Implicit Paradigm Research Articles

Design of safety warnings and risk perception inducement: a comparative study between safety signs and safety comics in construction workplaces

PurposeSafety warnings remind construction workers about dangers and guide them to take necessary actions to avoid potential injuries, which could encourage their safe behavior. Workers’ behavior compliance with the safety warnings would be impacted by the risk perception levels induced by the warnings. This study aims to examine whether the design of safety warnings would impact the induced risk perception of workersDesign/methodology/approachThis study compared the risk perception levels of construction workers when processing two forms of safety warnings, i.e., safety signs and safety comics, which are commonly used in construction workplaces. Construction workers (n = 20) volunteered for an experiment with an implicit paradigm to probe how they perceive these safety warnings, using event-related potentials (ERPs) features collected by an electroencephalogram (EEG) sensor to indicate the risk perception levelFindingsThe results demonstrated that the design of safety warnings would impact the induced risk perception. The safety signs and safety comics performed differently in inducing the workers’ risk perception. The safety signs representing prohibition and caution warnings induced significantly higher risk perception than the comics, and there were no significant differences regarding direction warningsOriginality/valueThis is the first study to compare the risk perception levels between various forms of safety warnings presenting safety information in different ways. The findings would help to expand the knowledge of the relationship between the design of safety warnings and workers’ safety behavioral compliance

Assessing Spontaneous Categorical Processing of Visual Shapes via Frequency-Tagging EEG.

Categorization is an essential cognitive and perceptual process, which happens spontaneously. However, earlier research often neglected the spontaneous nature of this process by mainly adopting explicit tasks in behavioral or neuroimaging paradigms. Here, we use frequency-tagging (FT) during electroencephalography (EEG) in 22 healthy human participants (both male and female) as a direct approach to pinpoint spontaneous visual categorical processing. Starting from schematic natural visual stimuli, we created morph sequences comprising 11 equal steps. Mirroring a behavioral categorical perception discrimination paradigm, we administered a FT-EEG oddball paradigm, assessing neural sensitivity for equally sized differences within and between stimulus categories. Likewise, mirroring a behavioral category classification paradigm, we administered a sweep FT-EEG oddball paradigm, sweeping from one end of the morph sequence to the other, thereby allowing us to objectively pinpoint the neural category boundary. We found that FT-EEG can implicitly measure categorical processing and discrimination. More specifically, we could derive an objective neural index of the required level to differentiate between the two categories, and this neural index showed the typical marker of categorical perception (i.e., stronger discrimination across as compared with within categories). The neural findings of the implicit paradigms were also validated using an explicit behavioral task. These results provide evidence that FT-EEG can be used as an objective tool to measure discrimination and categorization and that the human brain inherently and spontaneously (without any conscious or decisional processes) uses higher-level meaningful categorization information to interpret ambiguous (morph) shapes.

The Normative Judgment Test of Honesty-Humility: An Implicit Instrument for Organizational Contexts

ABSTRACT As traits, motives, and attitudes may partly operate outside of individuals’ awareness, implicit instruments hold great promise in organizational contexts. One understudied implicit paradigm is the partially-structured attitude measure (PSAM), which assesses individuals’ attributes through their judgments of hypothetical persons described in vignettes. Based on this paradigm, we developed the 18-item Normative Judgment Test to assess the personality trait of Honesty-Humility (the NJT-HH). In four studies, we examined the construct- and criterion-related validity of NJT-HH scores. Across studies, NJT-HH scores were positively related to Honesty-Humility, and not related to the other five HEXACO traits (apart from small exceptions). Scores on the NJT-HH were also positively related to scores on a PSAM of honesty, but not related to scores on PSAMs of dissimilar constructs (Study 2). Furthermore, scores on the NJT-HH were negatively related to counterproductive work behavior and positively related to organizational citizenship behavior and task performance, as measured through self-ratings (Study 3) and supervisor ratings (Study 4). Scores on the NJT-HH also explained unique variance in these outcomes above and beyond Honesty-Humility and the other five HEXACO traits. Altogether, these findings provide initial evidence for the practical value of the NJT-HH in organizational contexts.

Reliable evidence for implicit attentional responses to aversive conditioned stimuli.

