Role Of Familiarity Research Articles

Cohesion in L2 writing: assessing the role of pre-task planning and topic familiarity through a task-readiness lens

ABSTRACT This study investigates the impact of pre-task planning and topic familiarity on the use of cohesive devices in second language (L2) writing. Cohesion, achieved through the appropriate utilisation of cohesive devices (local, global, and text), enhances text coherence and readability. However, the influence of pre-task planning and topic familiarity on cohesive device usage in L2 writing has received limited attention. To address this research gap, 32 L2 learners from an American university’s 15-week English for Academic Purposes (EAP) programme were randomly assigned to planning and no-planning groups. Participants completed both a familiar and an unfamiliar writing task, determined by a survey conducted at the outset of the study, with task order counterbalanced. The writing performances were analysed using 25 cohesion measures to examine the use of different cohesive devices. Results showed that pre-task planning and topic familiarity significantly impacted local and global cohesion measures, while text cohesion measures were sensitive solely to topic familiarity. Furthermore, planning and topic familiarity effects varied across different cohesion measures and aspects; connective usage was lower in the pre-task planning condition, whereas adjacent paragraph overlap in content lemmas and adjacent sentence overlap in all lemmas were higher in essays by pre-task planners.

The Role of Music Familiarity, Mood-Based Music Selection, And Music Listening Frequency on Emotional Wellbeing among Malaysian Youth

The Role of Music Familiarity, Mood-Based Music Selection, And Music Listening Frequency on Emotional Wellbeing among Malaysian Youth

Collaborative learning in older age and the role of familiarity: evidence from the map task

ABSTRACT As we age, learning new knowledge and skills becomes more difficult due to age-related changes to cognition. Learning collaboratively could counteract these changes, and perhaps more so when working with someone familiar. This study examined whether collaborative learning is affected by age and partner familiarity. Forty-eight participants (younger n = 24, older n = 24) completed the Map Task with a familiar and unfamiliar same-age partner. Participants became more efficient at completing the Map Task over time, regardless of age and partner familiarity. There was no age difference in immediate or 1-hour recall, but younger adults recalled more after 7 days than older adults. Overall, results suggest that collaborative learning outcomes are unaffected by age or partner familiarity and that collaborative learning has short-term protective effects on memory, with age-related declines only emerging after 7 days.

Engaging with Second Chances: How Familiarity, Stigma, and Media Exposure Shape Public Attitudes towards Ex-Prisoner-Focused Social Enterprises

Social enterprises provide an effective method for tackling various social problems, including ex-prisoners in the domains of rehabilitation, reintegration, and the reduction of repeat offenses. While this business model is prevalent in other countries, it remains uncommon in Malaysia. This study aims to uncover the issue from the public perspective. Specifically, the objective of this study is to investigate the effects of familiarity with social enterprise models, stigmatization, and incidental news exposure on public attitudes towards ex-prisoner-focused social enterprise. Underpinned by Mere Exposure Effect Theory, Social Identity Theory, and Media Framing Theory, five hypotheses were developed and tested using partial least squares structural equation modelling on 139 cases. Results showed that familiarity with social enterprise models, stigmatization, and incidental news exposure significantly predict attitudes towards ex-prisoner-focused social enterprise. However, the moderation role of familiarity with social enterprise models was not supported for the relationship between incidental news exposure and attitudes towards ex-prisoner-focused social enterprise, and when it interacts with stigmatization. These findings contribute to the understanding of how media exposure, social stigmatization, and personal familiarity shape public perceptions of social enterprises that focus on ex-prisoner rehabilitation. The study highlights the need for targeted strategies to reduce stigmatization and leverage incidental media exposure to foster more supportive attitudes towards social enterprises that assist ex-prisoners.

