Four-Dimensional Ultrasound Analysis of Fetal Independent Oculomotor Control
subject: Four-dimensional Ultrasound Imaging Fetal Visual Development Third Trimester Light Stimuli Independent Oculomotor Control
description: This dissertation seeks to enhance the present understanding of elicited fetal independent ocular-motor control during late gestation. Independent ocular-motor control refers to the ability to more the eyes independently from the head when fixating on a visual stimulus. Whilst there is a wealth of information regarding fetal visual development and responsiveness to light stimulation, there is a paucity of research investigating elicited fetal visuo-motor abilities. Therefore, the current research aims to utilsise four-dimensional ultrasound imaging to view fetal responsiveness when exposed to a custom-made light source. To assess fetal independent ocular movement, light was presented through the maternal abdomen (N=54) towards the peripheral of the fetal head to elicit directed purposeful eye and head movements. Ultrasound scans were recorded and later coded for frequency of eye and head movements at each stage of light exposure (before, during and after light). The primary experimental hypothesis suggested that the fetus would exhibit independent ocular-motor control when exposed to a light stimulus and that, the fetus would produce behavioural responses more often during light stimulation, than in the absence of light stimulation. Analysis of results indicated that the fetus was able to make independent, directed ocular movements towards stimuli during late gestation. Eye movements were more frequent during and after light exposure, in comparison to before light exposure. Head movements were more common during light exposure; however, head movements were more commonly performed by the fetuses than eye movements overall. The results suggest that the fetal visual system maybe more advanced than previously thought and may provide clinical implications, as independent ocular movement may be utilised as a neurological diagnostic tool
creator: Amy Jane Cunliffe-Penman
source: Experimental Design The study employed a repeated-measures, within-subjects design, in which one sample of participants were exposed to a light stimulus and assessed for behavioural responses before, during and after light exposure. The independent variable manipulated light stimuli presentation time (before stimulation, during stimulation and after stimulation). The dependent variable measured the frequency of behavioural responses (head movements and eye movements) elicited at each stage of light exposure. The participants were counterbalanced in regards to the presentation of two forms of light exposure (constant beam and intermittent beam, described below) to avoid the introduction of confounding variables and reduce the possibility of order effects. Three extraneous variables were identified however; this included maternal abdominal thickness, fetal positioning and external room illumination. Maternal abdominal thickness was controlled for by first assessing maternal thickness before the experimental procedure and then altering the light strength dependant on this factor. Therefore, if the thickness was greater, a stronger light strength would be used to ensure light reached the fetal retina in accordance to Del Giudice’s (2011) model of light penetration. There were three different light strengths employed within this study, as will be discussed below. Furthermore, fetal positioning was considered an extraneous variable as the location of light exposure on the maternal abdomen was dependant on the fetus’s position within the womb. To ensure light was presented to the same location for each participant, an initial examination was conducted to determine the orientation of the fetus. Then, the light source was positioned towards the peripheral of the fetus head. Conducting this initial examination increased research validity as each fetus experienced the light similarly and was able to perform horizontal eye and head movements. Lastly, external room illumination …
publisher: Lancaster University
date: 2017
contributor: John Towse
rights: Open
relation: None
format: data/SPSS.sav
language: English
coverage: LA1 4YF

Cortical Hyper Excitability correlating with Visual Distortions and Hallucinations
subject: visual distortions cortical hyper excitability Pattern Glare Task
description: Background: The primary focus of our study is how the abnormalities in the visual experiences such as the visual distortions or hallucinations result in the increase in the cortical hyper excitability. The aberrant neural activity causes visual distortions. Susceptibility to such visual distortions reflects elevated levels of cortical hyper excitability. Methods: Forty-eight individuals completed the "Pattern Glare Task" (where they viewed certain striped grating patterns with different spatial frequencies). Participants also completed the Cortical Hyperexcitability Index (Chi) and the Cambridge Depersonalization Scale (CDS). Results: Pattern glare task showed that individuals experienced more visual distortions in the Medium Frequency (3 cpd). A very small sample of the population showed effects of depersonalisation disorder. Based on our results, we can say that individuals did show an elevated level of cortical hyperexcitability. Conclusion: The study suggests that non-clinical population also experiences a certain level of increase in cortical hyper excitability. It only establishes the utility of pattern glare with regards to CHi and CDS to add to our existing knowledge.