Evidence for implicit aversive learning effects has been criticized for its lack of experimental rigor and statistical reliability. Here we examine whether attentional emotional responses to aversive conditioned stimuli can occur in the absence of stimulus-outcome contingency awareness, and use a novel Bayesian tool to reliably perform a post hoc categorization of awareness. Across two experiments (n = 40 and 69) participants completed an aversive conditioning task. A novel Bayesian awareness categorization tool was applied to sensitively measure contingency awareness. Finally, attentional and subjective responses toward conditioned stimuli were measured. For participants unaware of contingencies, conditioned stimuli generated attentional avoidance, but only aware participants showed subjective learning effects. For both experiments, awareness scores for unaware participants did not regress above chance level on a subsequent awareness check, revealing a reliable determination of unawareness states. These findings provide evidence for the existence of aversive learning in the absence of contingency awareness, as demonstrated via conditioned attentional responses, and build an analytical framework that can be extrapolated to other implicit paradigms. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Early different cognitive processes evoked by carnival vs. general promotions when shopping online: An ERPs study.

The booming development of online shopping has intensified market competition. In addition to general sales promotions, online shopping has introduced new changes including artificial carnival promotions. This study aims to investigate cognitive processes to an unknown e-commerce platform after exposure to carnival and general promotion activities using event-related potentials. Thirty-three participants were recruited in this study to probe how consumers perceive carnival and general promotion information using event-related potentials (ERPs). Carnival or general promotion posters were presented first, then an unknown e-commerce platform brand was presented in the second stage, at which time the subjects' cognitive process to the brand were observed in an implicit paradigm. The results showed that after priming with carnival promotion posters, the unknown e-commerce platform stimuli elicited larger P2 and N2 components than were observed after the presentation of general promotion posters; however, the P3 component did not show a significant difference. These findings indicate that the target identification and cognitive control mechanism with regard to an unknown e-commerce platform are likely influenced by the implicit memory of different promotion activities when shopping online. The results suggest that ERP components may have the potential to be employed as indices to estimate the effectiveness of promotion methods for an unknown brand.

Implicit prototype learning in patients with memory deficit: Evidence from a study with Alzheimer's disease patients.

In a previous study (Zannino et al., 2012), it was demonstrated that individuals with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (MCI) were unimpaired on a new prototype learning task consisting of morphed faces (face prototype learning task [FPLT]). This paradigm was devised to improve on the classical dot pattern task by ruling out any reliance on residual episodic memory or working memory resources. In the present study, we aimed to demonstrate: first, that people with even more severe episodic memory impairment than MCI are unimpaired on a fully implicit prototype learning task and second, that the dot pattern task, at variance with the FPLT, requires a no negligible contribution from the episodic memory system. Twenty-four persons with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and 48 healthy controls took part in this experiment. As in the original study, in addition to the FPLT, they were also administered the classical dot pattern task and an ordinary forced-choice face recognition task. AD performed like normal controls in the FPLT but scored significantly worse on the dot pattern task and the face recognition task. Interestingly, although performance on the face recognition task did not correlate with that on the FPLT, a significant correlation was observed between the face recognition and the dot pattern task. Results support both of our claims: first, that also severe amnesic people can learn new visual prototypes with a fully implicit paradigm and, second, that the classical dot pattern task requires some degree of episodic resources. Further research is needed to rule out the role of working memory in solving the FPLT. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Space oddity: musical syntax is mapped onto visual space

