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Results for “Subliminal Stimulation”

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PubMed2006

Attentional bias for alcohol-related information in adolescents with alcohol-dependent parents.

AIMS: to assess the attentional bias for alcohol-related information in adolescents with (n = 15), and without (n = 15), a parental history of alcohol dependence. METHODS: participants completed questionnaires assessing depression, weekly alcohol consumption, anxiety, and concerns about alcohol consumption and undertook subliminal and supraliminal computerized Stroop tasks using colour-words, alcohol-related words, and control words. RESULTS: adolescents with alcohol-dependent parents showed supraliminal interference for alcohol-related words. The magnitude of this interference was correlated with higher trait and state anxiety, and lower levels of weekly alcohol consumption. No interference was found on the subliminal alcohol Stroop task. CONCLUSIONS: while it is likely that this attentional bias for alcohol-related cues reflects the concerns regarding parental drinking, it is also possible that this might underlie the increased risk of future alcohol dependence in the children of alcohol-dependent parents.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1992

Therapeutic suggestions during general anaesthesia in patients undergoing hysterectomy.

In a double-blind, randomized study, we have examined the influence of positive therapeutic suggestions, presented to anaesthetized patients undergoing total abdominal hysterectomy, on postoperative morbidity and duration of hospital stay. Seventy-five patients were allocated randomly to be exposed to one of three tapes containing positive therapeutic suggestions, a modified history of the Queen's Medical Centre, or no message. We found that neither therapeutic suggestions nor the presence of a voice during anaesthesia improved postoperative outcome or reduced duration of hospital stay after total abdominal hysterectomy.

Adult↗
PubMed2001

The priming method: imaging unconscious repetition priming reveals an abstract representation of number in the parietal lobes.

Most of the current brain imaging methods are limited by the low spatial resolution of neuroimaging techniques and remain unable to measure activity at the scale of single neurons or small columns of neurons, which are the coding elements of the nervous system. In this work we have adapted the priming method, an emerging research strategy that can overcome some of these spatial limitations, to investigate the coding of numerical quantities in the human brain. This approach combines the logic of psychological priming experiments with the recently discovered neurophysiological phenomenon called repetition suppression (RS). In each trial, while subjects perform a constant task, a subliminal prime is presented prior to each target. By varying the relationship between prime and target, one can detect which brain areas present RS specifically for any given level of prime-target repetition. We first expose the general logic, potential and limitations of the priming method and then illustrate it by demonstrating that a region of parietal cortex is coding for numbers at the quantity level, independently of other stimulus attributes, and that this region processes both consciously and unconsciously perceived stimuli.

Adult↗
PubMed2005

Changes in connectivity profiles as a mechanism for strategic control over interfering subliminal information.

Human behavior can be influenced by information that is not consciously perceived. Recent behavioral and electrophysiological evidence suggests, however, that the processing of subliminal stimuli is not completely beyond an observer's conscious control. The present study aimed to characterize the cortical network that implements strategic control over interfering subliminal information at multiple stages. Fourteen participants underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scanning while performing a metacontrast masking paradigm. We systematically varied the amount of conflicting versus non-conflicting trials across experimental blocks, and behavioral performance demonstrated strategic effects whenever a high proportion of subliminal prime stimuli induced response competition. A psychophysiological interaction analysis revealed the pre-supplementary motor area (pre-SMA) to exhibit context-dependent covariation with activation in the lateral occipital complex (LOC) and the putamen. The pre-SMA thereby appears to fulfill a superordinate function in the control of processing subliminal information by simultaneously modulating perceptual analysis and motor selection.

Adaptation, Physiological↗
PubMed2000

Reducing cardiovascular stress with positive self-stereotypes of aging.

