Investigating infant expectation on object search tasks
subject: Chi-squared, Correlation, Factor analysis, Linear mixed effects modelling
description: The current study aims to distinguish between Piaget’s (1954) theory of object understanding, highlighting the role of object permanence on A not B task performance, and Diamond’s (1985) theory highlighting the role of motor demands and lack of ability to inhibit habitual behaviours during the task. These two theories differ in their predictions for the expectations of the infants taking part, with Piaget (1954) predicting that infants’ lack of object permanence causes poor performance on the task and Diamond (1985) predicting that infants understand the movement of objects and a lack of inhibition of habitual behaviours cause error in performance. We tested 15 nine-month-old infants on a looking version of the A not B task. The use of impossible and possible outcomes was also incorporated on B trials, with the object being revealed from either the correct or incorrect location (e.g., see Ahmed & Ruffman, 1998). Infant first look direction, accumulated looking time during trials and the number of social looks initiated post-outcome, were used as measures. We found significant evidence of the ‘AB’ error during trials, with a significantly increased number of incorrect first looks on B trials. There was also a descriptive pattern showing surprise at object location reveals with increased number of social looks during B compared to A trials, though this was not significant. Accumulated looking analysis showed that infants looked longer on A than B trials, suggesting that infants expected the object to be in location B on B trials, demonstrating infants’ ability to understand objects and supporting Diamond’s (1985) theory. However, implications for a small sample size and presence of individual differences on interpretation of looking time data are discussed. Implications in theory and future research are suggested and overall, results provide support for the application of Piaget’s (1954) theory and suggest that infants have limited object understanding based on their …
creator: Leah Murphy
source: 3.1. Participants In this study, 15 participants took part, aged 8 months and 12 days to 9 months and 27 days old (M = 9 months and 3 days, SD= 11.3 days). Six further infants were excluded from data analysis as they became too fussy to complete the study. Participants were recruited from the Lancaster Baby lab database, along with the Lancaster Baby lab Facebook page and were also recruited via word of mouth from guardians taking part in the study. 3.2. Materials The video stimuli were created using Canva software (Canva.com, 2023) and was uploaded onto ‘Habit 2’ software (see Oakes et al., 2019) to display the stimuli during testing and to measure the accumulated looking time of the infant participants. The stimuli involved a novel object obtained from the NOUN database (Horst & Hout, 2016). A camera was used to record the social looks exchanged between the infant and guardian, as well as the direction of the infants’ first looks during testing. 3.3. Design This study had a within-subjects design, with all participants being exposed to the same experimental conditions and the same stimuli. To counterbalance for location effects, half of the participants witnessed A trials being hidden in the box on the left, whilst the other half witnessed the object being hidden in the box on the right during A trials. The presentation of the accurate and inaccurate B trials was further counterbalanced across participants, as half of the participants viewed the inaccurate B trials first, and the other half viewed the accurate B trials first. 3.4. Ethical approval Ethical approval for this study was granted by the departmental ethics committee (DEC) at Lancaster University. Guardians were recruited via their preferred contact method and were sent the participant information sheet to read before agreeing to take part in the study. A date and time of testing was arranged at the Babylab building at Lancaster University, via telephone or email. Upon arrival, guardians were presented w…
date: 2023
contributor: Shiyu Pang Yuewen Qin
rights: open
relation: none
format: .xslx
language: English
type: dataset

Investigating infant expectation on object search tasks.