Increasing evidence has uncovered associations between the cognition of abstract schemas and spatial perception. Here we examine such associations for Western musical syntax, tonality. Spatial metaphors are ubiquitous when describing tonality: stable, closural tones are considered to be spatially central and, as gravitational foci, spatially lower. We investigated whether listeners, musicians and nonmusicians, indeed associate tonal relationships with visuospatial dimensions, including spatial height, centrality, laterality, and size, implicitly or explicitly, and whether such mappings are consistent with established metaphors. In the explicit paradigm, participants heard a tonality-establishing prime followed by a probe tone and coupled each probe with a subjectively appropriate location (Exp.1) or size (Exp.4). The implicit paradigm used a version of the Implicit Association Test to examine associations of tonal stability with vertical position (Exp.2), lateral position (Exp3) and size (Exp.5). Tonal stability was indeed associated with perceived physical space: the spatial distances between the locations associated with different scale-degrees significantly correlated with the tonal stability differences between these scale-degrees. However, inconsistently with musical discourse, stable tones were associated with leftward (instead of central) and higher (instead of lower) spatial positions. We speculate that these mappings are influenced by emotion, embodying the “good is up” metaphor, and by the spatial structure of music keyboards. Taken together, the results demonstrate a new type of cross-modal correspondence and a hitherto under-researched connotative function of musical structure. Importantly, the results suggest that the spatial mappings of an abstract domain may be independent of the spatial metaphors used to describe that domain.

Implicit motor learning in primary school children: A systematic review

ABSTRACT The aim of this study was to assess the current state of evidence and methodological quality of studies on implicit and explicit motor learning in both typically developing children and children with developmental disorders. A systematic literature review was conducted on the experimental literature published up to April 2020. A total of 25 studies were included. Studies were evaluated on methodological quality, paradigm used, and level of evidence. The results showed that implicit paradigms are as effective as explicit paradigms in both groups of children. Studies are predominantly experimental in nature involving mostly upper limb aiming tasks. The few studies that were performed outside the lab (n = 5) suggest superior efficacy of the implicit paradigm. Methodological quality varied between studies and was not always of sufficient standard to allow conclusions. In particular, manipulation checks were only performed in 13 studies (52% of all studies), limiting conclusions. Further progress can be made by focussing on improving methodological quality through retention testing by the inclusion of a control group, by the inclusion of a manipulation check, and via assessment of relevant co-variables, such as working memory, age, and motor competence.

Do toddlers prefer that agents help similar or dissimilar needy agents?

AbstractRecent research revealed rich socio‐cognitive abilities in toddlerhood. The current study investigates whether 21‐month‐olds expect that wealthy agents help agents needing food or shelter. By using the violation of expectation (VoE) implicit paradigm, toddlers' expectations on helping behaviors were explored upon the arrival of agents that need food (food condition) and shelter (shelter condition) in a within‐subjects design. Two experiments were carried out, wherein, in one, the wealthy and needy agents were morphologically similar (Experiment 1), in the other one, the wealthy agents were morphologically different from needy agents (Experiment 2). The results showed that when needy agents are morphologically similar to wealthy agents, toddlers looked longer at the event that displayed the wealthy agents help needy agents only in food condition. When needy agents were morphologically different from wealthy agents, toddlers looked longer at the event that showed wealthy agents help needy agents in both food and shelter conditions. These findings demonstrate an interplay between similarity and helping behaviors in association with biological needs, and shed light on possible evolutionary mechanisms underlying prosociality.

Measuring implicit mental representations related to ethnic stereotypes with ERPs: An exploratory study

The present investigation used ERPs to detect the activation of implicit stereotypical representations associated to different ethnic groups, by means of an implicit paradigm.285 sentences were presented to 20 Italian Caucasian participants while EEG signals were recorded from 128 scalp sites. Sentences could either violate (Incongruent condition), non-violate (Congruent condition) or be neutral (Neutral condition) with regard to stereotypical concepts concerning non-Caucasian ethnic groups (e.g. Asians, Africans, Arabs). No awareness or judgment about stereotypes was required. Participants were engaged in a fictitious task, ignoring the overall study's purpose.The results showed that Incongruent terminal words elicited a greater anterior N400 response (300–500 ms) compared to Congruent and Neutral words, reflecting a difficulty in integrating the information incongruent with pre-existing stereotypical knowledge. The participant's individual amplitude values of the N400-Difference Wave (Incongruent – Congruent), showed a direct correlation with the individual racism scores obtained at the Subtle and Blatant Prejudice Scale, administered at the end of the experimental session.Intra-cortical sources explaining the N400 involved areas of the social cognition network such as the medial frontal cortex (BA10) and the inferior temporal gyrus (BA20) which are known to support processing of information about other people and impression formation. Moreover, Congruent terminal words evoked a greater P300 response (500–600 ms) compared to the other conditions, possibly reflecting the merging of incoming inputs with anticipated semantic information. A late post-N400 frontal positivity (650–800 ms) was found to be larger to sentences concerning other-race characters (ether congruent or incongruent) compared to sentences involving own-race characters (neutral).The study corroborated the effectiveness of neurophysiological measures to assess implicit complex semantic representations and circumventing social desirability-related problems.

