Implicit Measurement Research Articles

Individual differences in music-induced interpersonal synchronization and self-other integration: the role of creativity and empathy.

It has been demonstrated that moving together in synchrony to music makes us feel connected. Yet, little is known about the individual differences that shape the relationship between interpersonal synchronization to music and social bonding. The present research tests the hypothesis that this association is influenced by differences in empathy and creativity-two highly relevant factors in many musical activities. We implemented a synchronization task featuring a virtual drummer and measured self-other integration (SOI), a core component of social bonding. We employed a dual-measurement paradigm, incorporating both an explicit assessment (Inclusion of Other in the Self scale) and an implicit assessment (joint-Simon effect) of SOI. Surprisingly, our analysis did not reveal explicit and implicit measurements correlating, nor were they similarly affected by interpersonal synchronization. This raises questions about the assessment of SOI in interpersonal synchronization experiments. Furthermore, we observed no moderating role of empathy or creativity in the association between interpersonal synchronization and SOI. Nevertheless, we found creativity to correlate with SOI. In light of this finding, we recommend placing greater emphasis on creativity as a decisive factor in the study of musical interaction.

A Matter of Memory? Age-Invariant Relative Clause Disambiguation and Memory Interference in Older Adults.

Past research suggests that Working Memory plays a role in determining relative clause attachment bias. Disambiguation preferences may further depend on Processing Speed and explicit memory demands in linguistic tasks. Given that Working Memory and Processing Speed decline with age, older adults offer a way of investigating the factors underlying disambiguation preferences. Additionally, older adults might be subject to more severe similarity-based memory interference given their larger vocabularies and slower lexical access. Nevertheless, memory interference and sentence disambiguation have not been combined in studies on older adults before. We used a self-paced reading paradigm under memory load interference conditions. Older (n=30) and Younger (n=35) readers took part in the study online; reading times were recorded and measures of comprehension accuracy and load recall were collected. This setup allowed for the implicit measurement of attachment biases and memory interference effects interactively. Results show that similarity-based interference affected both age groups equally, but was more pronounced in NP2-biased structures, which took participants generally longer to read. Attachment preferences did not differ by group and were unaffected by Working Memory span. However, accuracy on recall prompts was predicted by Working Memory span in both groups. Findings of greater interference in syntactically dispreferred structures support unified processing models where parsing constraints naturally interact. The lack of age differences on our measures further aligns with research finding age-invariant implicit language processing.

Are we afraid of the woods? – An investigation of the implicit and explicit fear reactions to forests

The beneficial effects of nature exposure have been repeatedly documented and encourage frequent and regular contact with nature and especially highlight forests. However, in human history, forests have also been associated with negative emotions such as fear and were seen as dangerous environments. While existing literature could demonstrate that natural environments can evoke fear, the focus was on the explicit perception. Given that research has shown the significance of additional implicit processes in fear-related behaviour, we aim to explore the presence of an implicit fear response to forests. Therefore, in an online study, we investigated the explicit and implicit fear reactions to forests by a Northern German sample of N = 256. Using three explicit measurements, we investigated fear and danger perception on a semantic and visual level of the stimulus category "forest" compared to the human-made urban green space "park" and the urban setting "house". Additionally, we assessed the unconscious response tendencies towards the forest within three implicit tasks: Subliminal Priming Procedure (SPP), Affect Misattribution Procedure (AMP) and Approach-Avoidance Task (AAT). Within the analyzed sample, the subliminally presented word forest evoked a stronger positive valence response compared to park (SPP). In contrast to houses, the forest showed a stronger approach and weaker avoidance tendency (AAT). At the same time, both the three explicit and one implicit measurement (AMP) showed a stronger fear perception of forests compared to parks or houses. Considering the increasingly utilised beneficial effects of nature in interventions, these findings should be acknowledged when implementing nature exposure in interventions and treatments.