subject: Infant, behaviours, theory
description: The current study aims to distinguish between Piaget’s (1954) theory of object understanding, highlighting the role of object permanence on A not B task performance, and Diamond’s (1985) theory highlighting the role of motor demands and lack of ability to inhibit habitual behaviours during the task. These two theories differ in their predictions for the expectations of the infants taking part, with Piaget (1954) predicting that infants’ lack of object permanence causes poor performance on the task and Diamond (1985) predicting that infants understand the movement of objects and a lack of inhibition of habitual behaviours cause error in performance. We tested 15 nine-month-old infants on a looking version of the A not B task. The use of impossible and possible outcomes was also incorporated on B trials, with the object being revealed from either the correct or incorrect location (e.g., see Ahmed & Ruffman, 1998). Infant first look direction, accumulated looking time during trials and the number of social looks initiated post-outcome, were used as measures. We found significant evidence of the ‘AB’ error during trials, with an significantly increased number of incorrect first looks on B trials. There was also a descriptive pattern showing surprise at object location reveals with increased number of social looks during B compared to A trials, though this was not significant. Accumulated looking analysis showed that infants looked longer on A than B trials, suggesting that infants expected the object to be in location B on B trials, demonstrating infants’ ability to understand objects and supporting Diamond’s (1985) theory. However, implications for a small sample size and presence of individual differences on interpretation of looking time data are discussed. Implications in theory and future research are suggested and overall, results provide support for the application of Piaget’s (1954) theory and suggest that infants have limited object understanding based on their…
creator: Leah Murphy
source: 3.1. Participants In this study, 15 participants took part, aged 8 months and 12 days to 9 months and 27 days old (M = 9 months and 3 days, SD= 11.3 days). Six further infants were excluded from data analysis as they became too fussy to complete the study. Participants were recruited from the Lancaster Baby lab database, along with the Lancaster Baby lab Facebook page and were also recruited via word of mouth from guardians taking part in the study. 3.2. Materials The video stimuli were created using Canva software (Canva.com, 2023) and was uploaded onto ‘Habit 2’ software (see Oakes et al., 2019) to display the stimuli during testing and to measure the accumulated looking time of the infant participants. The stimuli involved a novel object obtained from the NOUN database (Horst & Hout, 2016). A camera was used to record the social looks exchanged between the infant and guardian, as well as the direction of the infants’ first looks during testing. 3.3. Design This study had a within-subjects design, with all participants being exposed to the same experimental conditions and the same stimuli. To counterbalance for location effects, half of the participants witnessed A trials being hidden in the box on the left, whilst the other half witnessed the object being hidden in the box on the right during A trials. The presentation of the accurate and inaccurate B trials was further counterbalanced across participants, as half of the participants viewed the inaccurate B trials first, and the other half viewed the accurate B trials first. 3.4. Ethical approval Ethical approval for this study was granted by the departmental ethics committee (DEC) at Lancaster University. Guardians were recruited via their preferred contact method and were sent the participant information sheet to read before agreeing to take part in the study. A date and time of testing was arranged at the Babylab building at Lancaster University, via telephone or email. Upon arrival, guardians were presented w…
publisher: Lancaster University
date: 2023
contributor: Alicja Kowalska
rights: Open
relation: None
format: Text/Word.doc
language: English
type: Text
coverage: LA1 4YW

Investigating the Effects of Challenging Behaviour on the Sibling Relationship: Influenced by Behaviour Topography and Shaped by Attributions of Controllability?
description: Challenging behaviour (CB) displayed by individuals with an intellectual disability (ID) is consistently identified as a stressor on the relationship that they have with their typically developing (TD) sibling. Given the potentially damaging effects of CB on the quality of the sibling relationship and the wellbeing of the TD sibling, understanding the cognitions that underpin TD siblings’ emotional and behavioural responses to CB is essential to direct sibling-targeted psychoeducational interventions. This study considered whether siblings’ responses to CB vary according to behavioural topography. Further, the study considered whether any effects detected were shaped by attributions made by TD individuals regarding the controllability of their siblings’ CB. Thirty-eight siblings of individuals with ID, and 36 participants with a nondisabled sibling, completed a web-based questionnaire measuring participants’ positive and negative affect towards their sibling, the nature of their sibling’s CB, and controllability perceptions regarding their sibling’s CB. The results of this study reiterate that CB is a stressor on the sibling relationship, with externally directed CB (i.e. aggression, destruction) eliciting greater negative affect in siblings compared to internally directed behaviours (i.e. self-injury). However, it could not be concluded with an appropriate level of significance (i.e. p<.05) that this was due to participants perceiving their siblings as more in control of their externally directed behaviours. These findings may have resulted from the diverse nature of the participant group. Further research is required to examine specific differences in the emotional impact of each type of challenging behaviour (and then subsequently, whether any differences detected arise due to contrasting perceptions of behaviour controllability).