Are We Sensitive to Different Types of Safety Signs? Evidence from ERPs.

PurposeSafety signs are widely used to deliver safety-related information. There are many different types of safety signs. Although previous studies have paid attention to the design and effectiveness of safety signs, little attention has been devoted to investigating how people process the information conveyed by different types of safety signs. Accordingly, the current study is intended to explore the neural mechanisms underlying people’s perception of different types of safety signs.MethodsThree types of safety signs (prohibition, mandatory and warning signs) were used in the study. We employed questionnaire and event-related potentials (ERPs) experiment with an implicit paradigm to probe how people perceive these three types of safety signs.ResultsBehaviorally, warning signs induced a higher level of perceived hazard than prohibition signs and mandatory signs, and prohibition signs induced a higher level of perceived hazard than mandatory signs. At the brain level, prohibition signs and warning signs led to reduced P2 amplitudes compared to mandatory signs. In addition, warning signs elicited larger N2 and N4 amplitudes than prohibition signs and mandatory signs, and prohibition signs elicited larger N2 and N4 amplitudes than mandatory signs, coinciding with the behavioral results.ConclusionDifferent types of safety signs led to significant differences in individuals’ hazard perception. Based on the neural results, we suggest that the processing of safety signs consists of two stages: the rapid detection of hazard information (indicated by P2) and the conscious integration of hazard information in working memory (indicated by N2 and N4).

Bald and Bad?

. According to (a) the beauty ideal of a full head of hair and (b) the physical attractiveness stereotype (PAS; “what is beautiful is good”), bald men should appear less attractive than nonbald men, not only physically but also socially. To explain inconsistent results on this prediction in previous research, we suggest two antagonistic processes: the automatic activation of the PAS at the implicit level and its suppression at the explicit level, the latter process selectively triggered by individuating information about the target person. In line with this account, we only found negative social attractiveness ratings for bald men by same-aged women when individuating target information was lacking (Experiment 1). In contrast, irrespective of whether individuating information was available or not, we reliably found evidence for the PAS in different implicit paradigms (the implicit association test in Experiment 2 and a source monitoring task in Experiment 3). We conclude that individuating information about bald men suppresses PAS application, but not PAS activation.

Response-irrelevant number, duration, and extent information triggers the SQARC effect: Evidence from an implicit paradigm.

Spatial-Numerical Association of Response Codes (SNARC) and Spatial-Quantity Association of Response Codes (SQARC) effects are evident when people produce faster left-sided responses to smaller numbers, sizes, and durations and faster right-sided responses to larger numbers, sizes, and durations. SQARC effects have typically been demonstrated in paradigms where the explicit processing of quantity information is required for successful task completion. The current study tested whether the implicit presentation of task-irrelevant magnitude information could trigger a SQARC effect as has been demonstrated previously when task-irrelevant information triggers a SNARC effect. In Experiment 1, participants (n = 20) made orientation judgements for triangles varying in numerosity and physical extent. In Experiment 2, participants (n = 20) made orientation judgements for triangles varying in numerosity and for a triangle preceded by a delay of varying duration. SNARC effects were observed for the numerosity conditions of Experiments 1 and 2 replicating Mitchell et al. SQARC effects were also demonstrated for physical extent and for duration. These findings demonstrate that SQARC effects can be implicitly triggered by the presentation of the task-irrelevant magnitude.

Chunking, Conscious Processing, and EEG During Sequence Acquisition and Performance Pressure: A Comprehensive Test of Reinvestment Theory.

