PROJECT TITLE:
Can the difference in colour naming times between threat-related
words and neutral words be explained by a semantic priming
effect, rather than attributing it to the emotional salience
of the words?
HYPOTHESIS
The more semantically inter-related the category of words
the slower it will take to colour name each separate word
in that category.
THEORETICAL BACKGORUND AND AIMS OF PROJECT
The aim of the study is to explain the impaired colour naming
of threat-related words in terms of associative priming effects
rather attributing it to the emotional
Salience of the stimuli presented. The present study will
use a modification of the Stroop task, to demonstrate this
effect.
The original Stroop task, carried out by J.R.Stroop (1935)
involved subjects being presented with list of colour words,
presented in different coloured ink. The task was to name
the ink colour, not the colour the word said. It was found
the semantic meaning of the word interfered with the cognitive
process of saying the ink colour.
Macleod and Matthews (1985) adapted the Stroop (1935) task
to investigate if the emotional salience of words had an effect
on the task. Subjects were presented with lists of threat-related
words and neutral words. They proposed more anxious people
would be involuntary distracted by the meaning of the threat
word more than they would the neutral words and consequently
their speed at naming the ink colour would be slower. Indeed,
this was the outcome for the anxious subjects. The control
subjects (who were not anxious), named the ink colour of the
threat-related words, but not the neutral words, more quickly
than their anxious peers. Therefore it was concluded that
the emotional salience of the words caused significant interference
with the cognitive task. These finding have also been replicated
in studies by Logan and Goetsch, (1993).
However, Green, Corr and De Silva (1999), believe it is the
associative strength of the list of words presented that has
a greater influence on colour naming times. For example, they
presented anorexic subjects with a list of threat provoking
stimulus (in form of body-shape-related words) and three other
word lists, all varying in associative strength (high, intermediate,
low).
It was found that the anorexic subjects were
slower to colour name the highly associative group of words
(in this case being ‘birds’) and the body-shape
related words. This led them to conclude that colour-naming
time for a category of words is partially affected by the
associative strength of the words, not just the emotional
salience. Among the controls in their study (non-anorexics)
they found that the pattern of colour-naming times for each
category of words was similar to the degree of association
between the words in each category. Also, the control subjects
colour-named the highly associative list more slowly than
the body shape words. Green et al (1999) conclude, the more
semantically related the category of words, the longer it
takes to process the colour it is presented in. These results
highlight a semantic priming effect occurring, similar in
nature to the priming effects reported by Warren (1972, 1974).
Others have attributed the impairment in colour-naming
of negative affective information to highly elaborated schemata
related to current concerns (Segal, Hood, Shaw and Higgins,
1988). Also meaning that personally salient information will
take the form a highly elaborated schematic network, it should
be processed in a similar way to other highly elaborated information
(Higgins & Bargh, 1987). Therefore a highly associative
list of ‘bird words’ will be processed in a similar
fashion to body-shape related words in the anorexic subjects
in Green et al’s (1999) study.
In conclusion, my study hopes to show that irrespective
of affective salience, colour naming times will be affected
by the degree of semantic association between the categories
of the words not their emotion-provoking content.
- KEY REFERENCES:
- Green, Corr and De Silva (1999) