Optimising the Use of Synaesthetic Metaphors in Advertising: The Roles of Metaphor Construction and Complexity
subject: Metaphors; Synaesthetic Metaphors; Advertising; Persuasiveness
description: Metaphors are commonly employed in advertising to increase its persuasive effects. Research suggests that metaphors are most effective when conveyed visually, however linguists believe that additionally providing a linguistic cue, designed to help metaphor interpretation, can increase their effectiveness. In addition, metaphors of medium complexity are believed to drive higher effectiveness than simpler or more complex metaphors. This research aims to investigate how these issues relate to synaesthetic metaphors, those that reference two sensory modalities. Participants were presented with print adverts, the visual and linguistic elements of which were adapted to contain literal messages or synaesthetic metaphors. Participants provided ratings of appreciation, purchase intentions, and perceived advert complexity. Synaesthetic metaphors were shown to produce significantly stronger persuasive effects, measured via appreciation and purchase intentions, when conveyed visually and when rated highly on complexity. Implications for advertisers, who wish to incorporate and optimise the use of synaesthetic metaphors in print advertising, are discussed.
creator: Emily Davenport
source: Participants This research recruited 122 participants via opportunistic sampling. Participants were native speakers of English aged 18 or over, with no history of disabilities in any of the sensory domains (sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch). Twelve participants were excluded due to incomplete survey responses and/or ineligibility according to the inclusion criteria, resulting in a sample of 110 participants (88 female, 20 male, 2 other; age: M = 38.11, SD = 18.60) who were randomly assigned to complete one of four surveys (see Design). The demographics per survey are detailed in Table 1. Table 1 The Sample Size and Demographics Per Survey N Gender Age Male Female Other Mean SD Survey 1 28 4 24 - 43.68 18.94 Survey 2 29 7 21 1 32.90 17.77 Survey 3 28 5 22 1 35.07 17.09 Survey 4 25 4 21 - 41.32 19.48 Materials Advert Stimuli The advert stimuli used in this research were gathered and modified by previous researchers at Francesca Citron’s laboratory (Chen, 2019; Pan, 2019). The researchers obtained real adverts containing synaesthetic metaphors from the dataset of Bolognesi and Strik Lievers (2018). These base adverts were labelled 1-8 (see Appendix A). The researchers produced three modified versions of each base advert. They edited the visual and linguistic elements, of product images and slogans respectively, to contain, or not contain, a synaesthetic metaphor, in accordance with the ‘Metaphor Category’ they represented. One version of each base advert conveyed a synaesthetic metaphor in both the visual and linguistic advert elements (Visual-Linguistic SM; labelled “VL”). One version contained a synaesthetic metaphor in the visual, but not linguistic, advert elements (Visual SM Only; labelled “V). One version contained a synaesthetic metaphor in the linguistic, but not visual, advert elements (Linguistic SM Only; labelled “L”). The final version served as a control as a synaesthetic metaphor did not appear in the visual or linguistic advert elements (No SM; lab…
publisher: Lancaster University
date: 06/09/2021
contributor: Malcolm Wong
rights: Open
relation: Follow up on previous research in Francesca Citron's lab
format: Data/Excel.xlsx
language: English
type: Data
coverage: LA1 4YF

Optimising the Use of Synaesthetic Metaphors in Advertising: The Roles of Metaphor Construction and Complexity
subject: Metaphors; Synaesthetic Metaphors; Advertising; Persuasiveness
description: Metaphors are commonly employed in advertising to increase its persuasive effects. Research suggests that metaphors are most effective when conveyed visually, however linguists believe that additionally providing a linguistic cue, designed to help metaphor interpretation, can increase their effectiveness. In addition, metaphors of medium complexity are believed to drive higher effectiveness than simpler or more complex metaphors. This research aims to investigate how these issues relate to synaesthetic metaphors, those that reference two sensory modalities. Participants were presented with print adverts, the visual and linguistic elements of which were adapted to contain literal messages or synaesthetic metaphors. Participants provided ratings of appreciation, purchase intentions, and perceived advert complexity. Synaesthetic metaphors were shown to produce significantly stronger persuasive effects, measured via appreciation and purchase intentions, when conveyed visually and when rated highly on complexity. Implications for advertisers, who wish to incorporate and optimise the use of synaesthetic metaphors in print advertising, are discussed.