This study was designed to test the theorized link between reinvestment, motor chunks, and conscious processing, to provide a thorough examination of reinvestment theory. The authors measured electroencephalographic power and connectivity alongside self-reported conscious processing and behavioral indices of chunking in a 2 (group) × 5 (block) mixed-model design. A total of 55 individuals acquired a motor sequence (blocks A1, A2, A3, and A4) by relatively explicit (errorful) or implicit (errorless) paradigms. Then they performed in a pressure condition (block T). Results confirmed that chunking characterizes both modes of acquisition. However, explicit acquisition resulted in quicker chunking, reduced conscious processing, and increased cortical efficiency (left-temporal high-alpha power). In support of reinvestment theory, self-reported conscious processing tended to increase under pressure among explicit trainees only. In contrast to reinvestment theory, this had no adverse effect on performance. The results endorse explicit acquisition as an effective mode of training and provide a new neurophysiological explanation of this phenomenon.

P 119 Implicit and explicit motor learning in Parkinson’s disease and spinocerebellar ataxia

Motor learning is a fundamental skill in everyday life. Acquisition of new motor skills engage cortico-striatal-cerebellar connectivity. Particularly patients with Parkinson”s disease and spinocerebellar ataxia are affected but these patient groups fundamentally differ in their behaviour in implicit motor learning tasks. Yet little is known about motor learning in relation to rule-based motor sequence learning. The aim of the current study was to test whether there are differences or similarities in implicit and explicit motor learning tasks in PD, SCA and healthy controls. Eye movements were recorded in 22 patients with Parkinson”s disease (PD), 20 patients with spinocerebellar ataxia (SCA) and 20 age-matched healthy control subjects. The subjects had to perform an implicit motor learning task (two runs of saccade adaptation) and an explicit motor learning task with an implicit sequence-learning paradigm. Healthy subjects were able to adapt in both runs and stored the adapted gain between the sessions. PD patients were able to adapt to the transient displacement of the target but did not store the information between the two learning sessions. Patients with SCA did not adapt in the first run but in the second run. In the explicit motor learning task, all participants showed a general motor learning. Patients performed better in the implicit learning trials but needed twice the time of healthy participants. We conclude that PD patients are not impaired in learning the implicit motor adaptation task. However, their storage of motor learning is selectively impaired possibly due to reduced functioning of cortico-striatal-cerebellar loops and their connections to motor memory systems. SCA patients, in contrast, lack implicit saccade learning because the cerebellum is crucially involved in saccade adaptation. Interestingly, they show a moderate storage of the adapted saccade gain form the first to the second learning session. This might suggest that SCA patients can still use storage signals of the cortico-striatal-cerebellar network.

Physiotherapy as an academic discipline – from the perspective of Nordic doctoral dissertations

There are only a few studies focusing on the content of doctoral dissertations in the field of PT even though academic dissertations are important for shaping a discipline. The aim of this study was to explore and describe a paradigm and criteria for an academic discipline in Nordic doctoral dissertations written by physiotherapists. The study was based on content analysis of the abstracts in 418 doctoral dissertations conducted over three decades. A descriptive and retrospective research approach was used. The results show that the PT dissertations focus on clinical questions within a broad range of PT practise areas. They are mainly applied research studies with a quantitative approach, although qualitative and mixed methods are used. The dissertations are conducted in different academic faculties, however, mainly in medical and health sciences. Theoretical reflection about conceptual, ontological and epistemological issues is scarce. The concept analysis in the Swedish dissertations (n = 219) demonstrates a health- and function-oriented approach to reality. The results of this study indicate that PT as a discipline is clinically oriented and might be guided both by the implicit PT practise paradigm and by various scientific disciplines. Further theoretical reflections and studies about the theory of science in PT are needed.

Reliance on orthography and phonology in reading of Chinese: A developmental study