Chemosensory analysis of emotional wines: Merging of explicit and implicit methods to measure emotions aroused by red wines

Wine is a cultural product capable of arousing emotions. Measuring emotions and figuring out how much they could influence preferences or purchase decisions of consumers is a new trend in sensory and consumer research. However, the complexity of feelings makes the measure of emotions extremely challenging. Thus, a comprehensive understanding of emotions related to sensory stimuli in wine tasting is still missing. The purpose of the study is to evaluate the emotional power of tasting red wines using a multidisciplinary approach, combining sensory analysis performed by trained panelists, implicit and explicit measurements of emotions and chemical analysis of the wines tasted. Various red wines, renowned for their high polyphenol content and expected to exhibit rich texture, mouthfeel, and aging potential, have been utilized to this extent. The results obtained showed that the emotions measured were well-correlated with quantitative and hedonic attributes obtained using classic sensory analysis. Some aromatic molecules can be identified as markers capable of eliciting positive and negative emotional reactions. While increasing literature in the topic is recently available, our study appears to be the first highlighting the presence of autonomic nervous system (ANS) differences verified by means of electrocardiogram (ECG) features, related to explicit and complete sensory patterns, in response to sensory stimuli related to emotional wine, with higher sympathetic values at extrema and vagal increase in the presence of neutral sensory compounds.

Impact of public health communication for prevention and personal resilience at the time of crisis. A pilot study with psychophysiological and self-report measures.

Health communication promotes public and individual health. Psychophysiological indices can unveil the unconscious emotional variables that influence audience's representations of these communications. This study explored emotional and cognitive responses to health communications using implicit (psychophysiological) and explicit (self-report) measurements. Twelve communications (health prevention, personal health, public health, Covid-19) were shown to N = 19 participants, while psychophysiological (i.e. Heart Rate and Heart Rate Variability (HRV), skin conductance level and response (SCL and SCR)) and self-report (Semantic Differential and Self-Assessment Mannikin (SAM)) data were collected. Higher arousal and physiological engagement (SCL) were observed for health prevention, public and personal health communications. Lower HRV values were found for health prevention compared to crisis communication (Covid-19 stimuli), suggesting higher emotional reactions and concern for the first topic. Self-report results confirmed psychophysiological findings. Overall, using public health communication activates objective indicators about emotional reactions that have important implications for the effectiveness of the communication itself.

Torn Between Love and Hate: Mouse Tracking Ambivalent Attitudes Towards Robots

AbstractRobots are a source of evaluative conflict and thus elicit ambivalence. In fact, psychological research has shown across domains that people simultaneously report strong positive and strong negative evaluations about one and the same attitude object. This is defined as ambivalence. In the current research, we extended existing ambivalence research by measuring ambivalence towards various robot-related stimuli using explicit (i.e., self-report) and implicit measures. Concretely, we used a mouse tracking approach to gain insights into the experience and resolution of evaluative conflict elicited by robots. We conducted an extended replication across four experiments with N = 411 overall. This featured a mixed-methods approach and included a single paper meta-analysis. Thereby, we showed that the amount of reported conflicting thoughts and feelings (i.e., objective ambivalence) and self-reported experienced conflict (i.e., subjective ambivalence) were consistently higher towards robot-related stimuli compared to stimuli evoking univalent responses. Further, implicit measures of ambivalence revealed that response times were higher when evaluating robot-related stimuli compared to univalent stimuli, however results concerning behavioral indicators of ambivalence in mouse trajectories were inconsistent. This might indicate that behavioral indicators of ambivalence apparently depend on the respective robot-related stimulus. We could not obtain evidence of systematic information processing as a cognitive indicator of ambivalence, however, qualitative data suggested that participants might focus on especially strong arguments to compensate their experienced conflict. Furthermore, interindividual differences did not seem to substantially influence ambivalence towards robots. Taken together, the current work successfully applied the implicit and explicit measurement of ambivalent attitudes to the domain of social robotics, while at the same time identifying potential boundaries for its application.

Taste the emotions: pilot for a novel, sensors-based approach to emotional analysis during coffee tasting.