creator: Lauren Laverick-Brown
source: Participants Seventy-four TD individuals who had a sibling completed this study. Participants were allocated to one of two conditions according to whether they had a sibling with an ID, or did not (i.e. their sibling was TD). There were 38 participants who had a sibling with ID (82% female, Mage=27.32, SD=9.65) and 36 participants with a TD sibling (92% female, Mage=28.61, SD=10.81); ranging between 13 to 60 years old. Siblings diagnoses are reported in Table 1. Table 1: Diagnoses of participants' siblings Participants were recruited on a voluntary basis through social media advertisements posted by the researcher and by disability organisations (who also sent emails to their followers), and through word of mouth. The researcher developed a digital research flyer summarising study’s purpose and procedure, distributed as described above. To incentivise participation, participants had the option to enter themselves in a prize draw for a £20 Amazon voucher upon completion of the study. A minimum participation age was determined after inputting the text of each questionnaire included in the study into Coh-Metrix (Version 3.0; Graesser, McNamara, Louwerse & Cai, 2004): a web-based software tool assessing the cohesion and coherence of a text. Coh Metrix provides an index of readability by generating the reading age of a piece of text, and the reading age determined of the questionnaires was “grade six”; indicating that 10/11-year-olds should have the ability to comprehend and respond to questions. Thus, it was decided that the questionnaires were suitable for TD individuals aged 12 or above. Consent was gained from all those over 16 years of age, and parental consent for and assent from those aged 12-15 years of age (see “Ethical Considerations” below for further information). Design The study was of a correlational design, investigating the relationship between the following continuous variables: the quality of the sibling relationship, CB displayed by the sibling with I…
publisher: Lancaster University
date: 2018
contributor: Rebecca James
rights: Open
relation: None
format: Data/SPSS.sav
language: English
type: Data
coverage: LA1 4YF

Investigating the effects of dimensionality and referent variability on word learning in autism and typical development.
subject: Dimensionality, referent variability, word learning.
description: The ability to learn words from pictures could give children another forum to develop their lexical understanding and vocabulary. This is particularly important for children with developmental disorders such as Autism. This research investigated how word learning processes (referent selection, retention and generalisation) in autism and typical development are influenced by learning from pictures and objects, including single and multiple exemplars of symbols. The participants in this study were 16 typically developing children, M age=3.68, the TD group was composed of 7 males (43.75%) and 8 females (56.25%). And 16 children diagnosed with ASD, M age=9.37, 8 males (50%) and 8 females (50%). Participants looked at pictorial and object referents. This was to differentiate whether there was a preference in word acquisition and retention, depending on the structure of the stimuli. It was expected that word referent selection, retention and generalisation would be more accurate in the object condition compared to the picture condition, as participants would not be relying of picture-word-associations. Participants also examined words paired with either single or multiple exemplars of referents, to determine whether multiple exemplars of shaped matched referents would promote shape-based generalisation in the ASD group, which has been shown to be impaired (Hartley and Allen, 2014). It was expected that retention would be superior when learning directly from objects in both the ASD and TD groups, which was found in this research. We also anticipated that labelling from multiple exemplars, rather than single exemplars, may scaffold more consistent shape-based generalisation. We found that referent selection was more accurate in both groups in the multiple exemplar condition compared to the single exemplar condition. The implications of this research are that we can further understanding of how symbols or objects benefit word learning, retention and generalisation in ASD or …
creator: Fiona Smith
source: Participants The participants in this study were 16 minimally verbal children with ASD (M age = 10.42 years, SD = 3.29) and 16 typically developing children (M age = 3.64, SD = 1.64). Children with ASD were recruited from the specialist schools Dee Banks School in Chester, and Hinderton School in Ellesmere Port. Typically developing children were recruited via opportunity sampling, via the social media platform Facebook through advertisement. All the children with ASD received their diagnosis from a qualified clinical or educational psychologist. This was obtained using standardised instruments (i.e. Autism Diagnostic Observation Scale and Autism Diagnostic Interview—Revised; (Lord, Rutter & Le Couteur, 1994, Lord, Rutter, DiLavore & Risi, 2002) and expert judgment. Clinical diagnosis was confirmed