Subliminal Effects Research Articles

Dynamics of natural hazard risk awareness: Panel analysis insights from Switzerland

The analysis of risk awareness should be the initial stage in integrated natural hazard risk management to promote appropriate and effective measures for mitigating risks and strengthening social resilience inside the multi-risk framework. Nevertheless, earlier studies focused on cross-sectional data and overlooked the changes in risk awareness levels and associated independent variables with time. This study analyzes for the first time a balanced nationwide panel dataset of 1612 respondent-year observations from Switzerland (period 2015–2021, including the epidemic of COVID-19) to examine and compare the effects of potential independent variables on the four dimensions of natural hazard risk awareness (NHRA), ranging from the broadest dimension of Relevance to higher dimensions of Perceived Probability of an event, Perceived Threat to life and valuables, and Perceived Situational Threat. The analysis in this study incorporates multiple methods of Random-Effect Model (RE), Generalized Linear Model (GLM), and mediation analysis. Results show that NHRA increased in Switzerland to different extents (up to 23.24%) depending on the dimension. Event memory, perceived information impact and reported individual informed level appeared to be the most consistent independent variables positively influencing panel NHRA. Among these, perceived information impact as an important indicator of risk communication, was also found to serve as a mediator from risk preparedness to risk awareness. By encouraging residents to engage in “Begin Doing Before Thinking” (BDBT) programs to leverage subliminal effects and self-reflection, this study proposes that behavior-cognition feedback loops may facilitate a virtuous cycle. Our promising observations provide recommendations for an effective awareness-rising strategy design and suggest extensive insights from potential short-interval panel analysis in the future.

Using Social Media Data to Research the Impact of Campus Green Spaces on Students’ Emotions: A Case Study of Nanjing Campuses

Campus green space, as a component of urban green space and the main natural place for college students’ daily contact, has a subliminal effect on their mental health. This study aims to investigate the degree of influence of campus green space on college students’ emotions as well as the main indicators of influence and other scientific issues. Taking the campus green spaces of 44 college campuses in Nanjing as the object of the study, with the help of social media data to research the issue of green spaces and emotional preference, we conducted a difference analysis, constructed an individual-time, double fixed-effects regression model and obtained the corresponding results: (1) significant seasonal and individual differences existed in all green space indicators across the 44 campuses; (2) a significant positive correlation existed between each of the campus green space indicators and college students’ positive emotions; (3) compared with the regression results of the data prior to the New Crown Pneumonia Outbreak (COVID-19), college students’ green sensitivity increased substantially during the outbreak control period, and the health benefits of the campus green spaces were more significant.

“Supporting our Lost Boys”: A Research on Gender-based Science Education’s Hidden Curriculum in Malaysia

Malaysia has had tremendous success in increasing women participation in science-related fields by diffusing empowering values into the formal school curricula. A subliminal effect of these female empowerment campaigns, however, is that male students are beginning to lag behind in science education, giving rise to the phenomenon known as "The Lost Boys." In light of the potential for a hidden curriculum to support gender-sensitive or gender-responsive science education, this research was aimed at exploring the hidden curriculum in science education and its impact on boys in science education. This research used the classical Delphi method involving 84 experts, whereby two rounds of questionnaires and one round of qualitative commentaries were used to gather information from a group of experts. Gender-biased notions were found in science education’s hidden curriculum, including the proliferation of feminist messages through outside classroom activities, the lack of gender awareness in teaching and training, and the centering of female mentoring in the field. This research further recommends strategies to explicitly address gender-biased issues in science education’s hidden curriculum to benefit both female and male students’ participation in science. It is hoped that this research serves as a guide for policy makers, school leaders and teachers to achieve gender equity in science education.

Cross-modal and subliminal effects of smell and color.