creator: Emily Davenport
source: Participants This research recruited 122 participants via opportunistic sampling. Participants were native speakers of English aged 18 or over, with no history of disabilities in any of the sensory domains (sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch). Twelve participants were excluded due to incomplete survey responses and/or ineligibility according to the inclusion criteria, resulting in a sample of 110 participants (88 female, 20 male, 2 other; age: M = 38.11, SD = 18.60) who were randomly assigned to complete one of four surveys (see Design). The demographics per survey are detailed in Table 1. Table 1 The Sample Size and Demographics Per Survey N Gender Age Male Female Other Mean SD Survey 1 28 4 24 - 43.68 18.94 Survey 2 29 7 21 1 32.90 17.77 Survey 3 28 5 22 1 35.07 17.09 Survey 4 25 4 21 - 41.32 19.48 Materials Advert Stimuli The advert stimuli used in this research were gathered and modified by previous researchers at Francesca Citron’s laboratory (Chen, 2019; Pan, 2019). The researchers obtained real adverts containing synaesthetic metaphors from the dataset of Bolognesi and Strik Lievers (2018). These base adverts were labelled 1-8 (see Appendix A). The researchers produced three modified versions of each base advert. They edited the visual and linguistic elements, of product images and slogans respectively, to contain, or not contain, a synaesthetic metaphor, in accordance with the ‘Metaphor Category’ they represented. One version of each base advert conveyed a synaesthetic metaphor in both the visual and linguistic advert elements (Visual-Linguistic SM; labelled “VL”). One version contained a synaesthetic metaphor in the visual, but not linguistic, advert elements (Visual SM Only; labelled “V). One version contained a synaesthetic metaphor in the linguistic, but not visual, advert elements (Linguistic SM Only; labelled “L”). The final version served as a control as a synaesthetic metaphor did not appear in the visual or linguistic advert elements (No SM; lab…
publisher: Lancaster University
date: 06/09/2021
contributor: Cameron Hoppu
rights: Open
relation: Follow up on previous research in Francesca Citron's lab
format: Data/Excel.xlsx
language: English
type: Data
coverage: LA1 4YF

Perception of sounds sequences: predictions for behavioural measurements generated with a computational model of auditory cortex
subject: Cartesian state space difference calculations
description: Behavioural and neuroscientific research into sound perception shows that our auditory system is able to represent the temporal structure of sounds over a wide range of time windows – a process labelled as temporal binding. Recent computational modelling work suggests that synaptic depression in auditory cortex, responsible for adaptation of neural responses to repeated stimuli, is also the memory mechanism which allows for temporal structure of sounds to be represented. This project aimed to generate behavioural predictions of this explanation of temporal binding. Simulations examined how the cortex is able to discriminate between sound sequences differing from each other in terms of the timing, amplitude, and frequency of the sequence elements. Along with the temporal length of the sequences, the lifetime of neural adaptation was manipulated. The results predict that the thresholds for discriminating sound sequences should be tuned to a given sequence duration. These findings are discussed in light of the previous research on how the dynamics and anatomical structures within the auditory cortex may facilitate neural adaptation.