We examined whether aging self-stereotypes, or older individuals' beliefs about elderly people, can influence cardiovascular function. Older individuals were subliminally exposed to either positive or negative aging stereotypes. Then all participants faced mathematical and verbal challenges. Those exposed to the negative aging stereotypes demonstrated a heightened cardiovascular response to stress, measured by systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, and heart rate, compared with those exposed to positive aging stereotypes. The aging stereotypes appeared to influence the outcome variable of skin conductance in the same way. It appears that the negative aging stereotypes acted as direct stressors, whereas the positive aging stereotypes reduced cardiovascular stress. These findings indicate that negative aging stereotypes may contribute to adverse health outcomes in elderly persons without their awareness. The results also suggest that positive aging stereotypes could be used in interventions to reduce cardiovascular stress.

Aged↗
PubMed2005

Motor control in old age: evidence of impaired low-level inhibition.

In the masked prime task, responses to supraliminal targets are influenced by previously presented subliminal primes. When targets follow primes immediately, positive compatibility effects are obtained such that performance is better when prime and target are compatible (mapped to the same response) than when they are incompatible (mapped to opposite responses). In young adults, this pattern reverses with longer interstimulus intervals (negative compatibility effect). These effects reflect an activation-followed-by-inhibition process: Primes trigger an initial activation of their corresponding motor response, which is subsequently inhibited. The present study demonstrates that healthy older adults (M = 76 years) show a substantial positive compatibility effect with a short prime-target interval, but they fail to produce reliable negative compatibility effects with longer intervals, indicating an age-related impairment in low-level motor control.

Adult↗
PubMed2005

Attentional biases to pain and social threat in children with recurrent abdominal pain.

OBJECTIVES: To test whether children with recurrent abdominal pain (RAP) exhibit subliminal (nonconscious) and supraliminal (conscious) attentional biases to pain-related words, and to determine correlates of these biases. Previous research indicates that individuals attend to disorder-relevant threat words, and in this study, attentional biases to disorder-relevant threat (pain), alternative threat (social threat), and neutral words were compared. METHODS: Participants were 59 children with RAP who completed a computer-based attentional bias task. Participants and their parents also completed questionnaires measuring pain, somatic complaints, anxiety/depression, and body vigilance. RESULTS: Children with RAP showed attentional biases toward subliminal pain-related words and attentional biases away from supraliminal pain-related words. Participants' attentional biases to social threat-related words were marginally significant and also reflected subliminal attention and supraliminal avoidance. Attentional biases were related to parent and child reports of pain, body vigilance, and anxiety/depression. CONCLUSIONS: Children with RAP show nonconscious attention to and conscious avoidance of threat-related words. Their attentional biases relate to individual differences in symptom severity. Implications for models of pediatric pain and future studies are discussed.

Abdominal Pain↗
PubMed1976

Conditions affecting boundary response to messages out of awareness.

Multiple studies evaluated the role of the following parameters in mediating the effects of auditory subliminal inputs upon the body boundary: being made aware that exposure to subliminal stimuli is occurring, nature of the priming preliminary to the input, length of exposure, competing sensory input, use of specialized content messages, tolerance for unrealistic experience, and masculinity-feminity. A test-retest design was typically employed that involved measuring the baseline Barrier score with the Holtzman bolts and then ascertaining the Barrier change when responding to a second series of Holtzman blots at the same time that subliminal input was occurring. Complex results emerged that defined in considerably new detail what facilitates and blocks the boundary-disrupting effects of subliminal messages in men and to a lesser degree in women.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1980

Responses of chronic agoraphobics to subliminal and supraliminal phobic motion pictures.

Fifteen agoraphobics took part in a study to investigate their responses to repeated presentations of a phobic motion pciture. Five patients were shown the film supraliminally, five were shown it subliminally, and the remaining five formed a control group. Subjective feelings were assessed with visual analogue scales, and three physiological measures, heart rate, skin conductance, and respiratory rate, were recorded. An earlier report showed that both subliminal and supraliminal presentation produced significant improvements in phobic fear and avoidance, and the present results show that the subliminal group found the procedure much less stressful than the supraliminal group. The physiological changes during treatment showed no consistent pattern and appeared to be independent of clinical response. The results show that repeated exposure to subliminal phobic motion pictures is not anxiety provoking to agoraphobic patients and so may be appropriate therapy for those unable to tolerate other forms of treatment.