Idiom Comprehension of Chinese Patients With Aphasia: A Case Study

Abstract Previous studies on idiom comprehension of patients with aphasia (PWAs) mainly focused on Indo-European speakers, examining whether PWAs could correctly extract the target meaning of idioms, while among Chinese PWAs, idiom familiarity, context and other variables affecting idiom comprehension were rarely studied. Hence, this study aims to explore whether Chinese PWAs can correctly comprehend the target meaning of idioms, and further investigate the role of familiarity and context. For three Chinese PWAs, this study adopted the string-to-word matching task, taking Chinese four-character idioms as the experimental stimuli, and provided decoy words containing target meaning, literal meaning, unrelated abstract meaning and unrelated concrete meaning as the matching words of idiom items by manipulating the familiarity and contextual presence of idiom items. The results suggested that the PWAs could not correctly extract the target meaning of idioms and presented both the literal meaning tendency and the weak abstract meaning tendency, and the influence of familiarity on the comprehension of idioms was stronger than that of context. These results support the Graded Salience Hypothesis.

Enjoy the silence: Preference and short-term effect of exposure to different acoustical stimuli in dogs

Prior research has demonstrated that animal vocalizations and music can elicit emotional responses in dogs, but their preferences for different acoustic stimuli remain underexplored. This study aimed to develop a methodology to assess dogs’ preferences and behavioral reactions to various acoustic stimuli and examine the role of familiarity in shaping these responses. In the first experiment, 90 pet dogs were exposed to one of six types of sound stimuli: conspecific agonistic vocalizations, conspecific vocalizations recorded in positive contexts, classical music, relaxing music, dog-directed speech, and neutral background noise. The setup involved a room virtually divided into two areas, in which the dog could freely move. Sounds were turned on or off, depending on which of the two zones the dog was in, thereby giving subjects the possibility to choose whether to be exposed to the sound or not. Preferences were determined by relative amount of time spent in the sound versus quiet zone and behaviors were analyzed for emotional indicators. Dogs actively avoided agonistic vocalizations exhibiting increased attention-seeking behaviors toward their owners. No distinct preferences or aversions emerged for the other stimuli, although conspecific vocalizations in positive contexts and dog-directed speech elicited dogs’ attention. Both types of music resulted in lower attention towards the sound compared to the neutral condition. In Experiment 2, the same procedure was used with 20 dogs, half of whom were routinely exposed to classical music at home, to test whether familiarity with classical music affected behavioral responses and preferences. Although no significant behavioral changes or preferences for classical music were observed, dogs with prior exposure spent twice as much time in the sound zone compared to those without, suggesting enhanced likability due to familiarity. These dogs also exhibited more relaxed behaviors, indicating that familiarity may influence emotional responses.Overall, the study introduces a novel approach for evaluating dogs' preferences for acoustic stimuli. It revealed that none of the stimuli allegedly inducing positive emotions led to a clear preference. However, behavioral data suggest that familiarity can enhance the likability of specific sounds. These findings highlight the need for further investigation into how different soundscapes influence dogs' emotions and behavior over time, and whether dogs may inherently prefer silence. Moreover, the results underscore the importance of carefully considering acoustic enrichment strategies, particularly the role of familiarization in shaping dogs' responses to their auditory environment.

Scarcity in luxury brand digital communication: unveiling its effect on consumer perceptions

On Instagram, new trends in communication strategies are emerging. An increasing number of luxury brands struggle to attract consumers’ interest in the digital environment through communication scarcity. This study reveals the effects of Instagram communication scarcity on consumers’ perceptions of luxury brands by following uses and gratifications theory. By exploring recent examples of luxury brand digital communication strategies based on scarcity in three online experiments on luxury consumers, the current work reveals the negative effects of these strategies on perceived brand exclusivity via consumer interest, demonstrating the role of brand familiarity as a boundary condition in mitigating these effects. This study contributes to the digital luxury brand communication literature by considering the antecedents of perceived brand exclusivity. Furthermore, this study offers practical insights into the development of social media communication strategies in the luxury context.

A deep dive into the factors affecting household solar photovoltaic adoption: An extended perspective of the value-based adoption model

Solar photovoltaic (PV) products have emerged as a promising solution to address environmental and green energy issues in light of increasing concerns about carbon emissions, environmental awareness, and renewable energy. This research uses the value-based adoption model (VAM) to examine how perceived benefits and sacrifices impact the adoption intention of PV technology. It additionally explores the role of familiarity with the service as a moderator and its impact on perceived harm risk, perceived value, and adoption intention. The results reveal that economic and environmental benefits significantly influence perceived value, while perceived financial and harm risks also play substantial roles in shaping perceived value. Moreover, the study shows a positive relationship between perceived value and the intention to adopt solar PV and also suggests that familiarity with solar services moderates the relationship between perceived harm risk and perceived value. These insights are valuable for policymakers and energy companies seeking to understand consumers’ perspectives better and increase their intentions to adopt PV technology.