creator: Zsofia Belteki
source: The current project investigated the processing of sound sequences by applying a computational model of the auditory cortex described in more detail in the study by May and Tiitinen (2013). The coding of the experiment, including stimulus design and experimental design, along with data analysis all took place in MATLAB. Model structure and dynamics Structure. The model is made up of 14 brain areas, with 13 cortical areas that include three core, eight belt and two parabelt areas of the auditory cortex, and one sub-cortical area simulating the thalamus. Each area is made up of 16 computational units representing cortical columns, with each column comprising one excitatory (pyramidal) and one inhibitory population of neurons. Altogether, this meant that there are 224 columns within the model. There are three levels of structural connections, namely interaction within columns, interaction between columns and interactions between the different cortical areas. Structural connections are expressed through connection matrices that describe synaptic connections between the excitatory populations (Wee), from inhibitory to excitatory populations (Wei), and from excitatory to inhibitory populations (Wie). Intra-column connections are assumed to be the strongest, with the synaptic weight for the within-column excitatory feedback (i.e., the diagonal values of Wee ) being set to 6, and the within-column weight values of Wei and Wie (inter-neuron connections targeting excitatory and inhibitory cells respectively) being set to 3.5. The excitatory population of each column made lateral connections to the excitatory populations of neighboring columns within the area. These connections extended to a distance of two columns on either side. Similarly, the excitatory population connected to neighboring inhibitory populations across a distance of five columns, with these connections accounting for lateral inhibition (see Figure 1). In both cases, there was a Gaussian drop off of the weigh…
publisher: Lancaster University
date: 2015
contributor: Ellie Ball
rights: Open
relation: None
format: Data/MATLAB
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

Pitch-Brightness Correspondence in Four-month-old Infants
description: Adults, children, and infants as young as 10-months have been shown to appreciate a correspondence between auditory pitch and visual brightness, with most participants associating high-pitch with brighter stimuli and low-pitch with darker stimuli. Research across ages is vital for understanding more about the developmental trajectory of crossmodal correspondences. The present study used preferential looking to examine the sensitivity of 4-month-old infants to the pitch-brightness correspondence. Following Mondloch and Maurer (2004), infants were presented with a display of two balls bouncing simultaneously. One ball had a dark surface-brightness, whilst the other had a brighter surface. A single, high or low-pitch sound accompanied the bounce of both balls onto the surface. The research examined whether infants looked differentially to the ball which adults would generally classify as matching. Infants did not look significantly longer to the ball with the congruent pitch-brightness matching. Infants did however look preferentially towards the black ball across trials. It is proposed that this could be the result of the brightness-weight correspondence, whereby darker objects are thought of as heavier than brighter objects. It is therefore possible that infants look longer towards the black ball as it is the heavier ball which should produce the sound, regardless of pitch.
creator: Hannah Wilson
source: Animations were displayed on a 49cm x 39cm screen, surrounded by black card and screens to block-out excess light and other distractions. Initially, infants were seated (legs stretched forwards) on their caregiver’s lap for the experiment. In this position infants tended to lean forwards, looking towards the floor, meaning that the amount of codeable looking-time was very limited; this procedure was therefore abandoned after four infants had been tested and these infants were excluded from the sample. To increase looking towards the display new approaches were taken. Nine infants were seated 80cm from the screen in a supportive, from-birth highchair. Fourteen infants were seated in an alternative position on the caregiver/researcher’s lap. Infants were now held in a relatively upright position to reduce the likelihood that infants would look towards the floor or their feet. How infants were seated was decided by considering: infants’ head-support, familiarity with high-chair, and infant reactions. It was not thought that being in the high-chair or on the lap would significantly affect looking behaviour. All animations involved variants of balls bouncing on a horizontal surface. All balls had a diameter of 4cm and were identical to one another aside from their surface brightness. The brightness of balls was measured in candela per square meter (cd/m²) using a lux-meter. A higher cd/m² reading equates to a higher degree of luminosity/brightness. The balls appeared to bounce on a medium brightness (39.52cd/m²), green surface, which had a 49cm diameter. The background of displays was a diffused cloud image which was also medium brightness (57.06cd/m²). The image was blurred slightly to reduce contrast and make the background less visually interesting. It was important that the surface and background had a medium brightness and were not distracting, so as not to alter the effect of ball brightness. Previously, white dots on a black background have been used to portray de…
publisher: Lancaster University
date: 2015
contributor: John Towse
rights: Open
language: English
type: Data
coverage: LA1 4YF

Prospect theory and intermediate audience: the effects of context on behavioural intention
subject: Prospect theory, gain/loss framing, intermediate audience, communication research, health communication, vaccination
description: Prospect theory predicts how people react to gain or loss-framed outcomes in dilemma situations, where the potential consequence of the choice is framed as a gain (e.g., lives saved) or as a loss (lives lost). This gain-loss framing communication strategy, derived from the theory, has been applied in many contexts, from promoting the use of reusable coffee mugs to vaccination compliance, with loss-framed appeals being found generally to be more persuasive than gain-framed appeals in the context of promoting vaccination. The current study focused on exploring whether these well-established effects persist when an intermediate audience is exposed to gain/loss-framed messaging, using influenza (flu) vaccination intentionality as an outcome. Intermediate audiences refer to those who are evaluating the gains and losses from the message on behalf of someone else (the ultimate audience), while normal audiences are those making decisions on their own behalf. Two hundred participants were recruited for an online, between-subject study, in which participants were split into two audience conditions and within which they were further split to view a gain-framed or a loss-framed message. Their subsequent behavioural intentions were measured as the outcome, with age as a potential moderating factor (and emotional attachment as a potential mediator exclusively for the intermediate audience condition). Results indicate that neither age nor emotional attachment are significant moderators or mediators. Loss-framed appeal enjoyed a persuasive advantage over the gain-framed appeal only in the intermediate audience condition. Possible interpretations of results, along with potential further directions of research, are discussed.