creator: Nishtha Bakshi
source: Pattern Glare Test The pattern glare task includes stripy patterns on three separate cards each with different spatial frequencies; low spatial frequency baseline grating (approx. 0.5 cycles per degree), high spatial frequency baseline grating (approx. 12 cpd), and the crucial medium spatial frequency grating (approx. 3 cpd). The computerised version of the pattern glare task was modified for this experiment, as we were using a paper-based version (Wilkins, 1995; Wilkins et al., 1984) for the same. The stimuli used in the experiment are given in FIGURE 1. The individuals are asked to stare at the white dot in the center of each pattern for approximately 10-15 seconds, while holding each pattern at arm's length. Following, a series of questions are asked to the participant i.e. if they experienced any blurring of lines, bending of lines, fading, shimmering, flickering or shadowy shapes. The participants on the basis of their experience on viewing each pattern, rate the above questions from a score of 0-7 where, 0-minimum and 7-maximum (Wilkins et al., 1984; Conlon et al., 1999). The score is obtained for each pattern and the difference between Pattern 2 and Pattern 3 is recorded, which is called as the '3-12 difference'; in other words, the difference between high frequency and the medium frequency (3cpd – 12cpd). Cambridge Depersonalisation Scale The CDS is a self-reporting questionnaire and is used to measure the duration and frequency of any depersonalisation symptoms that individual experiences in the time frame of the past six months. (Sierra and Berrios, 1999). The CDS is an instrument containing 29 items. Each of the items in the scale are rated on the basis of Likert-scale both for frequency (0-4; where, 0=never, 1=rarely, 2=often, 3=very often, and 4=all the time) and duration based on its average on how much the experiences last (1-6; where 1=few seconds, 2=few minutes, 3=few hours, 4=about a day, 5=more than a day, and 6=more than a week). Its global score…
publisher: Lancaster University
date: 2017
contributor: John Towse
rights: Open
relation: None
format: Data/data spreadsheet.xlsx
language: English
type: Data
coverage: LA1 4YF

Persuasion within Advertising: Metaphorical Expressions vs. Literal Expressions
subject: Metaphor literal persuasion advertising marketing figurative language emotion
description: The present research built upon research conducted by Citron and Goldberg (2014) on figurative language, emotion, and the brain. This study examined the three different data sets: sentences, stories and sentences with taste metaphors collected by Citron and Goldberg (2014). It examined three different data sets: sentences, stories and sentences with taste metaphors. Metaphorical and literal sentences, stories and taste metaphors were rated on emotional valence, imageability, emotional arousal, metaphoricity and similarity in meaning. Familiarity was rated within sentences and taste metaphors and understandability and naturalness were rated within stories. This study explored relationships among variables, relationships between metaphors and literal counterparts, relationships between each data set and lastly, relationships between each data set when split by type: metaphor and literal. Findings from this investigation provide evidence for marketers, of the benefits of using metaphors within advertising to increase persuasion and consumer buying behaviour. A company who wants to portray imagination, develop images within a consumer’s mind and evoke emotional arousal should use metaphorical sentences within their advertisements. Additionally, the more arousing a sentence the more imaginable, therefore, marketers should specifically employ emotionally arousing material to further engage a consumer. This study can add to literature on figurative language and persuasion. Also, provide evidence for marketers who want to increase their sales and further persuade consumers with an effective approach
creator: Helen Vale
source: All metaphorical sentences and stories were created in German with words that would obtain a metaphorical interpretation. Then each word was replaced with its literal counterpart, which created: one hundred and twenty non-taste related sentences, sixty metaphorical “The bride was very moved by her wedding” and sixty literal “The bride was very happy about her wedding”. Sixty-four stories, thirty-two metaphorical “Lisa was sitting in her physics class and was still digesting the stuff from the lesson before when her teacher announced a task to bite your teeth out on.” and thirty-two literal “Lisa was sitting in her physics class and was still having problems with the stuff from the lesson before when her teacher announced a really difficult task.” Finally, seventy-four taste metaphors, thirty-seven metaphorical “She received a sweet compliment” and thirty-seven literal “She received a nice compliment”. Specific instructions were created by Francesca Citron for each variable to be rated (See Appendix A). Sentences, stories and taste metaphors were rated on emotional valence, imageability, emotional arousal, metaphoricity and similarity in meaning. Emotional Valence refers to how positive or negative the stimulus is which was rated on a scale from -3 (very negative) to + 3 (very positive) through 0 (neutral). All other variables were measured on a scale of 1 to 7. Imageability is the ability to evoke a mental picture rated: 1 “not imaginable at all” and 7 “very imaginable”. Emotional arousal describes to what extent the stimulus is emotionally stimulating rated: 1 “not intense at all” and 7 “very intense”. Metaphoricity describes the figurativeness of the stimulus rated: 1 “literal” and 7 “very metaphorical”. Lastly, similarity in meaning which refers to how similar the meaning of both metaphorical and literal counterparts are with regard to contents. For instance, the metaphorical sentence “He praised her to the skies” compared to the literal sentence “He praised her …
publisher: Lancaster University
date: 2015
contributor: John Towse
rights: Open
relation: The rating data had been gathered already by Francesca Citron during her research in Berlin and ethical approval had been obtained at that time. The present study has been approved by the Department’s Research Ethics committee at Lancaster University.