In the present study, we examined whether the cross-modal effect can be obtained between odors and colors, which has been confirmed under olfactory recognizable conditions and also occurs under unrecognizable conditions. We used two flavors of red fruits such as strawberries and tomatoes for this purpose. We also aimed to compare whether similar cross-modal effects could be achieved by setting the flavors at recognizable (liminal) and unrecognizable (subliminal) concentrations in the experiment. One flavor at a normal concentration (0.1%, Liminal condition) and one at a concentration below the subliminal threshold (0.015%, Subliminal condition), were presented, and the color that resembled the smell most closely from among the 10 colors, was selected by participants. Except for the subliminal tomato condition, each odor was significantly associated with at least one color (p<0.01). Participants selected pink and red for liminal strawberry (0.1%) (p<0.05), pink for subliminal strawberry (0.015%) (p<0.05), and orange for liminal tomato (0.1%) (p<0.05), but there was no color selected for subliminal tomato (0.015%) (p<0.05). The results of this study suggest that the flavor of tomato produced a cross-modal effect in liminal conditions, but not in subliminal conditions. On the other hand, the results of the present study suggest that the flavor of strawberries produces a cross-modal effect even under subliminal conditions. This study showed that cross-modal effects might exist, even at unrecognizable levels of flavor.

Film as a pedagogical tool for geography during the pandemic induced virtual classes.

Film has always been an important medium to disseminate social issues through imageries and imaginaries. The present paper examines the importance of film in understanding contextual, geographical concept-metaphors through virtual classes that can unearth the potential of the teaching–learning process in the COVID-19 induced lockdown situation. Qualitative techniques are used here to analyze landscapes, communication and actions to reveal the importance of a film from Bollywood, the world's largest film producing hub, in the context of teaching geographical concepts via online digital-mode classes in the ongoing pandemic scenario. Besides, Bollywood film has a wider and strong subliminal effect on the human mind. In this connection, the present work shows how a teachers’ team use geographic media literacy as a pedagogical tool to enhance their students' cognition in online classes. It further shows that film acts as a geographic teaching tool for making students aware of the subjective understanding of Geography through a sub-branch wise explanation of cinematic components. It is observed that, even in the absence of classroom activity, if the lecture/study materials are interlinked with film, it would render a good understanding of the required geographical know-how. This article thus introduces a new scope for devising a better and more resilient online teaching process that promises to enrich geographical studies’ digital pedagogy.

Subliminal Advertising: Ethical and Legal Problems of Existence in Ukraine

Abstract In the present article, the issue of identification of sophisticated and problematic aspects of the regulation of subliminal advertising in the national legislation of Ukraine and perspectives for the improvement of the legal regulation of subliminal advertising is considered. It is determined that legislative and normative regulation of public relations that arise in the process of defining the concept of subliminal advertising and the problems of such legislative regulation are urgent questions in the current society. Given that subliminal advertising affects subconsciousness and manipulates human behavior, it harms not only consumers of advertising, as it misleads, disorients, has a subliminal effect, but also deprives media outlets of adequate payment for fair advertising. Besides, hidden advertising also harms society by ignoring the laws, requirements of journalistic ethics and hence – provides demoralization. That is why there is a necessity to analyze ambiguous aspects of subliminal advertising and justify the need to improve the possibilities of its legal limitations and control.

Research on subliminal visual messages based on EEG signal and convolutional neural network

The visual information that can't be detected by consciousness but can affect individual's behavior and attitude under specific conditions is called subliminal visual messages. In order to better apply subliminal visual messages to commercial advertising, education and other fields, this paper studied the process of subliminal visual messages in the brain. First, this paper designed a experiment to allow the subjects to see a series of pictures stimulation of different durations and collect the EEG signals, then analyzed the impact of stimulation time on classification accuracy. The experimental results showed that when the stimulus time is short, the classification accuracy increases with the increase of time, resulting in subliminal visual effects. However, with the increase of stimulus time, the classification accuracy began to decline. We speculated that the visual information changed from subthreshold to suprathreshold. The subliminal visual effects were disturbed until disappeared.

