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Results for “Subliminal Stimulation”

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PubMed2004

Attentional and evaluative biases for smoking cues in nicotine dependence: component processes of biases in visual orienting.

The present study investigated attentional and evaluative biases for smoking-related cues in cigarette smokers and non-smokers. Using a visual probe task, we manipulated the presentation conditions of the stimuli to examine: (1). whether smokers have a bias to allocate attention towards smoking-related pictures that appear below the threshold of conscious awareness; and (2). whether attentional biases for smoking-related pictures that appear above the threshold of awareness operate both in initial orienting and in the maintenance of attention. We also obtained explicit and implicit measures of the valence of the smoking-related pictures from pleasantness ratings and from behavioural responses on a stimulus-response compatibility (SRC) task. Results showed that smokers, but not non-smokers, had an attentional bias for smoking-related pictures which had been presented at two exposure durations (200 and 2000 ms). The bias was not found in a brief (17 ms) masked exposure condition, so there was no evidence that it operated preconsciously. Smokers also showed greater preferences for smoking-related than control cues, compared with non-smokers, on both the explicit and implicit indices of stimulus valence. Results are discussed with reference to incentive and cognitive models of addiction.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Selective processing of gastrointestinal symptom-related stimuli in irritable bowel syndrome.

OBJECTIVES: We sought to determine whether irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) was associated with attentional bias toward symptom-related cues in IBS patients versus healthy controls, using a modified Stroop task to measure selective processing of gastrointestinal symptom-related cues. METHODS: Fifteen patients with a clinical diagnosis of IBS and 15 healthy controls were recruited into the study. All participants attended a single testing session, during which they completed a modified Stroop task using gastrointestinal symptom-related and neutral control words. RESULTS: Results indicated a significant main effect of word type (p = .013), with slower color-naming times for IBS-related compared with neutral words, and a significant main effect of exposure (p = .001), with slower color-naming times in the unmasked condition compared with the masked condition. The group x word type x exposure interaction was significant (p = .048). A series of post hoc tests indicated that among patients there was significant interference of symptom-related words in the masked condition but not in the unmasked condition, whereas among controls, the reverse was true. CONCLUSIONS: These results indicate that IBS patients selectively process gastrointestinal symptom-related words compared with neutral words when they are presented subliminally but not when they are presented supraliminally. In contrast, healthy controls demonstrate the opposite pattern. Implications for the cognitive mechanisms in IBS, and future research directions, are discussed.

Adult↗
PubMed2005

A latent cue preference based on sodium depletion in rats.

Three experiments show latent (or incidental) learning of salt-cue relationships using a conditioned cue-preference paradigm. Rats drank a salt solution while confined in one compartment and water in an adjacent, distinct compartment on alternate days. When given access to the two compartments with no solutions present, sodium-deprived rats preferred their salt-paired compartments; normal rats preferred their water-paired compartments. Reversing the deprivation states of the two groups reversed their preferences. These results show that rats can latently acquire associations between environmental cues and the taste of salt, and can use this information flexibly to guide behavior based upon internal cues produced by sodium deprivation.

Animals↗
PubMed2000

Subliminal mere exposure: specific, general, and diffuse effects.

The present research examined the possibility that repeated exposure may simultaneously produce specific and diffuse effects. In Study 1, participants were presented with 5-ms exposures of 25 stimuli each shown once (single-exposure condition) or with five repetitions of 5 stimuli (repeated-exposure condition). Participants in the repeated-exposure condition subsequently rated their own mood more positively than those in the single-exposure condition. Study 2 examined whether affect generated by subliminal repeated exposures transfers to unrelated stimuli. After a subliminal exposure phase, affective reactions to previously exposed stimuli, to new but similar stimuli, and to stimuli from a different category were obtained. Previously exposed stimuli were rated most positively and novel different stimuli least positively. All stimuli were rated more positively in the repeated-exposure condition than in the single-exposure condition. These findings suggest that affect generated by subliminal repeated exposure is sufficiently diffuse to influence ratings of unrelated stimuli and mood.

Adult↗
PubMed2001

Nonconscious fear conditioning, visceral perception, and the development of gut feelings.