language: English
type: Data
coverage: LA1 4YF

The Decoy Effect on Choosing Branded and Non-Branded Alcohol-related Products
subject: alcohol purchasing decoy effect
description: The decoy effect describes a phenomenon that the introduction of a third choice, usually an asymmetrically dominated one, would change the distribution of people’s preferences for the original two options. Monk et al. (2016) found a basic decoy effect on alcohol purchasing decisions. Extending this, the current study examined the impact of the decoy effect on alcohol-related purchasing decisions and whether the addition of brand names would further impact this. A total of 106 participants were asked to make decisions amongst four types of branded and unbranded drinks by completing an online questionnaire. They also completed the AUDIT, assessing problem drinking patterns, and a measure of trait effortful control. Results showed that the decoy appeared to affect alcoholic relative to non-alcoholic drinks, and affected branded products more than non-branded products. The results suggest that the decoy effect might affect alcohol-related purchasing decisions differently to non-alcoholic purchasing decisions, which might have managerial implications for marketers and health implications for hazardous alcohol consumptions.
creator: Wang Li
source: All the stimuli were pictures of bottles presented with text descriptions including the number of bottles and the total prices. Participants viewed a total of 80 deals, with 40 alcoholic products and 40 non-alcoholic products. Half of the products were branded and half unbranded. With regards to branded stimuli, pictures of bottles similar to those presented in supermarkets were shown (see Figure 2), whilst unbranded ones used similar unbranded bottles in terms of colour and shape. This allowed the products to correspond with both the diversity of goods in real supermarket but also to avoid unnecessary brand association (e.g. red glass bottles always remind consumers of Coca-Cola; Underwood, 2003). In the control condition, participants were shown products with two options, one with less bottles but cheaper, and the other with a greater quantity of bottles but more expensive. As such, option 1 represented the competitor option, which was cost-effective, and option 2 represented the target option, which was moderately cost- effective. The order of cost-effective and moderate-cost effective products was randomised throughout the experiment. In comparison, the experimental conditions also included a decoy option, which presented a product that was the least cost-effective. Although the decoy option itself was unlikely to be selected, it was expected to result in a different distribution of selections from the output of the control group. The sequences of the choice A (cost-effective), B (moderate cost-effective), and the C (decoy) were set randomly. Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT). This questionnaire was made up of 10-items concerning personal drinking habits, drinking frequency and amount (Saunders et al., 1993). On a scale of one to over 30, articipants responsed to the questions such as “How many units of alcohol do you drink on a typical day when you are drinking?” and a total AUDIT score was computed. The scores of each question were accumulated …
publisher: Lancaster University
date: 2017
contributor: John Towse
rights: Open
format: data/ xlsx
language: English
type: Data
coverage: LA1 4YF

Factors Related to Burnout in Arab Social and Community Development Workers
subject: personal emotional regulation burnout
description: The nature of social and community development work leaves the workers at the risk of experiencing burnout and emotional difficulties. The aim of this study was to explore the relationships between burnout and empathy, emotional dissonance, self-compassion and type of work (voluntary, paid) amongst social and community development workers. We hypothesised that high levels of empathy, high levels of self-compassion, low levels of emotional dissonance and fewer hours of paid work would be significant predictors of low levels of burnout. The sample consisted of 315 participants from Syria, Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan and Tunisia. Participants completed an online survey that includes the following measures: Maslach Burnout Inventory, Interpersonal Reactivity Index, Self-compassion Scale, and Emotional Dissonance Subscale from Frankfurt Emotion Work Scale. Correlation and regression analyses were performed to examine the relationships between the variables. The findings showed that empathy was not significantly correlated to burnout, however a positive correlation was observed between personal accomplishment and perspective taking. Self-compassion was strongly and negatively correlated with burnout. Emotional dissonance was negatively correlated with burnout, and it was the strongest predictor of burnout amongst the studied variables. Paid work hours were positively related to emotional exhaustion, depersonalisation and personal accomplishment while voluntary work hours were not related to any of burnout components. The present study indicates novel findings, and contributes to the literature by highlighting the key role of personal emotional regulation in predicting burnout amongst social and community development workers.
