 descreve dois experimentos que avaliaram controle por porções do ambiente não correlacionadas com a consequência. Experimentos anteriores com uma tarefa de reconhecimento sugeriram controle por partes de estímulos com forma humana não correlacionadas com a consequência. Os resultados do Experimento 2 mostraram com uma tarefa operante que o teste de reconhecimento mede controle por aspectos do ambiente não correlacionadas com a consequência e que o controle de porções não correlacionadas podem dificultar ou até impedir o controle pelas partes correlacionadas. O Capítulo 3 descreve três experimentos que avaliaram a influência da forma dos estímulos no controle por estímulos não correlacionadas. Os resultados mostraram que porções não correlacionadas de estímulos em formato humano tinham uma chance maior de controlar o responder do que estímulos com os mesmos componentes em formato não-humano. O capítulo 4 descreve três experimentos que avaliaram controle por porções do ambiente não correlacionadas com a consequência com cruzes formadas por quadrados que tinham contato uns aos outros ou que tinham uma pequena distância entre eles. Os resultados mostraram que partes dos estímulos formados por quadrados desconectados ganhou controle sobre a responder, mas não ganharam controle quando as cruzes estavam formadas por estímulos unidos / At least part of the environment in which a response produces a consequence always gains control over the response. As a rule, the portion that gains control correlates with the consequence. Uncorrelated portions may hinder or facilitate the acquisition of control by the correlated ones and even gain control by themselves. The present dissertation deals with the role that portions of the environment uncorrelated with the consequence play on the establishment of stimulus control. Chapter 1 is a review on the establishment of control with emphases on the properties of the environment. Chapter 2 describes two experiments that evaluated control by portions of the environment uncorrelated with the consequence. Previous experiments with a recognition task suggested control over responding by portions of human-like stimuli uncorrelated with the consequence. Results from Experiment 2 demonstrated with an operant task that the recognition task measures control by aspects of the environment uncorrelated with the consequence and that control by uncorrelated portions of the stimuli may hinder or prevent control by the correlated portions. Chapter 3 describes three experiments that evaluated the influence of the stimulis shape on the acquisition of control by uncorrelated features. Results showed that uncorrelated portions of stimuli in human format had a greater chance of gaining control over responding than stimuli with the same components in nonhuman format. Chapter 4 describe two experiments that evaluated control by portions of the environment uncorrelated with the consequence with crosses formed by squares that touched each other or that had a small distance between them. Results showed that portions of the stimuli formed by disconnected squares gained control over responding, but they did not gain control when the crosses were formed by united stimuli

Karst environments are interconnected landscapes vulnerable to degradation. Many instances of anthropogenic karst disturbance are unintentional, and occur because of the public's lack of understanding or exposure to karst knowledge. When attempts are made to educate the general public about these landscapes, the concepts taught are often too abstract to be fully understood. Thus, karst educational pursuits must use only the most efficient and effective learning materials. A technique useful for assessing educational effectiveness of learning materials is eye-tracking, which allows scientists to quantitatively measure an individual's points of interest and eye movements when viewing a 2D or 3D visualization. Visualization developers use eye-tracking data to create graphics that hold the observer's attention and, thereby, enhance learning about a particular concept. This study aimed to assess and improve the educational effectiveness of 2D karst visualizations by combining eye-tracking techniques with Geographic Information Systems, knowledge assessments, and semi-structured interviews. The first phase of this study consisted of groups of 10 participants viewing 2D karst visualizations with one category of manipulated visual stimuli. The second phase consisted of groups of 10-15 participants viewing 2D karst visualizations that were created based on the results from the first phase. The results of this study highlighted both effective stimuli in karst visualizations and stimuli that hinder the educational effectiveness of visualizations.

The Stroop effect is the delay in reaction times due to interference. Since the original experiments of 1935, it has been used primarily in linguistic context. Language is a complex skill unique to humans, which involves a large part of the cerebral cortex and many subcortical regions. It is perceived primarily in auditory form (spoken) and secondarily in visual form (written), but it is also always perceived in representational form (natural sounds, images, smells, etc). Auditory signals are processed much faster than visual signals, and the language processing centres are closer to the primary auditory cortex than the primary visual cortex, but due to the integration of stimuli and the role of the executive functions, we are able to perceive both simultaneously and coherently. However, auditory signals are still processed faster, and this study focused on establishing how auditory and visual, linguistic and representational stimuli interact with each other and affect reaction times in four Stroop tasks with four archetypal mammals (dog, cat, mouse and pig): a written word against an image, a spoken word against an image, a written word against a natural sound and a spoken word against a natural sound. Four hypotheses were tested: in all tasks reaction times would be faster when the stimuli were congruent (Stroop Hypothesis); reaction times would be faster when both stimuli are auditory than when they are visual (Audiovisual Hypothesis); reaction times would be similar in the tasks where one stimulus is auditory and the other visual (Similarity Hypothesis); finally, reaction times would be slower when stimuli come from two sources than when they come from one source (Attention Hypothesis). Twelve native speakers of Swedish between the ages of 22 and 40 participated. The experiment took place in the EEG lab of the Linguistics Department of Stockholm University. The same researcher (the author) and equipment was used for all participants. The results confirmed the Stroop Hypothesis, did not confirm the Audiovisual and Similarity Hypothesis, and the results of the Attention Hypothesis were mixed. The somewhat controversial results were mostly attributed to a false initial assumption, namely that having two different auditory stimuli (one on each ear) was considered one source of stimuli, and possibly the poor quality of some natural sounds. With this additional consideration, the results seemed to be in accord with previous research. Future research could focus on more efficient ways to test the reaction times of Stroop tasks involving auditory and visual stimuli, as well as different populations, especially neurodiverse and bilingual populations.