When people are presented with backward-masked images of fear-relevant stimuli and only some of these images are paired consistently with electric shocks, they can predict the occurrence of shocks even though they do not consciously know which images they have seen. We postulated that they may use the perception of visceral cues from the conditional fear response to facilitate the prediction of shocks. In this study, ability to detect heartbeats was used to index sensitivity to visceral cues. The results showed that subjects who could detect their heartbeats performed better than chance in predicting whether or not they would receive a shock during the conditioning task. The findings support the notion that hunches, or "gut feelings," are based in part on the perception of visceral cues.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2003

On wildebeests and humans: the preferential detection of negative stimuli.

On the basis of a functional perspective, we hypothesized that negative stimuli are detected faster than positive stimuli. In Experiment 1, participants were subliminally presented with positive and negative words or with no words at all. After each presentation, participants were asked whether they had seen a word. They detected negative words more accurately than positive words. In Experiment 2, participants were subliminally presented with negative or positive words. After each presentation, they were asked whether the presented word was positive or negative. Negative words were correctly categorized more often than positive words. Experiment 3 showed that although participants correctly categorized negative words more often than positive words. they could not guess the meaning of the words better than would be expected by chance. The results are discussed against the background of recent findings on basic affective processes.

Affect↗
PubMed2005

Touch noise increases vibrotactile sensitivity in old and young.

Stochastic resonance (SR) occurs when the detection of a subthreshold signal is aided by the presence of random energy fluctuations in the signal modality, commonly called noise. SR is counterintuitive because such noise usually worsens performance. Nonetheless, SR has been demonstrated both theoretically and experimentally in human sensory systems. Using a psychophysically sophisticated paradigm, we show that SR aids the detection of vibrating touch stimuli presented to the foot soles of both healthy elderly people with elevated vibrotactile thresholds and healthy young people with normal vibrotactile thresholds. The results also suggest that it is possible to know a priori the amount of noise needed for optimal SR effects given the degree to which the signal is subthreshold. Thus, SR may be practical as a rehabilitative aid for individuals with elevated sensory thresholds.

Adult↗
PubMed2004

Partial awareness creates the "illusion" of subliminal semantic priming.

We argue that the lack of consensus regarding the existence of subliminal semantic processing arises from not taking into account the fact that linguistic stimuli are represented across several processing levels (features, letters, word form) that can independently reach or not reach awareness. Using masked words, we constructed conditions in which participants were aware of some letters or fragments of a word, while remaining unaware of the whole word. Three experiments using the Stroop priming paradigm show that when the stimulus set is reduced and participants are encouraged to guess the identity of the prime, such partially perceived stimuli can nonetheless give rise to "semantic" processing. We provide evidence that this effect is due to illusory reconstruction of the incompletely perceived stimulus, followed by usual semantic processing of the result. We conclude that previously reported unconscious Stroop priming is in fact a conscious effect, but applied to a perceptual illusion.

Attention↗
PubMed2006

Of two minds: forming and changing valence-inconsistent implicit and explicit attitudes.

Because different processes underlie implicit and explicit attitudes, we hypothesized that they are differentially sensitive to different kinds of information. We measured implicit and explicit attitudes over time, as different types of attitude-relevant information about a single attitude object were presented. As expected, explicit attitudes formed and changed in response to the valence of consciously accessible, verbally presented behavioral information about the target. In contrast, implicit attitudes formed and changed in response to the valence of subliminally presented primes, reflecting the progressive accretion of attitude object-evaluation pairings. As a consequence, when subliminal primes and behavioral information were of opposite valence, people formed implicit and explicit attitudes of conflicting valence.

Attitude↗
PubMed1991

Relationships between perceptual defence reactions and subjective tendencies in the phenomenal representation of facial displays of affect.

The present study examines if non-veridical reports of a stimulus-motif presented below the threshold for correct recognition are related to subjective tendencies in the ordinary perception of thermatically related stimuli. Sixty-four subjects were tested with the standard picture of Kragh's Defence Mechanism Test (DMT) which reflects a theme of aggression and threat. Stimulus-inadequate report of the picture-motif were related to the subject's phenomenal representation of video-recorded facial displays of anger, fear, sadness, and joy. The results demonstrate a correspondence between the individual's perceptual distortions, eliminations, or additions to the threatening subliminal stimulus and his or her phenomenal representation of the supraliminal affective stimuli.

Adult↗