creator: Bshr Dayani
source: Participants completed an online Qualtrics-based survey which includes the following four measures: Burnout. The scores of burnout were assessed by the Maslach Burnout Inventory Human Services Survey (MBI-HSS). The MBI-HSS is a 22-item self-reported measure that comprises three subscales: Emotional Exhaustion (9 items), Depersonalisation (5 items) and Personal Accomplishment (8 items). Emotional Exhaustion (EE) refers to the feeling of being drained emotionally and physically. Depersonalisation (DP) stands for the negative inordinately attitude towards job-related aspects. Personal Accomplishment (PA) refers to the feelings of efficiency, productivity and competence achievements in the job. (Maslach et al., 2001; Maslach, & Jackson, 1996). All answers are rated on a seven-point scale that ranges from 0 “never” to 6 “every day”. Subscales produce separate scores that are calculated as the following: for EE and DP scores the high scores represent high levels of burnout. For PA the high scores represent low levels of burnout (Maslach & Jackson, 1981). Empathy. The scores of empathy were assessed by Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI) scale. The IRI is a multidimensional scale that has 28 items rated on a 5-point Likert scale that ranges from 1 “Does not describe me well” to 5 “Describes me very well”. The measure comprised of four 7-item sub-scales. Only three subscales were used for the study. These subscales are Perspective Taking (PT) which represents the ability to conceive the psychological perspective of others. Empathic Concern (EC) measures the feelings of warmth and compassion and towards others. Personal Distress (PD) looks into "self-oriented" feelings of stress and apprehension as a reaction to the miserable conditions of others (Davis, 1980). Previous studies have reported high levels of validity and reliability of the scale (Davis, 1983; 1994; Fernández, Dufey, & Kramp, 2011). Emotional dissonance. The scores of emotional dissonance were measured using t…
publisher: Lancaster University
date: 2017
contributor: John Towse
rights: Open
format: data/SPSS.sav
language: English
type: data
coverage: LA1 4YF

The Specificity of Inhibitory Impairments in Autism and Their Relation to ADHD-type Symptoms
subject: inhibition Stroop autism
description: Findings on inhibitory control in autism have been inconsistent. It is proposed that this may be partly task-related, with different ‘inhibition’ tasks tapping different classes of inhibitory ability. Thus, children with autism (CWA) (N = 31) and typically developing controls (TDC) (N = 28) matched for verbal and non-verbal mental age completed three tasks of inhibitory control, each representing different inhibition subcomponents: a Go/No-Go task (delay inhibition), the Dog-Pig Stroop task (conflict inhibition), and a Flanker task (resistance to distractor inhibition). Behavioural ratings of inattention and hyperactivity/impulsivity were also obtained for each child to consider a possible source of heterogeneity in inhibitory ability. It was predicted that the conflict task would be more problematic for CWA, and that higher ADHD-symptom ratings would predict poorer performance. On the Go/No-Go task, CWA showed superior inhibitory function to controls – making fewer false alarm errors and better task sensitivity. On the Dog-Pig Stroop, CWA showed impaired performance compared to controls – making more accuracy and speed related inhibitory errors. On the Flanker task, CWA showed equivalent inhibitory performance to TD children. Inhibitory impairments were predicted by high ratings of inattention in CWA, but only on the Dog-Pig Stroop. It is argued that CWA are perhaps impaired on tasks of conflict, but not delay or resistance to distractor inhibition. This may reflect the additional working memory demands of these tasks, and suggests that inhibitory difficulty is not a core executive deficit in autism. Symptoms of inattention may be an important predictor of inhibitory heterogeneity amongst CWA.