On the role of familiarity and developmental exposure in music-evoked autobiographical memories

ABSTRACT Music-evoked autobiographical memories (MEAMs) are typically elicited by music that listeners have heard before. While studies that have directly manipulated music familiarity show that familiar music evokes more MEAMs than music listeners have not heard before, music that is unfamiliar to the listener can also sporadically cue autobiographical memory. Here we examined whether music that sounds familiar even without previous exposure can produce spontaneous MEAMs. Cognitively healthy older adults (N = 75, ages 65–80 years) listened to music clips that were chosen by researchers to be either familiar or unfamiliar (i.e., varying by prior exposure). Participants then disclosed whether the clip elicited a MEAM and later provided self-reported familiarity ratings for each. Self-reported familiarity was positively associated with the occurrence of MEAMs in response to familiar, but not the unfamiliar, music. The likelihood of reporting MEAMs for music released during youth (i.e., the “reminiscence bump”) relative to young adulthood (20–25 years) included both music released during participants’ adolescence (14–18 years) and middle childhood (5–9 years) once self-reported familiarity was accounted for. These developmental effects could not be accounted for by music-evoked affect. Overall, our results suggest that the phenomenon of MEAMs hinges upon both perceptions of familiarity and prior exposure.

Cross-cultural linguistic adaptation and development of three alternate forms of the Free and Cued Selective Reminding Test to the Brazilian context: The role of word familiarity

In spite of its importance, studies presenting detailed development procedures of alternate forms of verbal memory paradigms remains limited and unclear in terms of word selection criteria, while failing to consider word familiarity factors, despite its crucial role on episodic memory retrieval and encoding mechanisms. The present study aims to present the cross-cultural linguistic adaptation and development procedures of alternate forms of the Free and Cued Selective Reminding Test to the Brazilian context (FCSRT) based on word familiarity. After translation and backtranslation procedures, 231 new words were gathered and underwent a step-by-step familiarity analysis. Initially, overall familiarity feel of each word was assessed through the Familiarity Form (FF) during phase 1, and exposure frequency to words were later assessed through the Familiarity Questionnaire (FQ) completed by healthy controls during phase 2 with the remaining words considered ambiguous in terms of familiarity. Three alternate forms of the FCRST were then developed and assessed in terms of familiarity by the FQ during phase 3, and later administered in healthy control groups during phase 4. Repeated measures analysis revealed no significant differences in terms of familiarity and memory performance among the developed forms. Limitations are discussed, and recommendations are offered for future studies.

Artificial intelligence, financial services knowledge, government support, and user innovativeness: Exploring the moderated-mediated path to fintech adoption

Based upon an extended Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), this study aims to investigate the impact of financial services knowledge, familiarity with the use of artificial intelligence, government support, and user innovativeness on Fintech adoption from the perspective of university students. Furthermore, the study also aims to investigate the mediating role of user innovativeness in this relationship. A cross-sectional, survey-based method was used to collect data from 410 university students. Structural equation modeling was implied to examine the research framework of the study. The findings confirm that financial services knowledge, familiarity with artificial intelligence, government support, and user innovativeness have a direct positive impact on Fintech adoption among university students. The results also show that perceived ease of use slightly moderates the relationship between government support and user innovativeness. Meanwhile, results from the mediation analysis reveal an indirect effect of these variables on Fintech adoption through user innovativeness. The study's findings recommend practical suggestions to academic institutes and Fintech service providers to equip university students with the necessary financial knowledge and familiarity with artificial intelligence across various disciplines, which can be achieved through sufficient government support. All these can potentially revolutionize Fintech services adoption and boost economic growth, specifically in Asia-Pacific developing countries. The study identifies the key antecedents that affect the student's decision to adopt Fintech. It widens the scope of Fintech adoption by considering the university students who may serve as the future managers for the nation. It provides nuanced evidence on the role of financial services knowledge and familiarity with the use of artificial intelligence on the intention to adopt Fintech among university students in Asia-Pacific developing countries like Pakistan.