Adult↗
PubMed1981

Self-report and physiological responses to subliminal and supraliminal motion pictures.

Six groups of volunteer students were shown a series of four 90-second pictures: and anxiety inducing, one neutral, and two control sequences with no information content, under both subliminal and supraliminal conditions. Self-report and physiological responses to each picture were recorded. Each group was shown the same set of eight motion pictures, in counterbalanced order, but the level of subliminal presentation was varied from completely subliminal in group 1 to a level at which all the subjects could recognize the material in group 6. The results showed that although the anxiety-provoking motion pictures produced significantly greater anxiety responses under supraliminal conditions, there were no significant differences between responses to the pictures at any level of subliminal exposure.

Adult↗
PubMed1992

Critical importance of stimulus unawareness for the production of subliminal psychodynamic activation effects. An attributional model.

This paper describes a new theoretical model of subliminal psychodynamic activation (SPA) effects. The model conceptualizes subliminal-supraliminal differences in SPA effects as being due to differences in subjects' attributions for the changes in anxiety level that are produced by subliminal versus supraliminal SPA stimuli. Changes in anxiety level produced by supraliminal SPA stimuli can be attributed by subjects to the experimental procedures, diminishing the impact of these messages on subjects' responses. In contrast, subjects cannot attribute changes in anxiety level produced by subliminal SPA stimuli to the experimental procedures. Therefore, no "discounting" (i.e., situational) attributions for subliminally induced changes in anxiety levels are available to subjects, and subliminal SPA messages produce significantly stronger effects on responding than do supraliminal SPA messages. The attributional model of SPA effects is discussed in the context of other long-term research programs investigating subliminal phenomena. The implications of this model for clinical treatment and empirical research utilizing the SPA paradigm are discussed.

Awareness↗
PubMed1992

Fear of abandonment and binge eating. A subliminal psychodynamic activation investigation.

Dependency and fear of abandonment by significant others have been theoretically linked to eating disorders, particularly bulimia. This research investigates the hypothesis that unconscious fear of abandonment is one variable underlying binge eating episodes in bulimia. An analogue population of 40 "high eating disorder" undergraduate women and 40 undergraduate women with normal eating patterns viewed either an abandonment or a control stimulus presented at either subliminal (4 msec) or supraliminal (200 msec) exposure durations. Following exposure to an abandonment stimulus, the high eating disorder group ate significantly more crackers in a bogus cracker rating task (p less than .001) than did subjects in any other condition. Contrary to predictions, a subliminal stimulus did not lead to a significant change in self-reported mood. Results provide preliminary support for the psychoanalytic hypothesis that binge eating is a defense against unconscious fear of abandonment.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1994

An empirical study of Freud's penis-baby equation.

One hypothesis of traditional psychoanalytic theory holds that a cardinal aspect of the "natural" development of femininity involves the woman's substitution of the wish for a baby in place of her original wish for a penis. The current study modified and extended earlier research examining the validity of Freud's this "penis-baby" theory. College-aged women and men were presented with either subliminal or supraliminal auditory messages concerned with either pregnancy or penetration themes. Subjects' written responses to Holtzman ink-blots, obtained both before and after exposure to an auditory message, were content-coded for phallic imagery and sexual imagery. Consistent with Freud's speculations about the phallic significance of pregnancy for women, female subjects who were exposed to the subliminal pregnancy message produced significantly more phallic imagery responses to ink-blots than did women in any of the other experimental conditions (p < .01). The phallic imagery production of males did not vary significantly as a function of message condition. Implications of these findings are discussed in the context of modern revisions to Freud's psychology of women and the current psychoanalytic conceptualization of penis envy as a highly condensed mental product with many layers of meaning.

Adolescent↗