Coffee is a natural drink with important properties for the human body and mind, capable of delivering energy and strong emotions, thus being appreciated since ancient times. The qualitative and quantitative assessment of the coffee properties is normally performed by trained panelists, though relying on standardized questionnaires, with possible biases arising. In this study, for the first time in the scientific literature, we applied a technology-based approach, based on the use of wearable sensors, to study the implicit emotional responses of a small cohort of experienced coffee judges, thus taking this chance to assess the feasibility of this approach in such a scenario. The merging of different technologies for capturing biomedical signals, including electrocardiogram, galvanic skin response, and electroencephalogram, was therefore adopted to retrieve results in terms of the relationships between implicit (i.e. psychophysiological) and explicit (i.e. derived from questionnaires) measurements. Significant correlations were obtained between biomedical signals and data from the questionnaires within all the sensory domains (olfaction, vision, taste) investigated, particularly concerning autonomic-related features. The results obtained confirmed the viability of this new approach in the psychophysical and emotional assessment in coffee tasting judges, paving the way for a new perspective into the universe of coffee quality assessment panels, eventually transferable to broader scale investigations, somewhat dealing with consumer satisfaction and neuromarketing at large. © 2023 Society of Chemical Industry.

Balance between tourism and environment: measuring tourists' implicit and explicit attitudes toward visual conservation messages. The genuine article

Visual messages are widely used to positively influence in conservation attitudes of visitors in tourist destinations, these are usually persuasive or prohibitive. According to the literature, attitudes are classified as explicit (conscious) or implicit (beyond conscious control) and there may be differences between them towards the same attitude object. This paper aim to presents the analysis of said attitudes towards prohibitive and persuasive visual messages focused on the correct disposal of garbage in a tourist attraction. A structured questionnaire was used for explicit measurement and the Implicit Association Test for implicit measurement, these were applied in two sun and beach destinations in the Mexican Caribbean. After the tests carried out, it is established that both messages (persuasive and prohibitive) are effective at an explicit level; however, at an implicit level, the persuasive message produces more favorable attitudes, thus is a better opportunity to positively influence conservationist attitudes.

Implicit and explicit measurement of pre-service teachers’ attitudes towards autism spectrum disorder

ABSTRACT This paper aims to understand how teachers’ attitudes are contributing to or hindering the educational inclusion of students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Implicit and explicit measurement of the attitudes of 50 pre-service teachers towards ASD before and after a short-term training on Autism is presented. The explicit measure used was a Likert-type questionnaire, while the implicit measure was a Single Target Implicit Association Test (ST-IAT). After statistical analysis of the data, it was found that prospective teachers’ explicit attitudes were positive before the short-term training, and they were significantly better after it. Conversely, participants’ implicit attitudes were neutral before the short-term training, and no significant difference was found after it. Additionally, no statistically significant relation was obtained between explicit and implicit attitudes, either before or after training, which suggests that the used instruments measure different attitudinal constructs. According to the remaining findings, it is concluded that explicit attitudes may be more prone to social desirability bias than implicit ones, implying that future attitudes research regarding sensitive topics such as the educational inclusion of students with Autism should combine both measures. Moreover, implicit attitudes seem more difficult to change than explicit ones. Some implications for pre-service teacher education are discussed.

Including drawings in future dementia research: identification and modification of negative stereotyping

AbstractBackgroundMost countries in Western civilization are segregated societies with little or no contact between generations. Elementary schools and nursing homes are separated worlds in proximity. Children alienate further from the elderly and rely on indirect experiences with old age and dementia. The elderly can embody negative stereotypes from media and society leading to disparities in health care, social isolation and loss of functional ability.MethodIn this study we collected 796 drawings from 98 children in 4 elementary schools in Belgium and The Netherlands. The 10‐y‐old pupils made portraits of grandparents and the elderly in neutral, happy and unhappy conditions. The standardized drawing assignments were repeated after a psychosocial intervention program of 16 weeks to connect generations. The effects of non‐pharmacological interventions in Alzheimer’s research are mostly studied with classical questionnaires. These tools are insufficient to detect unconscious motives and subtle mental representations of old age and dementia. Before and after drawings are an added value to the field of research. The implicit measurements circumvent social desirability, go beyond the level of awareness and give a clearer picture of negative stereotypes of old age and dementia.ResultThe content analysis of the drawings demonstrated that children represent ‘happy elderly people’ as: outdoors, active, and surrounded by others, while ‘unhappy elderly people’ are generally portrayed indoors, sedentary and lonely.ConclusionChildren’s drawings as implicit measurement are an added value for non‐pharmacological interventions. The act of drawing is pleasant, easy and effective for the identification and modification negative stereotyping of old age and dementia.