creator: Wai Man Ko
source: To test the outlined hypotheses, our current study took the form of an online Qualtrics questionnaire (see appendix B for questions) where the questionnaire would introduce participants to one of the audience conditions and view the appropriate version of the manipulated message before moving on to answering some items measuring their behavioural intention and emotional attachment. The study has a 2 (intermediate/normal audience condition) X 2 (gain/loss-framed appeal) design with emotional attachment as a potential mediating variable for the intermediate audience condition and behavioural intention as the outcome variable for all audience conditions. Participants We recruited 200 healthy adults based in the UK on Prolific, an online research participant recruitment platform. Participants have provided consent and completed the study remotely with their personal devices. Their unique Prolific ID was used in this study as the only identifier, which cannot be traced back to them personally. Participants were compensated monetarily for their participation. We randomly assigned our participants to one of the four audience conditions with 50 participants each: the normal gain-framed condition, the normal loss-framed condition, the intermediate gain-framed condition, and the intermediate loss-framed condition. Questionnaire design Consent The participant gave consent to participate in the study with the Qualtrics consent element so that participants can check a box for each item. There were seven items that the participants had to check one by one before commencing the study. Responses which failed to provide a full response in the consent item would be removed from the study. Demographics For demographics, we have recorded the participants' age and gender for the records. As mentioned, age was also analysed as a moderator as part of our analysis. We have also recorded their Prolific IDs to ensure completion and arrange payment. Settings of the study After giving demograp…
publisher: Lancaster University
date: 01/09/2023
contributor: Eleanor Little, Alicia Turner, Laurie Dixon
rights: Open
relation: None
format: Data/Excel.csv Analysis/r_file.R Text/Word.doc
language: English
type: Data
coverage: LA1 4YF

Prospect theory and intermediate audience: the effects of context on behavioural intention
subject: Prospect theory, gain/loss framing, intermediate audience, communication research, health communication, vaccination
description: Prospect theory predicts how people react to gain or loss-framed outcomes in dilemma situations, where the potential consequence of the choice is framed as a gain (e.g., lives saved) or as a loss (lives lost). This gain-loss framing communication strategy, derived from the theory, has been applied in many contexts, from promoting the use of reusable coffee mugs to vaccination compliance, with loss-framed appeals being found generally to be more persuasive than gain-framed appeals in the context of promoting vaccination. The current study focused on exploring whether these well-established effects persist when an intermediate audience is exposed to gain/loss-framed messaging, using influenza (flu) vaccination intentionality as an outcome. Intermediate audiences refer to those who are evaluating the gains and losses from the message on behalf of someone else (the ultimate audience), while normal audiences are those making decisions on their own behalf. Two hundred participants were recruited for an online, between-subject study, in which participants were split into two audience conditions and within which they were further split to view a gain-framed or a loss-framed message. Their subsequent behavioural intentions were measured as the outcome, with age as a potential moderating factor (and emotional attachment as a potential mediator exclusively for the intermediate audience condition). Results indicate that neither age nor emotional attachment are significant moderators or mediators. Loss-framed appeal enjoyed a persuasive advantage over the gain-framed appeal only in the intermediate audience condition. Possible interpretations of results, along with potential further directions of research, are discussed.