creator: Charlotte Sanderson
source: Sessions were completed in a well-lit and quiet room, free of distractions. Participants were tested individually, and completed the three inhibitory control tasks (Go/No-Go task; Dog-Pig Stroop task; Flanker task) and two standardised measures (RCPM; BPVS) in counterbalanced order. Experimental session lasted approximately 40-60 minutes. All three inhibition tasks were written using Psyscript, and run on a computer using an OS X 10.6 operating system. Go/No-Go Task Task Design.On each trial, a shape (O, ∆, ⧠, or ◊) would appear centrally on the computer screen. The shapes were simple black line-drawings, subtending approximately 5° vertically and horizontally. Prior to the task, children were instructed to respond to three of the shapes by pressing a large external “star” button (i.e. “Go” stimuli), but to resist responding to a fourth shape (i.e. the “No-Go” stimulus). The shape designated as the “No-Go” stimulus was counterbalanced between participants. To generate a prepotent response, 75% of trials were “Go” trials requiring a button press, and 25% of trials were “No-Go” trials where the response should be withheld. The maximum inter-stimulus interval (ISI) (i.e. from stimulus onset to stimulus onset) was 2500ms. At the start of each trial, a fixation cross would appear at the centre of the screen for 200ms. This was then replaced by the stimulus, which remained on-screen for 200ms. After the stimulus offset, participants had a further 1000ms to respond, at which point the trial automatically terminated. Stimulus presentation was followed by a 1100ms pause before the next trial commenced. An error tone (“bleep”) was played immediately if the child made an omission error (i.e. failed to respond on a “Go” trial), or a false alarm (i.e. pressed the star button on a “No-Go” trial). A positive feedback-noise (“ping”) was played if the participant made a correct response. Procedure. Before starting the task, each child completed a warm up session to familiarize with …
publisher: Lancaster University
date: 2010
contributor: John Towse
rights: Open
language: English
type: project description
coverage: LA1 4YF

The effect of different question types during shared book reading on children’s narrative comprehension
subject: reading comprehension
description: This study investigated the effect of different question types on narrative comprehension in young children. Forty one five year olds participated in this study. One group (N=14) received three sessions of shared storybook reading in which they practised answering questions about literal information in the story, during the course of the storybook reading. A second group (N=13) practiced answering questions about information that had to be inferred. A third group of controls (N=14), did not receive any intervention. All groups completed two comprehension assessments before and after the intervention: one was a measure of general listening comprehension, the other included measures of both literal and inferential comprehension. Children’s engagement during the storybook reading was also assessed. Contrary to predictions, neither intervention benefitted post-test comprehension significantly. In addition engagement levels did not change over the course of the study. However, a consistent pattern was found for each comprehension measure: the group who received practice with answering inferential questions made the greatest gains. Implications for early literacy experiences are discussed.
creator: Nicola Pooley
source: Design The study was an intervention design with three phases: a pre-test, training phase and post-test. There were three groups: two experimental groups who participated in all phases and a control group who only completed the pre and post tests. The design is shown in Table One. In the pre and post test sessions, participants completed a general measure of listening comprehension (adapted from the Neale Analysis of Reading Ability II, Neale, 1997) and a bespoke measure of listening comprehension with questions to tap literal and inferential comprehension. Participants were assigned to groups on the basis of their scores in the pre-test so that the three groups (two intervention and one control) did not differ in their performance on these measures (see Table Five). Children in the intervention conditions listened to three stories in separate sessions and either received practice at answering literal or inferential questions throughout the stories. In the post test all children were again assessed on alternate forms of the same measures used in the pre-test. Table 1. Intervention design used. Group Pre Test 1 Training 2 3 Post test Control General + Bespoke Listening Comprehension. x x x General + Bespoke Listening Comprehension. Literal General + Bespoke Listening Comprehension. Literal Literal Literal General + Bespoke Listening Comprehension. Inferential General + Bespoke Listening Comprehension. Inferential Inferential Inferential General + Bespoke Listening Comprehension. Materials: Pre and Post test. General Measure of Listening Comprehension. The following stories taken from the Neale Analysis of Reading Ability (NARA, Neale, 1997) were read to each participant in either the pre or post test: Toys, Tree house, Lost and Found, Road Safety. Toys or Lost and Found were used as practice tasks at the beginning of the pre/post test to help develop rapport. The stories were chosen so that the level of difficulty was consistent pre and post test. Comprehension quest…
publisher: Lancaster University
date: 2010
contributor: John Towse
language: English
type: Project description
coverage: LA1 4YF

Running Memory Span Development: The Input Mechanism and Hebb effect
subject: running memory span development input mechanism Hebb effect
description: It is unclear whether active strategy or passive strategy is used and whether the Hebb effect is elicited in the running memory task. The aim of this study was to explore the input mechanism and the Hebb effect in the running memory task via a developmental study. Children were asked to perform four working memory tasks: counting span task, free recall task, Hebb digit task, and running memory task. In order to explore the Hebb effect in the running memory task, the last three digits of every third list were repeated. The results suggested that running memory was a recency-based phenomenon and the Hebb effect is elicited in children.