for children with autism using the Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS; Schopler, Van Bourgondien, Wellman & Love, 2010), which was completed by a class teacher (Raw Score M score = 37.26, Raw Score range = 27 – 53.5). The ASD were tested for non-verbal vocabulary using the British Picture Vocabulary Scale (BPVS; Dunn, Dunn, Whetton, & Burley, 1997), which was conducted by the experimenter. Mean receptive vocabulary of children with autism was years 2.84 (range = 6 years – 2 years 4 months). Some of the children diagnosed with ASD who participated in this study were current PECS-users with impaired expressive language skills. Most of the children with ASD who participated in this study were functionally non-verbal (no spoken words), although, some produced speech of 1–2 words in length (however, much of this was echolalia) and one child could speak some short phrases over three words in length. Therefore, the sample was linguistically representative of children with ASD who receive and may benefit from picture-based communication interventions. Participants had 1–6 years’ experience of using PECS. When recruiting the children diagnosed with ASD, the experimenter emailed s…
publisher: Lancaster University
date: 2015
contributor: Rebecca James
rights: Open
relation: None
format: Data/SPSS.sav
language: English
type: Data
coverage: LA1 4YF

Is selfie-related behaviour motivated by sexual orientation and gender conformity
subject: Selfie, Self-expression, Gender conformity, Sexual orientation
description: In the digital age, selfie culture has become an integral part of social media platforms. This globally widespread phenomenon created a distinctive form of self-expression, allowing selfie- makers to convey their identities, shape online personas, and build connections with others. Selfies are more than photos presented but also refer to a series of backstage to finally lead to creation and sharing. As research into selfies, gender differences in selfie-related behaviours have enabled further comprehension of selfies in terms of self-expression. Social Role Theory (SRT) explained the existence of gender differences in selfie culture that gender role norms and social expectations shape individuals' identity and behaviours. This study explored the concept of gender conformity among heterosexuals and non-heterosexuals and the impact on selfie-related behaviours. A total of 120 participants, categorized into heterosexual men, heterosexual women, non-heterosexual men, and non-heterosexual women, engaged in an online questionnaire, and contributed a total of 150 selfies. Data analysis involved one-way variance (ANOVA) to test the differences between the four groups, and multiple regression analysis to assess the influence of gender, the Traditional Masculinity-Femininity (TMF) scale and sexual attraction to me score. The results revealed no differences across the four groups in terms of the nine domains of selfie motives, as well as preoccupation. However, retention of moments and entertainment as the most prominent motives for selfies. For selfie behaviours, time spent on taking, editing, and selecting selfies, as well as taking amount and edit frequency differed significantly among the four groups. Specifically, both heterosexual women and non-heterosexual women tended to allocate more time on taking, editing, and selecting selfies for posting. Meanwhile, heterosexual women and non-heterosexual men displayed a higher trend for taking a greater number of selfies and edit…
creator: Wen Li
source: Participants This study recruited 120 normal adults as participants through a Qualtrics online questionnaire voluntarily and anonymously, of which 67 completed the questionnaire, including 22 men, 42 women and 3 self-identified as non-binary gender. However, since only binary gender was considered for the analysis of gender conformity, the three non-binary gender responses were removed. Additionally, in terms of sexual orientation, there were 48 heterosexuals, 6 homosexuals, 8 bisexuals and 2 others. The participants were divided into four sample groups, that is, 19 heterosexual men, 29 heterosexual women, three non-heterosexual men and 13 non-heterosexual women. Materials Sexual orientation and gender conformity were the two domains of prediction, and selfie- related behaviours were regarded as the outcomes. Sexual orientation was measured by self-rated sexual attraction to men and women, while gender conformity was measured by self-ascribed the Traditional masculinity/femininity (TMF) scale. As for selfie-related behaviour, it involves several aspects of selfie taking, editing, and posting. In addition, selfie motives and attributes of uploaded selfies were also be taken into account. Sexual attraction score Sexual orientation was self-identified by participants themselves as heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual, and others. The participants were asked to self-rated two statements about their sexual attraction to men and women. The latter, with some adjustment to Lippa's (2002) methodology, included two questions: "I am sexually attracted to men" and "I am sexually attracted to women". In both cases, participants were asked to self-rated on a scale of 0-10, where a higher score indicated greater sexual attraction to men or women. This measure transformed sexual orientation from a categorical variable to a continuous variable for further analyses of differences and relationships. In particular, the separate assessment of sexual attraction to men and sexual attraction…