Classification of Emotional and Immersive Outcomes in the Context of Virtual Reality Scene Interactions.

The constantly evolving technological landscape of the Metaverse has introduced a significant concern: cybersickness (CS). There is growing academic interest in detecting and mitigating these adverse effects within virtual environments (VEs). However, the development of effective methodologies in this field has been hindered by the lack of sufficient benchmark datasets. In pursuit of this objective, we meticulously compiled a comprehensive dataset by analyzing the impact of virtual reality (VR) environments on CS, immersion levels, and EEG-based emotion estimation. Our dataset encompasses both implicit and explicit measurements. Implicit measurements focus on brain signals, while explicit measurements are based on participant questionnaires. These measurements were used to collect data on the extent of cybersickness experienced by participants in VEs. Using statistical methods, we conducted a comparative analysis of CS levels in VEs tailored for specific tasks and their immersion factors. Our findings revealed statistically significant differences between VEs, highlighting crucial factors influencing participant engagement, engrossment, and immersion. Additionally, our study achieved a remarkable classification performance of 96.25% in distinguishing brain oscillations associated with VR scenes using the multi-instance learning method and 95.63% in predicting emotions within the valence-arousal space with four labels. The dataset presented in this study holds great promise for objectively evaluating CS in VR contexts, differentiating between VEs, and providing valuable insights for future research endeavors.

The relationship between explicit and implicit personality: Evidence from the Big Five and trait emotional intelligence.

The main aim of this study is to introduce an implicit personality assessment method (e.g., implicit association test) to Kuwait. We adapted an existing personality-related implicit association test (IAT; Big Five IAT), while also constructed the first trait EI IAT based on Petrides' four-factor model. We investigated the psychometric properties of the implicit association test through assessing the reliability of scores and also their relationship with their corresponding explicit measures. The measures were administered to 1458 university students in Kuwait. The zero-order correlations showed that the explicit and implicit measurement approaches led to non-converging constructs in the case of both trait EI and the Big Five. Lastly, we believe that we were successfully able to introduce the concept of personality-related implicit association tests to the Kuwaiti sample. Subsequently, the IATs presented in our study will allow researchers to study a relatively new personality field, that is the implicit personality.

Humorous hate speech on social media: A mixed-methods investigation of users’ perceptions and processing of hateful memes

Humor that denigrates social groups can be just as harmful as hate speech. Despite research indicating the prevalence of humorous hate speech, how audiences perceive and process the combination of humor (e.g. irony as a humor cue) and hate speech (e.g. dehumanization as a hate cue) remains unclear. Using a sequential mixed-methods approach combining a qualitative think-aloud study (Study 1, N = 41) with an experiment involving implicit measurements of response times (Study 2, N = 65), it was examined how individuals perceive memes that contain both humor and hate cues. While think-aloud interviews indicated that processing humorous hate speech may require multiple steps, the relative time spent by participants in Study 2 to rate humorous and non-humorous hate speech as being hostile or not did not entirely support that conclusion. However, findings imply that hostile views may become more commonplace when hate speech is masked by humor.

Impaired cardiac modulation in patients with functional seizures: Results from a face intensity judgment task.