creator: Yu Xie
source: The experiment was presented using SuperLab 4.0 on a Sony Laptop with a 14-inch colour screen. The responses of participants were recorded by the tester on answer sheets. Every child completed a counting span task, a free recall task, a Hebb digit task, and a running memory task. Counting span task. The counting span arrays were developed from Towse and Hitch (1995) and consisted of equal number of target triangles and non-target squares. The target triangles were red, approximately 30 mm in length, and the non-target squares were blue, approximately 28 mm in length. The number of both target triangles and non-target squares varied from 3 to 9 (mean = 6). The counting span arrays were presented on the centre of the computer screen with a white background. The triangles and squares were randomly displayed at different positions in every display. Free recall task. For this task, 144 Chinese high-frequent two-syllable nouns (see Appendix A) were recorded by in a male’s voice at rate of 1 word per second. The words were recorded using Adobe Audition 3.0. Two practice lists and ten test lists were presented, and every list included 12 words at the rate of 1 word per second. The words were played by a computer. Hebb digit task. All digit lists were created had the digits 1 to 9 in random order, avoiding any repetition of digits (see Appendix B). The voice of digits was recorded by Adobe Audition 3.0 at the rate of 1 digit per second. There were 2 practice lists and 24 test lists, and each list contained nine digits. Among the test lists, 16 lists were different, and the other 8 were the same – termed as Hebb list – presented on every third trial beginning on Trial 3. The 24 test lists were divided into 8 blocks, which involved 2 different lists and a Hebb list. Running memory task. The lists included 12, 14, 16, 18, or 20 random digits from 1 to 9 (see Appendix C), which were recorded by voice. Two presentation rates were used in this task: 0.5 s per digit as the fast rat…
publisher: Lancaster University
date: 2013
contributor: John Towse
rights: Open
format: data/SPSS.sav
language: English Chinese
type: Data
coverage: LA1 4YF

The Complexity of Language Used by Parents of Children with Down Syndrome in Shared Reading Tasks
subject: Down Syndrome shared reading cognitive complexity prompts
description: Shared reading is a vital part of language development for children, and this is no less true for the development of language in children with Down Syndrome. Previous research has been concerned that parents use less complicated language when a child has Down Syndrome, and that parents should encourage their child to contribute more to the reading experience. This experiment attempted to evaluate the cognitive complexity of the language used by parents of children with Down Syndrome compared to the parents with typically developing children when reading aloud with their child, and whether including prompts inside a book could alter the complexity of the language used by parents. It was found that including prompts in a book appeared to make the experience more of a shared reading experience with turn-taking between parents and children increasing in the prompted condition. This means that prompted books should be considered as a tool to train parents to use dialogic reading techniques.