publisher: Lancaster University
date: 2022-2023
contributor: Mshary Al Jaber
rights: Open
relation: None
format: .xlsx
language: English
type: Data
coverage: LA1 4YF

Levodopa and antisaccade performance in Parkinson’s disease: the influence of intrinsic dopaminergic functioning, dopamine agonists and chronic anti-parkinsonian medication
subject: Keywords: Parkinson’s disease, dopamine overdose hypothesis, spontaneous eye blink rate, levodopa, dopamine agonists, antisaccade
description: The antisaccade (AS) task is a validated eye-tracking paradigm primarily used to assess response inhibition. Although several studies have established AS error rate and latency to be increased in Parkinson’s disease (PD), the evidence regarding the effect of existing anti-parkinsonian medication (e.g., levodopa) on these parameters is contradictory. According to the dopamine overdose hypothesis (DOH), the effect of levodopa on AS performance should be dependent upon the intrinsic dopaminergic functioning of the individual. The current study is the first study to use spontaneous eye blink rate (SEBR), a proxy measure for dopamine activity, to investigate the influence of intrinsic dopaminergic functioning on AS performance following levodopa consumption. The influence of additional PD related factors was also examined. SEBR and AS performance was assessed in eleven healthy controls (HC) and nine participants with PD. SEBR and AS performance was assessed twice in participants with PD, once 30 minutes prior to, and once one hour after, the consumption of levodopa. Pre-levodopa consumption SEBR was a significant positive predictor of AS error rate post, but not pre, levodopa consumption. Total years consuming anti-parkinsonian medications was positively predictive of AS error rate both pre and post levodopa consumption. The regular consumption of dopamine agonists was found to significantly predict fewer AS errors following the consumption of levodopa. The current results support the DOH; higher intrinsic dopaminergic functioning was associated with increased AS errors following the artificial stimulation of dopamine via by levodopa. Therefore, artificial dopaminergic stimulation of an intrinsically sufficiently functioning dopaminergic system appears to produce an overstimulation/overdose effect whereby consequential detrimental effects on AS performance/response inhibition are observed. The current findings go some way in explaining the inconsistencies within the lite…
creator: Amy Austin
source: Twenty-one participants, 10 individuals with mild-moderate idiopathic PD (Mage = 67.10, SDage = 8.63) and 11 healthy control older adults of comparable age (HC; Mage = 66.82, SDage = 9.09) were recruited to the study. The mean age of recruited HC and PD individuals did not differ significantly, t (18.95) = - 0.07, p = .943). Participants were recruited via established research databases and via the social network of the researcher. As the current study focused on PD, participants with a diagnosis of any neurological conditions (beyond PD) were excluded. Additionally, as depression and anxiety influence an individual’s saccadic performance profile and SEBR (Jazbec et al., 2005; Mackintosh et al., 1983), individuals who obtained a clinically moderate depression or anxiety score, as measured by the Hospital Anxiety and Depression scale (HADS), were excluded. Similarly, mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and dementia are associated with increased AS error rate and AS latency (Opwonya et al., 2022), and increased SEBR (D’Antonio et al., 2021). As such, those who presented a cognitive profile indicative of MCI/dementia (score < 82 on the Addenbrookes Cognitive Exam-III, ACE-III; Hsieh et al., 2013) were excluded from the current study. Finally, as experimental stimuli in the current study were coloured red and green, individuals with red-green colour vision deficiency, detected via the Ishihara test (Ishihara, 1917) were also excluded. On these grounds of exclusion, one individual with PD was excluded from the current study due to obtaining an ACE-III score indicative of MCI. Subsequently, nine individuals with mild-moderate idiopathic PD (Mage = 65.89, SDage = 8.21) and eleven HC individuals (Mage = 66.82, SDage = 9.09) participated in the study. All participants had normal or corrected to normal vision. All participants with PD were classified as Hohen and Yahr stage II or below (Hoehn & Yahr, 1998), indicating they were physically independent and capable of completing all…
publisher: Lancaster University
date: 14th September 2022
contributor: Rachel Jordan Sian Reid
rights: Open
relation: N/A
format: Data/R.csv
language: English
type: Data
identifier: Austin 2022
coverage: LA1 4YF

Lights, Camera, Action: Investigating Advertisement Susceptibility in Films Amongst Individuals with Parkinson’s Disease and Controls.