BackgroundDisruptions of reading processes due to text substitutions can measure how readers use lexical information.MethodsWith eye‐movement recording, children and adults viewed sentences with either identical, orthographically similar, homophonic or unrelated substitutions of the first characters in target words. To the extent that readers rely on orthographic or phonological cues, substitutions that contain such cues should cause less disruption reading than do unrelated substitutions.ResultsOn pretarget words, there was a reliable reduction in gaze duration due to homophonic substitution only for children. On target words, we observed reliable recovery effects due to orthographic similarity for adults. On post‐target words, adults had better orthographic‐based and phonological‐based recovery abilities than children.ConclusionsThe combination of eye movement recording and the error detection paradigm offers a novel implicit paradigm for studying reading development: during sentence reading, beginning readers of Chinese may rely on phonological mediation, while skilled readers have more direct access to semantics from orthography.What is already known about this topic There is little evidence for early phonological activation during the reading of Chinese sentences among skilled Chinese readers There is a rich body of evidence supporting the view that phonological information is activated very early in alphabetic scripts, as indexed by shorter fixation durations when useful phonological information is present. What this paper adds Chinese beginning readers have early parafoveal activation of phonology during the silent reading of Chinese sentences, as indexed by the parafovea‐on‐fovea effect in the homophonic substitution condition. The early activation of phonology diminishes with the development of reading skills. Implications for theory, policy or practice The phonological parafovea‐on‐fovea effect was revealed during the silent reading of Chinese sentences for beginning readers. Chinese children may rely on phonological codes while skilled readers have more direct access to semantics from orthography. The teaching of phonological aspects of Chinese orthography is very important for beginning readers

The UAE-Tunisia diplomatic relations: a subtle balance between economy and security?

This article examines the relations between the United Arab Emirates and Tunisia and how the Arab identity interferes in diplomatic relations. These countries have a history of cordial relations that quietly evolved toward reciprocal economic benefits and security under the implicit paradigm of what may be called a 'patronage'. Under the administration of the Tunisian president Ben Ali, the interests of the two parties, states as well as non-state actors such as the emirate of Dubai, converged. The UAE and Tunisia nurtured a hierarchical relationship that reinforced economic and political ties but that also inevitably endured several setbacks on the path to revolution and the rise of the Islamist movements in Tunisia. Ultimately, both the financial crisis of 2008 and the global security crises with the rise of Daesh tested the principle of brotherhood entrenched in the Middle East.

Violence, Moral Imperialism and Colonial Borderlands, 1770s–1820s: Some contradictions of humanitarianism

This article argues that the genealogy of a politics of non-violence might usefully consider the promotion of moral imperialism as a precursor that in turn highlights the structural difficulties of a truly non-violent humanitarianism. In the imperial case studies examined from colonial borderlands in the British empire from the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, humanitarian intervention tended to be about working out how to manage violence, or the threat of violence, most appropriately. This in turn helps explain tight linkages between early nineteenth century philanthropy and colonialism, not least the transition from abolition to interventionist arguments. On colonial frontiers states were themselves violent, or at least always potentially violent. Therefore those who saw themselves as philanthropists or as humanitarian were often forced, sometimes reluctantly but more usually with conviction, into the position that empire should be made sufficiently moral to deserve a monopoly of violence. For Indigenous groups (and individuals) this often meant that they ultimately had to choose sides and thus a particular form of violence, rather than to escape from violence altogether. At the same time, international humanitarians, notably missionaries and abolitionists, often struggled with how overtly they should work within colonial structures and were often under pressure to serve as unofficial colonial bureaucracies. It is thus helpful to trouble somewhat the implicit paradigm of triangular relationships between individual agents of violence, individual victims of violence, and humanitarians who sought to protect the victims in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, even though there are important ways in which this was also true. Such “moral imperialism” not infrequently placed pressure on colonized men, in particular, to choose one form of violence over another, rather than to have the luxury of eschewing violence that was more readily available to the white humanitarian.

Implicit Theories of Common Health Conditions Held by Indian Social Workers and Students

Social work is viewed as a change-related profession. However, little is known about social workers’ own beliefs about change. To understand this, we used the implicit theory paradigm to compare theories about various health conditions held by social workers, social work students, and undergraduate students from Bombay, India (N = 352). The participants had to assess the possibility of change in four health conditions: cancer, tuberculosis, depression, and mental retardation. We predicted that social workers whose professional education involves concepts such as Person-in-Environment would display more incremental views of these conditions than students – namely that they are modifiable. Our predictions were supported for the following conditions: cancer, tuberculosis, and depression. These incremental views were neither related to age nor years of professional experience. Though we expected that the extent to which participants believed these health issues to be amenable to change would influence their support for a small personal tax, our findings did not bear this out. We explore the possible reasons for our findings and discuss their implications for health communication in India as well as for social work education.