Although interoceptive abnormality in patients with functional seizure (FSs) has been demonstrated using explicit tasks, implicit measurements of interoception such as the effect of interoception on perceptual brain processes have not been investigated. It has been shown that perception is normally modulated by interoceptive signals related to the different phases (systole vs diastole) of the cardiac cycle (cardiac modulation effect). Given our previous findings using explicit measures of interoception, we hypothesized that cardiac modulation would be impaired in FSs. Thirty-two patients with FSs and 30 age- and sex-matched non-clinical individuals conducted a face intensity judgment task, in which their intensity rating when fearful or neutral faces was presented was compared between systolic and diastolic phases. They also conducted the heartbeat discrimination task as a measure of their capacity to integrate both interoceptive and exteroceptive information. Patients with FSs had impaired cardiac modulation of the perception of neutral faces (corrected p = .044). Individual differences in the heartbeat discrimination task predicted the degree to which cardiac modulation occurred across the whole group (p = .028). This cardiac modulation effect was significantly associated with seizure severity (p = .021). Regardless of cardiac phase, patients rated fearful facial expressions as less intense compared to control participants (p = .006). These findings highlight impaired implicit cardiac modulation effects in patients with FSs. This reflects interoceptive dysfunction in patients with FSs, and an inability of the brain to integrate interoceptive signaling with perceptual processing. This may have implications for our understanding of the pathophysiology in FSs and inform novel diagnostic approaches.

Product Styling Cognition Based on Kansei Engineering Theory and Implicit Measurement

Effective product styling designs must increasingly address users’ emotional requirements. This study introduces a product styling design method combining electroencephalography (EEG) and eye tracking for multimodal measurement based on the Kansei engineering theory. The feasibility of determining a target image using a similarity calculation model is verified. An experimental paradigm based on implicit measures is presented for product styling cognition research. This paradigm involves determining the target image, sample selection, target image matching experiments, and product styling cognition experiments. Based on the combined EEG and eye-tracking measurements, insights into product-form cognition are deduced to provide a scientific basis for product-form innovation design. Notably, variations in event-related potential during user cognition of product styling are more evident in the product-styling perception phase than in the evaluation phase. In the styling perception phase, samples with “high match” with the target image elicit more pronounced EEG responses than those with “low match”. These findings demonstrate the viability of understanding product-form cognition through multimodal implicit measurements, addressing issues such as the pronounced subjectivity inherent in traditional methods. Furthermore, this approach provides a pioneering technique for Kansei engineering research and offers a methodology for multimodal implicit measurements of product innovation design.

The social representation and social action effect of critical issues: autonomic system and self-report measures

By combining words and images that impact emotions and generate empathetic storytelling, advertising (ADV) has evolved into a form of communication for promoting consumer awareness, positive social change, and ADV-related decisional processes, even on topics of high-social relevance such as crisis communication. This study explored consumers’ emotional and cognitive responses to crisis-related ADVs using implicit (autonomic) and explicit (self-report) measurements. Nineteen participants watched twelve high-impact social communications about Covid-19, personal health, safety, and prosociality, while autonomic and self-report data were collected. Personal health, safety, and prosociality had higher skin conductance than Covid-19 stimuli, indicating higher arousal and engagement. Personal health reported lower heart rate variability values than Covid-19, suggesting greater emotional reactions for personal health topics, but also lesser mental load for Covid-19 stimuli. Self-report results confirmed autonomic findings. In conclusion, communications about personal health, safety, and prosociality generate higher emotional impact and allow for effective storytelling that facilitates viewer identification, developing a high level of empathy.

Chemosensory quality and intensity reflected in implicit affective responses

Implicit measurements are indirect and could register emotions elicited by tasting without conscious awareness. While we know that some basic tastes such as sweetness and bitterness are innately liked or disliked, little is known about the affective responses to tactile sensations. It is also underexplored in which way the emotional responses to chemosensory stimuli are affected by the intensity of the stimulus. To address these issues an implicit method based on the Affect Misattribution Procedure using the judgment of trustworthiness to neutral faces, a proxy for valence, was developed using real tastes as primes (instead of pictures). Three different implicit measures were compared in an experiment in which 107 Italian PROP (6-n-propylthiouracil) Medium-Tasters were exposed to bitterness, astringency, and sweetness at weak/moderate and moderate/strong intensity. Samples were presented blind in aqueous solution monadically in triplicate. Participants were asked to taste a sample, then a neutral face was briefly presented on a screen, and participants were asked to indicate if they trusted the face (yes/no) and how much (on a 9-point Scale). Reaction times (RTs) for the yes/no responses were also collected. The data indicated that both taste qualities and intensity level influenced the yes/no trustworthiness judgements as well as the ratings and the reaction times. As expected, sweetness elicited the most positive affective responses and bitterness the most negative. Astringency elicited a positive response (but lower than sweetness) when it was presented at low intensity, while it elicited a more negative response when it was presented at higher intensity, and this effect was particularly evident when this was evaluated with the scale. Faster reaction times were observed for lower intensity stimuli that had been evaluated as positive but also for higher intensity stimuli that had been evaluated as negative. The results of the present study represent an advance in methodologies that tap implicit affective reactions to chemosensory qualities found in foods and beverages and that can be used to study food experience.