Subliminal effect, as upgrading the moral and psychological compliance of individual in military collective technology

In article based on studying the results of modern psychological investigations of subliminal effect on the psyche of personality worked out technological methods of such influence on the moral and psychological state of the military collective. In particular, author focus on the possibility of application subliminal effect in collective technologies (including law enforcement, military) through effect on the individual’s personality fields, his ideas, thoughts, assertions, conviction (Cognitive sphere), emotions (Emotion sphere), behavior, skills, acting (behavioral sphere). Summing up the indicators of moral and psychological condition of military collectives, the factors that shape such condition are singled out: military duty, love of country, patriotism, treason, the ratio of personnel to the use of alcoholic beverages, including the driving of vehicles in a state of intoxication, the desire to use and use of narcotic substances, precursors), promotion of illegal activity, participation in it, corruption. Together with the personal content, meaningful entities and other elements of the psyche, subliminal effect firstly changes the moral and psychological background, and in the future, and the morale of the collective. Personality in relation to which subliminal technologies were used may subconsciously change the level of life awareness (of his inner world, himself), and maybe deliberately, at a particular moment, regardless of the further tasks of the study, rethink his existence in this world, find their own locus of the past and future.

Awareness, involvement and detachment: Understanding McLuhan’s notions of the subliminal, Narcissus narcosis, figure/ground and the anti-environment

Use is made of Daniel Lewis’s idea that ‘awareness depends not only on involvement, but detachment as well’ to better understand McLuhan’s notion of the following ideas: the subliminal effects of media and technology, Narcissus narcosis, figure/ground and the relationship of environment and anti-environment.

Quantitative analysis of unconsciousness in extremely low frequency-inducing flickering light sensation

A flickering light sensation induced by the extremely low frequency stimulus to retina is known as the one and only phenomenon that the human body can vividly perceive with a biological effect with the use of very weak magnetic fields. Because the flicker sensation can be made visible by direct stimulus to retina, deliberations for details in the retinal receptivity of the sensation are of great importance. In this paper, we examined the several flows of retinal capacities with the extremely low frequency-inducing flicker, employing a functional brain-imaging technique as well as an original human reliability test equipped with spot-detections at irregular intervals. In the results of our functional brain-imaging analyses, the occipital hemodynamics corresponding to the spot-detections were enhanced noticeably when compared with a control experiment. On the other hand, the error rates in the correct spot-detections at the threshold for the flicker perception were significantly poorer in most of eight subjects. The error rates at 80% of the threshold were decreased in no more than five among the subjects; of particular note is, the rates at 70% of the threshold were maintained in two of them. Our experimental results support the fact that extremely low frequency stimuli can reveal definite subliminal effects – – human error, unconsciousness, synaptic plasticity, etc. – – to the human visual perceptions.

Neural capacity limits during unconscious semantic processing.

A growing body of neuroimaging data suggests that direct measurements of brain activity can reveal subliminal effects that remain invisible with behavior measures alone. We examined whether sentence comprehension processes could be triggered by a sequence of masked words. On each trial, participants viewed a rapid sequence of masked or unmasked words, including a subject noun, three adverbs and followed by a visible target verb. To probe the capacity limits of unconscious processing, we measured event-related potentials associated with the semantic congruency between the noun and the verb, while varying the subject position in each sentence. Unmasked sentences produced significant behavioral effects of congruency, paralleled by robust N400 effects, independently of subject-verb distance. By contrast, masked sentences produced no behavioral effect and elicited N400 effects only when subjects and verbs were separated by 0 or 1 word. The present results suggest that semantic integration of multiple words can occur unconsciously only if the distance between the words to be integrated does not exceed two words. Although the possibility remains that even longer sequence of invisible words may produce similar neural effects in different experimental settings, our ERP data show that only conscious perception gives access to a buffer that enables robust sentence-level processing independently of temporal distance.

In the face of pain: The choice of visual cues in pain conditioning matters.

Visual cue conditioning is a valuable experimental paradigm to investigate placebo and nocebo effects in pain. However, little attention has been paid to the cues themselves and potential variability of effects (their quantity and quality) stemming from the choice of stimuli. Yet, this seemingly methodological question has important implications for the interpretation of experimental findings in terms of their significance for clinical practice. We investigated the effect of heat pain conditioning using different types of visual cues (abstract images, faces and pseudo-words) in a group of 22 healthy volunteers. We analysed conditioning effects calculated as the difference in pain ratings to heat stimuli of identical temperature preceded by conditioned high or low pain cues with (1) subliminal and supraliminal presentation; and (2) immediately after conditioning and following extinction. Awareness manipulation and test following indirect, observational extinction allowed us to assess the strength and robustness of the conditioning effects induced with different cue types. We observed no differences in conditioning effect magnitudes between images, faces and words when all stimuli were presented supraliminally. With subliminal presentation, only face stimuli elicited a significant effect; equally only face cue-induced effect withstood extinction. Our findings indicate that face-related associations to pain might be stronger than those elicited with other visual cues, as face cues seem to induce stronger subliminal effects and withstand mild extinction. We compared different types of neutral cues commonly used in conditioning paradigms and found that faces elicited a stronger, more robust nonconscious effect than abstract images or pseudo-words.