subject: Parkinson’s Disease, Inhibitory Control, Product Placement Susceptibility
description: Product placement is the merging of entertainment with advertising, and its presence in our daily lives is increasing. Despite this, there is an inherent lack of consideration of its influence amongst vulnerable populations such as individuals with Parkinson’s disease (PD). Research suggests that individuals with PD have reduced inhibitory control (IC) which may drive impulsive behaviours. A concernment, therefore, is the influence that product placement may have on the purchase behaviour of individuals with PD alongside a possible propensity to partake in risky and impulsive behaviours. Thus, this study aimed to examine whether reduced IC increases the likelihood that an individual with PD will be susceptible to product placement. The study adopted an experimental approach, recruiting 20 healthy younger controls, 20 healthy older controls, and 13 individuals with mild to moderate PD to participate in watching two films containing product placement; one featuring Coca Cola and the other an Audi. A pre and post product placement questionnaire was used to measure change in purchase behaviour before and after exposure to product placement, and an antisaccade eye tracking task and a Stroop task was used to measure IC. An ANOVA indicated that IC was significantly impaired in individuals with PD compared to healthy controls. Despite this, linear mixed effects modelling suggested that IC may not be a factor that increases the likelihood that an individual will be more susceptible to product placement. Implications of these findings are discussed relative to other clinically vulnerable populations with similar cognitive impairment symptomology, and the consequent need for future research to continue to explore product placement susceptibility amongst vulnerable populations.
creator: Elena Ball
source: Method Participants A voluntary sample of 54 participants were recruited, 20 healthy younger controls (YC) (16 females and four males, (Mage= 22.70, SDage= 2.42)), 20 healthy older controls of comparable age to those with Parkinson’s (OC) (females and males, (Mage= 66.85, SDage= 8.53)), and 15 adults with mild-moderate idiopathic PD (females and males, (Mage= 65.00, SDage= 7.84)). As this research area is entirely novel this sample size was modelled on comparable population studies that have explored IC (Meyer et al., 2020; Paz-Alonso et al., 2020). YC were defined as young adults aged between 18 to 26 years old with no neurological or cognitive conditions (Stroud et al., 2015). OC were defined as adults aged between 50 to 85 years old with no neurological or cognitive conditions (Zhang et al., 2020). The participants with PD had been diagnosed with mild-moderate idiopathic PD, characterised by mild-moderate impairments of motor and cognitive functioning (DeMaagd & Philip, 2015). The exclusion criteria for both the healthy controls and individuals with PD were those who had a diagnosis of any additional neurological or cognitive conditions other than PD. Moreover, given that visual impairments may affect the visual experience of product placement, all participants were screened for red-green colour blindness using the Ishihara test. The standardised cut off for normal vision is 15 (Rodriguez-Carmona & Barbur, 2017), therefore, participants who score 14 or less were excluded as this is indicative of the presence of red-green colour blindness. All participants had normal or corrected-to-normal vision. The Addenbrooke’s Cognitive Examination-III (ACE) was used to screen for the presence of cognitive impairment (Bruno & Vignaga, 2019). Participants’ data was only included in analysis if participants achieved a score within the normal range (≥ 82 out of 100). Following this exclusion criteria, one PD participant’s data was removed. Research has shown saccadic eye movemen…
publisher: Lancaster University
date: 07.09.2022
contributor: Elena Ball
rights: Open
relation: N/A
format: Data/R.csv
language: English
type: Data
coverage: LA1 4YF

N1 Adaptation: Exploring the Neuronal Basis of the Interaction Between Auditory Sensory Memory and Attention
subject: neuropsychology, attention, auditory sensory memory, N1 adaptation, sensory processing, neural responses
