CogSci Perception II: Non-Visual Perception PDF

Perception II: Non-Visual Perception I. Auditory perception: psychological effects of music A. Effects of music on cognition B. The Mozart effect C. Music therapy II. Individual differences in perception – Synesthesia III. Subliminal perception and priming Auditory Perception: Effects of Music on Co...

Perception II: Non-Visual Perception I. Auditory perception: psychological effects of music A. Effects of music on cognition B. The Mozart effect C. Music therapy II. Individual differences in perception – Synesthesia III. Subliminal perception and priming Auditory Perception: Effects of Music on Cognition Music has been found to influence memory, decision making, and other cognitive processes Ø Study conducted in supermarkets found that use of slow background music increased sales by 38% over use of fast music – shoppers stayed in store longer and bought more, a lot more (Milliman, R.E., 1986) – Particularly effective for purchasing decisions with high affective/low cognitive involvement, e.g., jewelry, sportswear, and beer Ø Follow-up study found this is only the case for music in minor mode (Knoeferle, Spangenberg, Herrmann et al., 2011) Study on effects of music on decision making (Hansen & Melzner, 2014) Group 1: Listened to tritone or dissonant, unfamiliar chords Ø Beginning of Simpson’s theme song Group 2: Listened to perfect fifth or consonant, familiar chord Ø Twinkle, twinkle little star v Are people in Group 1 or Group 2 more likely to be swayed by aggregate, as opposed to individualized, information? − Aggregate info: overall star rating on Amazon review − Individualized info: actual customer reviews that appear at the bottom of the page ➜ Group 1 Psychological Effects of Music Preference Match the following: classical, jazz, blues, and folk music lovers country, pop, and religious music lovers cheerful verbally intelligent outgoing conscientious open to experience (Rentfrow & Gosling, 2003, 2006) Classical, jazz, blues, and folk music lovers tend to be more verbally intelligent open to experience Country, pop, and religious music lovers tend to be more cheerful outgoing conscientious Music and the Brain Music is the only sensory experience that can activate all areas of the brain simultaneously! Music Therapy Typically used for people with Alzheimer’s, learning disabilities, autism, ADHD, Down Syndrome, intellectual disability, brain injuries, physical disabilities, chronic pain Alzheimer's patients have shown improvements in memory when listening to their favorite songs In children, helps with emotional self expression, improves social and communication skills, as well as motor functioning Various studies with cancer patients there have found significant reductions in anxiety, pain, and tiredness after music therapy was introduced « Music being played alone shows an improvement in mental and physical well being. However, it is more effective when paired with the playing of an instrument or singing along. Individual Differences in Response to Sensory Stimulation Introverts vs. Extraverts Introverts salivate more to lemon juice – both by self-report and experimentally Introverts tend to retain elevated heart rate for a longer time period after exposure to noxious odors Introverts are more sensitive to pain – and are able to learn more quickly from punishment Synesthesia: stimulation of one modality leads to perceptual experience in another Color grapheme (seeing specific letters or numbers in specific colors) synesthesia is most common type of synesthesia Study conducted at Science Museum in London Visitors viewed two musical animations, one designed by synesthetes, the other by nonsynesthetes Then asked which animation better matched the music ➜ Participants overwhelmingly chose the synesthete-designed animation ☞ Suggests that we all unconsciously link together music and vision but only synesthetes are consciously aware of these links − This sensory crossover probably occurs in the limbic system Two theories of synesthesia 1) Brain architecture of synesthetes is equipped with more connections between neurons, causing the usual modularity to break down 2) “Feed-backward” connections that carry information from high-level multisensory areas of the brain back to single sense areas are not properly inhibited − Normally, information processed in such multisensory areas is allowed to return only to its appropriate singlesense area − In synesthetes’ brains, that inhibition is disrupted, allowing the different senses to become jumbled Subliminal Perception and Priming Subliminal perception: messages that are presented below one’s absolute threshold for conscious awareness may influence behavior Experiment in which emotionally positive scenes (e.g., kittens) or negative scenes (e.g., werewolf) were subliminally flashed before participants viewed slides of faces ➜More positive ratings were given to faces that had been associated with positive scenes (Krosnick, Betz, Jussim et al., 1992; Anderson, Siegel, White et al., 2012) Graduate students evaluated their research ideas more negatively shortly after viewing the unperceived scowling face of their adviser v Advertisers have made all sorts of exaggerated claims of being able to sell products when the product is flashed very briefly, along with an image of a very attractive person. In general, not well-supported by evidence. Ø The word beef was flashed at below-threshold durations while participants watched a film. They were later more hungry, but did not specifically prefer beef to other foods. ➔ Suggests that meaning not easily extracted from subliminal presentations; rather, stimuli act at an emotional level of priming task (Dijksterhuis, Aarts, & Smith, 2006) No real evidence that listening to subliminal message tapes during sleep effective but some research suggests some types of sensory stimuli during sleep may affect learning and memory Ø “Cramming” during sleeping study (Antony, Gobel, O’Hare et al., 2012) Participants learned to play 2 simple piano melodies, then took a 90-minute nap While they slept, one of the melodies was quietly played on repeat ➜ Able to play cued melody more accurately than other melody when they awoke Ø Smoking cessation study (Arzi, Holtzman, Samnon et al., 2014) When asleep, study participants were exposed to two odors, cigarette smoke and rotten fish ➜ During the following week, those who had smelled the mix of both odors lit up 30% less than those in control groups − Conditioning was more effective during Stage 2 than during REM sleep − Explicit olfactory aversive conditioning during wakefulness did not alter smoking behavior Priming: unconscious activation of particular associations in memory Scrambled-sentence test: Make a grammatical four-word sentence as quickly as possible out of the following five-word sets: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. him was worried she always from are Florida oranges temperature ball the throw toss silently shoes give replace old the he observes occasionally people watches be will sweat lonely they sky the seamless gray is should now withdraw forgetful we us bingo sing play let sunlight makes temperature wrinkle raisins Ø After completing this test, participants walked significantly more slowly – almost as if they felt old – than control participants (Bargh, Chen, & Burrows, 1996) Video References Videos excerpted from: The Simpsons Intro - 1 HOUR https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCRnukGs3v4 Mozart twinkle twinkle little star 12 variations piano https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bK9h12Qdvs Parkinson's Disease - Music Magic https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxDmP8c4QUI Flamingos from Fantasia 2000 (Camille Saint-Saens' Carnival of the Animals, Finale https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OvPjtolajZk Top 10 Hidden Messages in Disney Movies https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqAASlTY0Gg