Associations Between Implicit and Explicit Condom Use Measures With Condom Use Barriers: Relationships Make A Difference.

The association between explicit and implicit psychological measures might be affected by the similarity of the assessment method and by the overlap of the components of the constructs being assessed. This study examined the association between condom use barriers and explicit and implicit measurements of condom use and the moderating role of sexual intercourse in these associations. This was a cross sectional correlational study. An analysis of baseline data from a randomized controlled trial including 149 university students was included. These included a questionnaire assessing condom use barriers, an implicit condom use test (a structured semi-projective test), and an explicit condom use question. Hierarchical regressions and correlations were examined in the full sample and by groups of participants with and without sexual intercourse. In those without sexual intercourse, all barriers sub-scales were significantly and negatively correlated with implicit condom use and unrelated to explicit condom use. In contrast, among those engaged in sexual intercourse, barriers were significantly and negatively correlated with the explicit condom use measure, and only barriers concerning partner and motivation correlated with implicit condom use tendencies. Having a sexual partner plays a major role in the relations between barriers and implicit and explicit condom use measures. The pattern of the results is discussed in relation to cognitive and social factors.

Graphic associative test of attitudes as a convenient implicit measurement tool for mass polls

Several latest elections and referendums were marked by the dramatic failure of electoral forecasts based on mass polls. To respond to the dissatisfaction of the public and politicians, alternative approaches like prediction markets, Implicit Attitude Test (IAT), expectationbased forecasts and so on were developed. IAT proves to be one of the most efficient ways to enrich the forecasting models and improve their accuracy. The problem is that the original form of IAT implies too rigid rules to be applied in the traditional mass poll. As a thorough laboratory-style measurement of nervous reactions to stimuli, IAT requires a special environment, for instance, nothing should disturb or distract respondents from performing experimental tasks. Such an environment is difficult to provide during the mass poll’s fieldwork; thereby, researchers usually implement IAT on small samples. This article presents the Graphic Associative Test of Attitude (GATA) as a tool for mass polls. It is the IAT’s functional analog developed by the author and tested in a wide range of preelectoral mass polls in Russia. GATA is easy to use even with inexperienced interviewers, and its simple and intuitive-clear tasks do not create additional barriers for respondents and do not decrease the response rate. At the same time, in a reliable way, GATA identifies implicit factors of behavior and helps to improve the accuracy of forecast. As a theoretical research, this study proves the ‘dual attitude’ concept of the structural theory of attitude.

Implicit and explicit measurement of pre-service teachers’ attitudes toward autism spectrum disorder

ABSTRACT This paper aims to understand how teachers’ attitudes are contributing to or hindering the educational inclusion of students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Implicit and explicit measurement of the attitudes of fifty pre-service teachers towards ASD before and after a short-term training on Autism is presented. The explicit measure used was a Likert-type questionnaire, while the implicit measure was a Single Target Implicit Association Test (ST-IAT). After statistical analysis of the data, it was found that prospective teachers’ explicit attitudes were positive before the short-term training, and they were significantly better after it. Conversely, participants’ implicit attitudes were neutral before the short-term training, and no significant difference was found after it. Additionally, no statistically significant relation was obtained between explicit and implicit attitudes, either before or after training, which suggests that the used instruments measure different attitudinal constructs. According to the remaining findings, it is concluded that explicit attitudes may be more prone to social desirability bias than implicit ones, implying that future attitudes research regarding sensitive topics such as the educational inclusion of students with Autism should combine both measures. Moreover, implicit attitudes seem more difficult to change than explicit ones. Some implications for pre-service teacher education are discussed.