A derived transformation of emotional functions using self-reports, implicit association tests, and frontal alpha asymmetries

Disentangling affect from self-esteem using subliminal conditioning

Across three experiments, participants underwent conditioning sequences where the self-referential term I AM (Conditioned Stimulus, or CS+) or a scrambled counterpart M IA (CS-) was paired with either neutral (Unconditioned Stimulus, or US-) or positive attributes (US+). CS and US were presented under subliminal and/or visible conditions. A normalized indicator of affective shift and an explicit self-esteem measure were deployed as outcome measures. In Experiment 1 (N = 60), subliminal CS+ followed by visible US+ produced a significant affective shift only. Experiment 2 (N = 59) presented CS and US under subliminal conditions, which did not influence either outcome measure. In Experiment 3 (N = 60), visible CS appeared with visible US, which resulted in a significant effect on explicit self-esteem only. These findings highlight the central roles of CS and/or US visibility towards influencing reported affect and self-esteem. We theorize that configural components of subliminally presented stimuli can become perceptually encoded and influence self-related affect non-consciously.

Augmenting salivation, but not evaluations, through subliminal conditioning of eating-related words

Correlating eating-related words (CS) with positively valenced words (US+) may augment eating-associated motivational responses (e.g., preingestive salivation) with minimal CS knowledge. We tested this claim using a subliminal conditioning procedure, where CS and US were presented under subliminal and supraliminal visual conditions. Three groups of Brazilian undergraduates (N = 69) viewed eating-related words (CS) or their scrambled counterparts (non-CS) followed by positive (US+) or neutral (US-) words. A free-selection visibility check confirmed that subliminally presented CS and non-CS had not been detected by any group. Participants exposed to CS/US+ pairings produced significantly more saliva relative to participants exposed to CS/US- and non-CS/US+ pairings. Reliable induction of salivation, coupled with null outcomes across evaluation measures, suggests that affective information related to eating can subliminally augment preingestive salivation with minimal deliberation.

Towards a resolution of some outstanding issues in transitive research: An empirical test on middle childhood

Transitive Inference (deduce B > D from B > C and C > D) can help us to understand other areas of sociocognitive development. Across three experiments, learning, memory, and the validity of two transitive paradigms were investigated. In Experiment 1 (N = 121), 7-year-olds completed a three-term nontraining task or a five-term task requiring extensive-training. Performance was superior on the three-term task. Experiment 2 presented 5–10-year-olds with a new five-term task, increasing learning opportunities without lengthening training (N = 71). Inferences improved, suggesting children can learn five-term series rapidly. Regarding memory, the minor (CD) premise was the best predictor of BD-inferential performance in both task-types. However, tasks exhibited different profiles according to associations between the major (BC) premise and BD inference, correlations between the premises, and the role of age. Experiment 3 (N = 227) helped rule out the possible objection that the above findings simply stemmed from three-term tasks with real objects being easier to solve than computer-tasks. It also confirmed that, unlike for five-term task (Experiments 1 & 2), inferences on three-term tasks improve with age, whether the age range is wide (Experiment 3) or narrow (Experiment 2). I conclude that the tasks indexed different routes within a dual-process conception of transitive reasoning: The five-term tasks indexes Type 1 (associative) processing, and the three-term task indexes Type 2 (analytic) processing. As well as demonstrating that both tasks are perfectly valid, these findings open up opportunities to use transitive tasks for educability, to investigate the role of transitivity in other domains of reasoning, and potentially to benefit the lived experiences of persons with developmental issues.