Why Individuals Do Not Visit a Destination? The Role of Familiarity and Novelty Seeking in Shaping Non-visitors’ Destination Image

Non-visitors constitute a large but underexplored market pool with strong potential for tourist destinations. Drawing on the mere exposure and motivation frameworks, this study explores image differences among two groups of non-visitors (i.e., uninterested, unable to visit), along with the underlying factors for such variations. Findings drawn from two studies suggest that the groups significantly differ in terms of their images, novelty, familiarity, and intentions toward a destination. For the uninterested group it is familiarity, along with cognitive and affective image that shape intentions; while novelty and familiarity are the key determinants of conative image for those who cannot visit. The study contributes to the tourism marketing literature by demonstrating clear differences on destination image and its determinants across the two groups of non-visitors. In practical terms, such knowledge proves prudent in cultivating a place’s novelty, familiarity and desirability, thereby increasing the possibility that more non-visitors turn into goers.

The importance of public familiarity for sense of belonging in Brisbane neighborhoods

ABSTRACT A large proportion of neighborhood social life occurs in communal places and takes the form of brief encounters with fellow residents who are personally unknown but visually recognizable and familiar. Public familiarity is effortless to maintain but is not socially benign. In this study, we draw on a survey of 1,000 Australian residents to assess the benefits of familiarity and examine the mediating role of public familiarity in the association between neighborhood use and sense of belonging and attachment. Our results demonstrate that public familiarity partially mediates the association between neighborhood use and sense of belonging. Public familiarity is associated with stronger feelings of comfort and a higher likelihood of helping others in an emergency. We suggest that designing neighborhood places to facilitate public familiarity, by installing features that encourage lingering, is a low-cost approach to enhancing community connection and belonging which may help to prevent loneliness.

Virtual Assessment of Physical Activity-Related Built Environment in Soweto, South Africa: What Is the Role of Contextual Familiarity?

Understanding how urban environments shape physical activity is critical in rapidly urbanizing countries such as South Africa. We assessed the reliability of virtual audits for characterizing urban features related to physical activity in Soweto, South Africa. We used the Microscale Audit of Pedestrian Streetscapes Global tool to characterize pedestrian-related features from Google Street View images in four neighborhoods of Soweto. Neighborhoods were selected to represent different levels of deprivation. Inter-rater reliability was analyzed according to the rater's familiarity with the local area. The results show a higher inter-rater reliability was observed among auditors with greater contextual familiarity. Many measurements however generated inconclusive results due to either low variability in the raters' responses or the absence of the features in the streets. It is evident from our findings that virtual audits are efficient tools that can be used to assess the built environment. However, to ensure meaningful use of these tools in diverse settings, we recommend that auditors comprise of people with contextual familiarity.

Exploring customer satisfaction in online food delivery services: The role of product involvement, brand familiarity, and consumer attitudes

Exploring customer satisfaction in online food delivery services: The role of product involvement, brand familiarity, and consumer attitudes

An empirical analysis of eWOM valence effects: Integrating stimulus-organism-response, trust transfer theory, and theory of planned behavior perspectives

The dynamic impact of electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) valence on consumer attitudes and perceptions emphasizes the necessity of understanding how online reviews influence consumer behavior in the digital age. This study thus addresses this challenge by integrating the perspectives of the Stimulus-Organism-Response (SOR) model with trust transfer theory and the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) as the theoretical foundation for the proposed conceptual research framework. Employing structural equation modeling (SEM), this study analyzed experimental survey data collected from 601 Indonesian Instagram users in August 2023. The findings reveal that eWOM valence positively affects consumer brand attitudes and perceived brand quality, subsequently driving online engagement and purchase intentions. The study challenges established relationships by demonstrating how brand attitude and perceived brand quality mediate the influence of eWOM valence. Additionally, this study highlights the critical moderating roles of eWOM credibility and influencer familiarity in strengthening the impact of eWOM valence. This research scrutinizes a context not widely explored in the current literature of eWOM studies by integrating these moderators and focusing on the dynamic interactions within social media platforms, providing new insights for digital marketers and social media influencers aiming to enhance consumer engagement and purchase intentions in the digital domain.