creator: Wai Man Ko
source: To test the outlined hypotheses, our current study took the form of an online Qualtrics questionnaire (see appendix B for questions) where the questionnaire would introduce participants to one of the audience conditions and view the appropriate version of the manipulated message before moving on to answering some items measuring their behavioural intention and emotional attachment. The study has a 2 (intermediate/normal audience condition) X 2 (gain/loss-framed appeal) design with emotional attachment as a potential mediating variable for the intermediate audience condition and behavioural intention as the outcome variable for all audience conditions. Participants We recruited 200 healthy adults based in the UK on Prolific, an online research participant recruitment platform. Participants have provided consent and completed the study remotely with their personal devices. Their unique Prolific ID was used in this study as the only identifier, which cannot be traced back to them personally. Participants were compensated monetarily for their participation. We randomly assigned our participants to one of the four audience conditions with 50 participants each: the normal gain-framed condition, the normal loss-framed condition, the intermediate gain-framed condition, and the intermediate loss-framed condition. Questionnaire design Consent The participant gave consent to participate in the study with the Qualtrics consent element so that participants can check a box for each item. There were seven items that the participants had to check one by one before commencing the study. Responses which failed to provide a full response in the consent item would be removed from the study. Demographics For demographics, we have recorded the participants' age and gender for the records. As mentioned, age was also analysed as a moderator as part of our analysis. We have also recorded their Prolific IDs to ensure completion and arrange payment. Settings of the study After giving demograp…
publisher: Lancaster University
date: 2023
contributor: Hannah Clough
rights: Open
format: Data.csv
language: English
type: Data
coverage: LA1 4YF

Recalling Memories of Childhood Bullying: Links Between Early Victimisation and Anxiety in Adulthood
description: Objectives: This study investigated the relationship between retrospective reports of bullying (primary school, secondary school and general experiences of bullying) with social anxiety (SAD), generalised anxiety (GAD) and grit (perseverance). Method: Demographic information was obtained from participants (n=147) as well as measures from primary school bullying, secondary school bullying and general bullying experiences utilising the Retrospective Bullying Questionnaire (RBQ; Schafer et al., 2004). The Social Phobia Inventory (Connor et al., 2000) measured social anxiety in participants, the Penn State Worry Questionnaire (Meyer et al., 1990) assessed general anxiety and the Grit Test (Duckwoth et al., 2007) evaluated participant’s determination. Results: There was evidence that primary school bullying was associated with higher levels of GAD whilst higher levels of SAD were associated with general bullying experiences. There was no evidence to suggest that the individual difference measure of grit impacted upon anxiety for participants. The results support previous studies which have linked anxiety disorders in adulthood to earlier experiences of bullying
creator: Jenna Rayner
source: In the Retrospective Bullying Questionnaire (RBQ) (Schafer et al., 2004), there are a number of sections, three of which were used in this study. The first looks at bullying in primary school, the second at bullying in secondary school and the third section at general bullying behaviour. The general bullying behaviour section concentrated on the long-term effects of any bullying the participants had experiences of in primary or secondary school. This section asked such questions as “Do you ever have dreams or nightmares about the bullying events?” and “Do you ever feel distressed in situations which remind you of the bullying event(s)?” (appendix A). This questionnaire was subject to intensive pilot studies by Schafer et al. (2004) and insight was gained from the success of Rivers (2001) study which also utilised a retrospective measure. Reliability of the RBQ was assessed in the Schafer et al. study, which found a good level of test-retest reliability (Spearman correlation coefficients, primary school r=.88, secondary school r=.87). The Social Phobia Inventory is a 17-item self-report questionnaire (Connor et al., 2000) that screens for social anxiety disorder and assesses the acuteness of such a disorder. The measure has three subsections which evaluate key symptoms of SAD: fear of social situations, avoidance of social situations and physiological discomfort within social situation. Each item is rated on a scale from zero to four. Scores ranged from 0 to 68, and a cut off score of 19 or above distinguishes between healthy controls and SAD sufferers. The SPIN has previously demonstrated good internal consistency as well as suitable test-retest reliability. The Penn State Worry Questionnaire (Meyer, Miller, Metzger & Borkovec, 1990) is a 16-item questionnaire which has been considerably utilised in existing studies to measure generalised anxiety disorder in participants. This questionnaire has been shown to differentiate between different anxiety disorders, e.g. Ge…
publisher: Lancaster University
date: 2014
contributor: Anamarija Veic
language: English
type: Data and a form

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

Running Memory Span Development: The Input Mechanism and 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: Participants Fifty-seven Chinese primary school students (23 female, 34 male), aged between 7 and 13 years (Mean = 9 years 6 months; SD = 1.754) took part in the present study. The children were recruited from Grade one to Grade six at Tianyi School in Xuancheng City. Chinese was the first language of all children. All the children completed a 45-minute testing session, which involved four memory tasks. At the end of the test, children received a notebook as a small gift of appreciation for taking part in the present study. Materials 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 we…
publisher: Lancaster University
date: 2013
contributor: Rebecca James
rights: Open
relation: None
format: data/Excel.csv
language: English
type: Data
coverage: LA1 4YF