Text rhythmic system: Its energetic and subliminal potentials

The article introduces scientific considerations concerning the energetic nature and origin of rhythm subliminal potential in a spoken text as well as the mechanisms of its impact on the recipient. The paper advances the idea that rhythm energetics and its subliminal potential is based on such postulates: (1) rhythm is generated in the speaker’s psyche at the levels of his/her unconscious (or existential being) and subconscious (or mental and transcendental beings) spheres; (2) the text rhythmic system has a definite emotional and pragmatic potentials that realize a latent manipulative and subliminal influence; (3) generation of the spoken text tempo-rhythm is carried out by means of integrating micro-rhythms of all levels of the speaker’s inner speech into the internal macro-rhythm, which is materialized in the form of an outer tempo-rhythm as a complex means of achieving a subliminal effect of speech. The article also outlines the prospects of studying a subliminal nature of rhythm.

The impact of subliminal effect images in voluntary vs. stimulus-driven actions

According to the ideomotor theory, actions are represented in terms of their sensory effects. In the current study we tested whether subliminal effect images influence action control (1) at early and/or late preparatory stages of (2) voluntary actions or stimulus-driven actions (3) with or without Stimulus-Response (S-R) compatibility. In Experiment 1, participants were presented at random with 50% of S-R compatible stimulus-driven action trials and 50% of voluntary action trials. The actions’ effects (i.e. up- or down-pointing arrows) were presented subliminally before each action (i.e. a keypress). In voluntary actions, participants selected more often the action congruent with the prime when it was presented at long intervals before the action. Moreover they responded faster in prime-congruent than in prime-incongruent trials when primes were presented at short intervals before the action. In Experiment 2, participants were only presented with stimulus-driven action trials, with or without S-R compatibility. In stimulus-driven action trials with S-R compatibility (e.g., left-pointing arrow signaling a left keypress), subliminal action-effects did not generate any significant effect on RTs or error rates. On the other hand, in stimulus-driven action trials without S-R compatibility (e.g., letter “H” signaling a left keypress), participants were significantly faster in prime-congruent trials when primes were presented at the shortest time interval before the action.These results suggest that subliminal effect images facilitate voluntary action preparation on an early and a late level. Stimulus-driven action preparation is influenced on a late level only, and only if there is no compatibility between the stimulus and the motor response, that is when the response is not automatically triggered by the common properties existing between the stimulus and the required action.