Herding behavior in NFT Auction: The role of visual complexity and familiarity

Despite the growing popularity of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) in the market, they still lack established valuation guidelines. Invoking herding and auction theories, this study investigates how NFT collectors’ bidding tendencies are influenced by other collectors’ bidding decisions (herding behavior). This study also examines how NFT visual characteristics, such as complexity and familiarity, moderate herding behavior. We use a computer vision technique to quantify the visual complexity of an NFT and apply transfer learning to capture its visual familiarity. Examining data from a widely used NFT platform, we find evidence of herding behavior in such auctions. Furthermore, our results show that there are nonlinear moderating effects of visual characteristics on herding behavior. Specifically, we find that consumers exhibit a stronger herding tendency at the two extremes of complexity distribution and at the lower extreme of familiarity distribution. Further analysis of the NFT resale market suggests that auction winners consider herding in the primary sale of an NFT as a signal of high demand; thus, they are more willing to resell it and set a higher price premium in the resale. These findings can be taken as input by the NFT market platforms in their NFT display decisions to boost primary market sales and promote resale market participation. The findings can also help content creators formulate creative strategies that lead to higher bidding probability or sales performance.

Reducing discrepancies between actual and ideal affect across adulthood: the roles of activity flow conduciveness, pleasantness, and familiarity

ABSTRACT Previous findings demonstrate that people often do not feel how they want to feel, supporting the distinction between “actual affect” and “ideal affect.” But are there certain activities that reduce the discrepancy between actual and ideal affect? Based on flow theory and socioemotional selectivity theory, we examined whether the discrepancy between people’s actual and ideal positive affect would be smaller during activities that were more conducive to flow (a state of intense absorption and concentration), pleasant, and familiar. In Study 1, U.S. participants aged 17–79 (N = 393) reported their ideal affect and how they felt during activities with varying degrees of challenges and skills. For both low-arousal positive affect (LAP) and high-arousal positive affect (HAP), participants reported smaller actual-ideal affect discrepancies during flow-conducive activities (when skills matched challenges). Study 2 was a 14-day experience sampling study, in which Hong Kong participants aged 18–83 (N individual = 109) reported their momentary actual and ideal affect, and how pleasant and familiar their activities were (N experience = 3,815). Greater activity familiarity was associated with smaller discrepancies in actual-ideal LAP, while greater activity pleasantness was associated with smaller discrepancies in actual-ideal HAP. These findings provide insights on the activities that help people achieve their ideal affect more easily.

Roles of artificial intelligence experience, information redundancy, and familiarity in shaping active learning: Insights from intelligent personal assistants

Roles of artificial intelligence experience, information redundancy, and familiarity in shaping active learning: Insights from intelligent personal assistants

Errorful learning of trivia questions and answers: The role of study time.

Errorful learning-asking questions and forcing responding even before the correct answers are presented for study-has recently been proposed as a way of maximizing the effectiveness of study. However, much support for the superiority of errorful learning over standard learning via reading comes from studies employing pairs of words as study materials, which remain of little educational relevance. Studies using materials affording richer semantic processing, such as trivia questions and their answers, have shown benefits of errorful learning only when the errorful learning condition is granted additional time for formulating guesses. In the present study, we systematically examined the role of timing when comparing errorful learning and reading strategies applied to study of trivia questions and their answers. In Experiments 1 and 2, we obtained evidence for the superiority of errorful learning over reading when additional time was given to formulate guesses, but this superiority was abolished when the overall time to study was equated between the two learning strategies. We further examined the role of answer familiarity in Experiment 3, showing that incorrect guessing produced no benefit for learning regardless of whether the to-be-learned concepts were familiar or not. In Experiments 4 and 5, no benefits of errorful learning emerged when participants were required to guess responses to two different questions that shared a common set of possible answers. We conclude that the benefits of errorful learning for trivia questions emerge only when guessing gives more time to process target questions.