description: The aim was to explore whether voluntarily focusing on repetitive auditory stimuli influences the lifetime of N1 adaptation, which indexes the lifetime of auditory sensory memory. Twenty-six neurotypical participants with self-reported normal hearing were recruited from Lancaster University. Electroencephalogram (EEG) recording took place in a sound-attenuated laboratory. A two-by-two factorial design was employed, where one factor manipulated the presence or absence of attention, whereas the other factor manipulated the stimulus-onset interval (SOI), which primarily served to calculate the lifetime of adaptation. Three different amplitude measurement methods were used to calculate the N1 amplitude, therefore three sets of statistical analyses were performed for each investigation. For the preliminary investigation, two-way ANOVAs were conducted to evaluate the impact of attentional focus (presence or absence) and SOI (short or long) on the amplitude of N1. For the primary investigation, paired-samples t-tests were conducted to evaluate whether the presence or absence of attention influences the N1 adaptation lifetime. The preliminary results indicated no significant difference in N1 amplitude between the presence and absence of attentional focus. There was also no significant difference in the SOI, except for one of the amplitude measurement methods, which showed greater N1 amplitudes in the Long SOI condition. The primary results indicated that whether attention was present or not showed no significant effect on the adaptation lifetime across all three amplitude measurement methods. However, the study suffered from low statistical power and possible issues with the methodological design due to the combined use of visual and auditory modalities to manipulate attentional focus. Therefore, it is inappropriate to draw conclusions from the findings of this study. Methodological improvements and theoretical implications were discussed.
creator: Gengjie Jack Ho
source: Methods Section: Participants Twenty-six neurotypical participants with self-reported normal hearing (9 males, 16 females, 1 prefer not to say), all of whom were students from Lancaster University, were recruited using opportunity sampling via advertising on social media platforms and SONA. The age range of the participants spanned from 18 to 34 years (M = 22.85, SD = 2.55). Sixteen participants were excluded due to excessive electric noise, resulting in a remaining pool of 10 participants. All participants provided written consent and volunteered to participate in the experiment. The study received ethical approval from Lancaster University’s Department of Psychology. Stimuli The experiment employed the oddball paradigm to elicit auditory responses. The standards were presented at a constant rate of 210 repetitions per condition, while the deviants appeared unpredictably at a 5% probability (10 deviants per condition). The sequence of standards and deviants remained consistent across all conditions. The standards were presented as a 500-Hz pure tone, while the deviants were a 503-Hz pure tone. The duration of each tone was 100 milliseconds, with 10 milliseconds of linear onset and offset ramps. All tones were presented at a consistent and comfortable volume level (28% volume on Windows 10). The auditory stimuli were programmed and delivered using MATLAB. Design The study followed a two-by-two factorial design (see Figure 1). It included two attention conditions: Active and Passive. In the Active condition, participants were presented with a stream of standards and deviants while focusing on a fixation cross. Their objective was to count the occurrences of deviants. In the Passive condition, participants viewed a nature documentary displayed on a smartphone screen. Their objective was to count the number of animal species featured in the documentary while ignoring the stream of auditory stimuli playing simultaneously in the background. Both the fixation cross and th…
publisher: Lancaster University
date: 2023
contributor: Sharon Boyd
rights: Open
relation: None
format: Data/SPSS.sav
language: English
type: Data
coverage: LA1 4YF

National Identity of chinese overseas student
description: Since 21st century, with the development of global and China’s economy, an increasing number of Chinese students preferred study abroad. Chinese oversea students are very special group. They were influenced by the traditional Chinese culture and education. They also accept Western education and thought. This research aims to investigate whether the study-abroad experience will affect Chinese oversea students’ national identity. 35 Chinese students who are studying in UK and 35 Chinese students who are studying in China completed the questionnaire which assessed national identity. All questionnaires sent to the participants by email. According to the results of this study, Chinese students who are studying in UK did not show significant differences in national identity by compared with the Chinese students who are studying in China. Results of current study also indicated that Chinese students’ ethnocentrism scores were marginally higher than Chinese oversea students.