ERP로 확인되는 인지정보 처리에 대한 정서 점화효과

본 연구는 스트룹(Stroop)과제를 이용하여 정서가(affective valence)로 구성된 역하의 정서유발 점화자극이 인지과제 수행에 영향을 미치는지와 일반인에서도 정서장애 환자와 같은 지표가 나타나는지를 반응시간과 ERP(사건관련전위) 패턴으로 확인해 보고자 하였다. 측정된 데이터는 정서가(긍정 및 부정)와 일치여부로 수행되는 인지과제의 조합으로 제시되어 수집되었고, 전위변화의 특성인 진폭과 정점 잠복기를 기준으로 그 효과가 검증되었다. 먼저 반응시간 행동분석 결과, 중립 정서자극을 제외한 역하의 정서자극에 의해 목표과제의 반응을 촉진하는 결과를 확인할 수 있었다. 아울러 부가적으로 수집된 사건관련전위를 분석한 결과, 불일치 요인이 결합된 부정적 정서정보가 긍정적 정서정보에 비해 더 높은 음전위 및 지연된 잠복기를 보임으로써 표정과 관련된 정서유발-특정적인 N2효과를 확인하였다. 그리고 동일한 조건에서 긍정조건에 비해 유의한 차이의 양전위와 함께 더 짧은 잠복기를 보이는, 인지적 판단과정의 차이를 시사하는 P300의 효과도 관찰하였다. 이는 역하의 부정적 정서정보가 인지처리과정에서 자동적으로 억제되는 경향과 함께 해당 정서의 탐지를 가속시키는 한편, 주의자원의 적절한 재분배를 가능케 하여 목표자극의 반응을 촉진시킨 것으로 해석할 수 있으며, 기능적이고 인지적인 반응의 차이에서 역하효과를 비롯하여 과제 수행 정도에 영향을 끼치는 정서관련 재인과정의 중요성을 시사한다 할 수 있다. This study was conducted to investigate whether Stroop-related cognitive task will be affected according to the preceding affective valence factored by matchedness in response time(RT) and whether facial recognition will be indexed by specific event-related potentials(ERPs) signature in normal person as in patients suffering from affective disorder. ERPs primed by subliminal(30ms) facial stimuli were recorded when presented with four pairs of affect(positive or negative) and cognitive task(matched or mismatched) to get ERP effects(N2 and P300) in terms of its amplitude and peak latency variations. Behavioral response analysis based on RTs confirmed that subliminal affective stimuli primed the target processing in all affective condition except for the neutral stimulus. Additional results for the ERPs performed in the negative affect with mismatched condition reached significance of emotional-face specificity named N2 showing more amplitude and delayed peak latency compared to the positive counterpart. Furthermore the condition shows more positive amplitude and earlier peak latency of P300 effect denoting cognitive closure than the corresponding positive affect condition. These results are suggested to reflect that negative affect stimulus in subliminal level is automatically inhibited such that this effect had influence on accelerating detection of the affect and facilitating response allowing adequate reallocation of attentional resources. The functional and cognitive significance with these findings was implied in terms of subliminal effect and affect-related recognition modulating the cognitive tasks.

Neural Processing of Familiar and Unfamiliar Children’s Faces: Effects of Experienced Love Withdrawal, but No Effects of Neutral and Threatening Priming

In the face of a potential threat to his or her child, a parent’s caregiving system becomes activated, motivating the parent to protect and care for the child. However, the neural correlates of these responses are not yet well understood. The current study was a pilot study to investigate the processing of subliminally presented threatening primes and their effects on neural responses to familiar and unfamiliar children’s faces. In addition, we studied potential moderating effects of empathy and childhood experiences of love-withdrawal. A total of 45 students participated in an fMRI experiment in which they were shown pictures of familiar children (pictures morphed to resemble the participant like an own child would) and unfamiliar children preceded by neutral and threatening primes. Participants completed a modified version of the Children’s Report of Parental Behavior Inventory to measure parental love withdrawal, and the Empathic Concern scale of the Interpersonal Reactivity Index to measure affective empathy. Contrary to our expectations, we did not find evidence for subliminal priming effects. However, we did find enhanced activity in the right inferior frontal gyrus (IFG; involved in self-referential processing) and in face processing areas (infero-lateral occipital cortex and fusiform areas) in response to the familiar child, indicating preferential processing of these faces. Effects of familiarity in face processing areas were larger for participants reporting more love withdrawal, suggesting enhanced attention to and processing of these highly attachment relevant stimuli. Unfamiliar faces elicited enhanced activity in bilateral superior temporal gyrus (STG) and other regions associated with theory of mind (ToM), which may indicate more effortful ToM processing of these faces. We discuss the potential difference between a familiarity and a caregiving effect triggered by the morphed faces, and emphasize the need for replication in parents with pictures of their “real” own child.