creator: Natalie Bosworth
source: Mothers of typically developing children and mothers of children with Down Syndrome were recorded whilst reading aloud with their child in both a business as usual condition where they would read together as they usually would at home, and a prompted condition where pre-determined questions were inserted into the book which the mothers were required to ask their child when the book indicated that they should. The recordings were then written into transcripts of speech and behaviour during the task. Two books were used in this experiment ‘Mooncake’ and ‘Skyfire’. The prompted condition and the business as usual condition were counterbalanced so that half of the participants read the unprompted book first, and half read the prompted book first, and half of the participants received ‘Mooncake’ as the prompted book, and the other half received ‘Skyfire’ as the prompted book. This was done to eliminate the chance that more was said during read due to a preference for one book over the other. However, both of the books were written by the same author, so the chance of a participant having a preference should have been minimal, and the books were similarly matched on difficulty and length to ensure that language would not be affected due to any differences in these criteria. The prompted book included 12 questions to scaffold the mothers into asking questions related to the book. The parent would read the text in black ink, which was the actual story, and then ask the question in blue ink inserted into the bottom of the page. These questions related to picture labelling (e.g. ‘What is that object’), vocabulary questions (e.g. ‘What does terrible mean?’), making inferences about the text (e.g. ‘Why did that character fall asleep?’), and questions which required general knowledge (e.g. ‘What else could be used in this situation?’). The language skills required to answer these questions ranged from a simpler understanding which asked a child to label objects and about simple …
publisher: Lancaster University
date: 2017
contributor: John Towse
rights: Open
format: data/SPSS.sav
language: English
type: Data
coverage: LA1 4YF

The Effect of Sleep on the Processing of Emotional False Memories
subject: DRM false memory
description: People often think they remember events and information that in fact never happened. In previous studies using the Deese-Roediger-McDermott (DRM) paradigm, participants viewed lists of semantically related words, and during testing were more likely to accept as seen words that were related to the lists but were actually unseen, indicating a false memory. Research suggests that sleep promotes this effect, as does the use of negatively valenced stimuli, although the effect of emotion is disputed. The current study investigated what effect emotion, in particular valence, has on false memory formation, and whether sleep promotes emotional false memories. Fifty participants were tested on their recognition performance using an emotional and neutral DRM paradigm after a 12-hour period of sleep or wake. As predicted, we found an increase in false recognition of negatively valenced lure words, as well as an overall effect of emotion, with emotional words leading to increased false recognition compared to neutral. We failed to replicate any sleep effect on performance accuracy of neutral or emotional memory, although the response time data indicates some effect of sleep on emotional memory performance. The quality of participants’ sleep and design of the current study are explored as possible explanations for this lack of a sleep effect. This study therefore indicates that emotion plays a significant role in the formation of false memories independent of sleep.
creator: Chloe Newbury
source: Negative and positive DRM word-lists and critical lures were taken from Brainerd, Holliday, Reyna, Yang, and Toglia (2010) who controlled for other properties that are thought to affect false memory formation, including concreteness, meaning and frequency of words (Roediger, Watson, McDermott, & Gallo, 2001). Neutral DRM lists and critical lures were taken from Stadler, Roediger, and McDermott (1999). Two separate lists were formed, one with negative and neutral words, and the other with positive and neutral words (see Appendix A for word-lists). Participants in both the positive and negative condition viewed the same five lists of neutral words, as well as ten negative or positive word-lists. Mean valence and arousal scores for word-lists and critical lures were taken from the Affective Norms for English Words (ANEW) (Bradley & Lang, 1999). Independent samples t-tests showed that positive words had significantly higher ratings of valence than negative t(11.41) = 7.42, p < .001, and neutral words, t(13) = 7.43, p < .001. Negative words had significantly lower ratings of valence than neutral words, t(13) = 2.31, p = .038. Furthermore, negative and positive word-lists did not significantly differ in terms of arousal, t(12.92) = 0.52, p = .613, however neutral words had significantly lower ratings of arousal than positive, t(13) = 2.67, p = .019, and negative words, t(13) = 4.87, p < .001. It was also important that word-lists were controlled in terms of frequency and BAS. Frequency scores were taken from the MRC Psycholinguistic Database (Coltheart, 1981). Independent samples t-tests showed no significant difference in frequency ratings between negative and positive word-lists, t(18) = 0.18, p = .816, positive and neutral word-lists, t(13) = .35, p = .735, and negative and neutral word-lists, t(13) = 0.50, p = .624. BAS ratings were taken from the University of South Florida Free Association Norms (Nelson, McEvoy & Schreiber, 1998). There was no significant difference…
publisher: Lancaster University
date: 2015
contributor: John Towse
rights: Open
format: data/SPSS.sav
language: English
type: Data
coverage: LA1 4YF