Dissociating preferences from evaluations following subliminal conditioning

Preferences towards unfamiliar drink brands may be influenced through subliminal conditioning. This can involve associating unfamiliar brands (CS) with positively valenced attributes (US) under constrained visual conditions to prevent the former's conscious detection. According to learning theory, CS associated with positive US should become increasingly preferred as the latter's positive valences generalizes (transfer) across associated CS. Similarly, correlating CS with negative US should reduce CS-associated preferences. There is some evidence that CS-associated preferences can be reliably influenced through subliminal conditioning (Elgendi et al., 2018). Conversely, there is also evidence that subliminal conditioning does not effectively alter evaluations of CS valence (Heycke et al., 2018). Those works suggest CS preferences may be more susceptible to subliminal valence transfer relative to CS evaluations. We explored this hypothesis presently, where four pairs of supraliminal/visible and subliminal trigrams (CS) were respectively associated with four US categories varied along aggregate valence (100% positive, 80% positive, 20% positive, 0% positive). CS evaluations and preferences were recorded before and after conditioning. Bayesian analyses revealed US valence manipulations were likely to shift preferences, but not evaluations, of subliminal CS. Across supraliminal CS, Bayesian and frequentist analyses indicated US valence was significant and likely to shift preferences and evaluations. The present study demonstrates preferences may be influenced through subliminal conditioning even as evaluations are not.

Neurophysiological Effects Associated With Subliminal Conditioning of Appetite Motivations

When attempting to encourage eating, explicitly providing statements like "eating is pleasant" may produce little effect. This may be due to subjective, negatively-valenced narratives evoked by perception of the verb "eating" (e.g., eating →fat →lonely), overriding any explicitly provided eating-pleasant valence information. In our study, we presented eating-related verbs under subliminal visual conditions to mitigate the onset of eating-associated deliberation. Verbs were linked with neutral or positively valenced terms across independent blocks. Modulations of event-related magnetoencephalographic (MEG) components and parietal activations in the alpha range (8-12 Hz) illustrated a significant effect of valence during pre-lexical time windows. We found significantly greater saliva production and declarations of increasing hunger after eating-related verbs were linked with positive terms. Orally reported preferences did not vary between conditions.

Transforming valences through transitive inference: How are faces emotionally dissonant?

Information that is emotionally incongruous with self-concepts can produce feelings of unease. This implies that embedding incongruous information in newly formed relational structures would have little effect on their previous emotive properties. Alternatively, Relational Frame Theory highlights the importance of contextualized stimulus-stimulus relations, where the structure of a relational series is key in determining the function of its elements. To see whether series membership can mitigate 'dissonance' when a salient element is employed, the present investigation trained and tested a seven-term relational series (X>A>B>C>D>E>Y) using blurred faces as stimuli. Specifically, Stimuli X, A, B, D, E and Y were blurred unfamiliar faces and Stimulus C constituted of the participant's own blurred face, assumed to be more salient than the former. To assess how the valences of the related stimuli were transformed by relational series membership, self-report ratings and electroencephalographic (EEG) recordings were collected before and after training the X>A>B>C>D>E>Y series. These pre vs. post contrasts revealed that, for unfamiliar faces, stimulus valence transformed as a function of relational structure. Conversely, the lack of difference in pre vs. post contrasts of Stimulus C, which maintained a high valence, suggest that relational series membership may not suffice to mitigate emotionally dissonant information.

Effects of orientation and differential reinforcement on transitive stimulus control

The emergence of transitive relations between stimuli that had never appeared together is a key process underlying concept formation. An unresolved theoretical issue with respect to transitive relations has been to determine whether differential reinforcement of stimulus-stimulus (S-S) relations though matching-to-sample, or contiguous S-S correlations/pairings, is more critical for producing transitivity. The current study inquired whether simple environmental S-S pairings, versus differential reinforcement of S-S relations, versus environmental S-S pairings with an orientation requirement, produced the greatest instances of transitivity. 12 groups of participants were parsed into one of four procedures (matching-to-sample, stimulus-paring, stimulus-pairing-w/response, stimulus-pairing-w/orientation) along one of three training structures (linear, many-to-one, one-to-many). All participants underwent a fixed number of training trials for establishing three, three-member stimulus sets (A1B1C1, A2B2C2, A3B3C3), followed by a single sorting test for AC transitivity. Our results demonstrate orienting towards environmental S-S pairings yield the greatest degree of transitivity. The effectivity of pairing procedures for establishing transitive relations, particularly when compared to matching-to-sample, can inform the development of educational interventions for individuals for whom the latter procedure (involving differential reinforcement) is ineffective.