creator: Yisu Hu
source: The national identity was assessed using the National Identity Scale. The National Identity Scale has five factors: membership, private, public, Identity and comparison. On a 7-point Liker Scale, participants reported their agreement (1 = strongly disagree, 7 = strongly agree) with items. Ethnocentrism was measured with the Revised Ethnocentrism Scale, on a 5-point Liker scale, participants indicated their agreement (1 = strongly disagree, 5 = strongly agree) with statements.
publisher: Lancaster University
date: 2013
contributor: Eleni Sevastopoulou
language: English
type: Data

Neural response to infant-directed speech: gamma band oscillatory activity in 4-month-old infants
subject: Infant-directed speech; neural response; EEG; gamma oscillation
description: Infant-directed speech is an ostensive signal preferred by infants over adult-directed speech. We studied infants’ neural response to auditory stimuli by measuring gamma band oscillatory activity over the frontal area of the brain in response to ostensive infant-directed speech and non-ostensive adult-directed speech. Two groups of 4-month-old infants were presented with the same auditory stimuli, but the two groups differed in terms of visual stimuli (inverted vs. upright faces), being our study a part of a broader research project. We investigated only the auditory portion of the trial. We found that, in the inverted face group, the activation to the ostensive infant-directed speech was significantly enhanced while, in the upright group, this outcome was not found. These findings support the use of gamma band oscillations in assessing the basis of social communication and establish infants’ early specialization in understanding communicative signals directed to them.
creator: Marina Ciampolini
source: Experimental Design We used data that had already been collected for a broader study, designed for the observation of the influence of auditory stimuli on face processing. In the main experiment, a total of 36 four-months-old infants was divided into two groups that differed on the visual stimulus presented at the end of each trial. Immediately after an auditory stimulus in IDS or ADS, the first group was presented with inverted faces, while the second group was exposed to upright faces. Participants in both groups were thus exposed to the same auditory stimuli, just before being presented to the visual stimuli, that were different depending on the group. In this research we focused only on the auditory portion of the trial, where participants were exposed to IDS or ADS (Fig. 1). Figure 1. Representation of the complete trial presented to infants. In every trial, 18 infants were presented with upright faces, while the other 18 were presented with inverted faces. However, each infant was exposed to auditory stimuli in ADS or IDS, regardless of the visual stimulus. The green rectangle shows the portion of the trial analysed in this dissertation. Participants Infants were recruited from the Lancaster Babylab database. All were free of any known neurological, ocular or auditory abnormality and met the screening criteria of normal birth, born full term (gestational age >37 weeks), in the normal weight range (>2500g) and with an Apgar score of at least 8 at five minutes after the birth. In our study we focused on infants’ neural response to the auditory stimuli (Fig. 1). However, the distinction between the two groups was preserved in order to observe possible differences between them. The group exposed to inverted faces included 18 infants (5 females, age range 117 to 161 days, M= 135.61 days). Thirteen additional infants were excluded owing to an insufficient number of artifact free segments (n=10), sleep (n=1), and technical issues during the experiment (n=2). The grou…
publisher: Lancaster University
date: 2019
contributor: John Towse
format: Excel files; Matlab files; SPSS files.
language: English
type: Data
coverage: LA1 4YF