The Dialogue of the Big and the Small: The Poetry of Ben Okri

The Dialogue of the Big and the SmallThe Poetry of Ben Okri Kathie Birat (bio) In an interview with Charles Rowell, Ben Okri expressed his views on art and its relation to society in the following terms: “I see art as a bridge between the secular and the spiritual aspects of humanity. In art I’m including everything from song, dance, architecture, painting, music, literature, conversation of a certain kind, even certain silences. Society is held together by laws, but it is animated by art” (214). Okri’s expression of his views on art gives one a glimpse of the challenges facing the reader who wishes to read a specific text in the light of such a broad statement. In the same interview Okri spoke of art and life as being “perpetually in dialogue” (215); the notion of dialogue informs the title poem of his 2012 collection Wild, in which the poet evokes “the infinite dialogue/ Of the big and the small” as a way of understanding inspiration (54). In the same poem he speaks with a disarming simplicity of the way “Those ancients saw/ The world as it is,/ A system of co-operation,/ Where things are both themselves/ And symbols and correspondences” (Okri, Wild 51). Such statements appear to go against the grain of the modern reader’s temptation to see the literary text as the site of a complicated transaction involving a multiplicity of codes used to “read” the world. Robert Fraser has pointed out, in talking about Okri’s Mental Fight (1999), a poem which owes its title and inspirational thrust to William Blake, that “the poem seems strange, because, as readers of twentieth-century verse, we have grown so used to minimalism, obscurity, or narcissistic self-pity that we take these qualities as the hallmarks of poetry” (Ben Okri 93). Existing critical studies devoted to Okri’s poetry (of which there are very few) focus on the way in which his poetry, in particular Mental Fight, can be interpreted through mythical, philosophical, or spiritual frames.1 Such studies are useful for the way in which they permit the reader to understand forms of expression which may seem either totally personal or hopelessly abstract. However, they do not help one to approach Okri’s poetry as poetry, characterized by an interdependency of form and meaning which constitutes the very definition of the genre. That Okri himself is aware of the impossibility of separating the formal aspects of poetry, such as sound, from its meaning can be deduced from remarks he makes in the essay “Newton’s Child”: It is amazing how much writing is a combination of mathematics and musical composition, of reason and aesthetics. It is also amazing how much of writing is rewriting; how much is instinctive; how much is simple logic, and the operation of so many secret and invisible laws. Take, for example, the law of visuality—the words you actually see on the page. There is, to give another example, the law of subliminal [End Page 1065] effect—words that you don’t notice but which make you see things more acutely. (Way of Being Free 24) In commenting on Okri’s reference to “the law of subliminal effect,” Fraser points out that in Virgil’s Eclogues, an important text for Okri, “the match between sense and euphony is so smooth that his music seems to be what the poetry is expressing” (Ben Okri 99). This remark is curiously similar to Paul Valery’s view of poetry as “hesitation between the sound and the sense” (qtd. in Jakobson, Selected Writings 38).2 Clearly there is no simple way of entering the world of Ben Okri’s poetry. While this statement can be applied to all poets, Okri’s multicultural background and his blending of diverse literary, philosophical, and spiritual influences requires an approach that takes these factors into account without allowing them to overshadow the personal encounter between poem and reader which is, for Okri, the heart of the reading experience. In his collection of essays A Time for New Dreams, Okri defines poetry as “an inner dialogue. It suggests a private journey to one’s own truth” (4). The...

Are there really autonomous "unconscious" goals that drive behavior? An event-control approach to goals and actions.

Are there really autonomous "unconscious" goals that drive behavior? An event-control approach to goals and actions.

P145: Neural correlates of subliminal affective priming effects: a high-density ERP study with ambiguous emotional faces

P145: Neural correlates of subliminal affective priming effects: a high-density ERP study with ambiguous emotional faces

Effects of Self-Control Resources on the Interplay between Implicit and Explicit Attitude Processes in the Subliminal Mere Exposure Paradigm

Recent studies have shown that the mere exposure effect under subliminal conditions is more likely to emerge for implicit attitudes than explicit attitudes. We tested whether the implicit effects of subliminal mere exposure could spill over to the explicit level by depleting self-control resources. Participants were subliminally exposed to a novel female photograph. Then, implicit and explicit attitudes toward an exposed and an unexposed photograph were measured. This basic design was crossed with a cognitive load manipulation, which should deplete the capacity of self-control resources (low cognitive load vs. high cognitive load). Results showed that the subliminal mere exposure effect occurred for not only implicit attitudes but also explicit attitudes when participants’ cognitive resources were depleted in the high cognitive load condition. In contrast, when cognitive resources were not depleted, the subliminal mere exposure effect only emerged for implicit attitudes. These findings support the contention that self-control failures could facilitate implicit effects of subliminal mere exposure toward the explicit level.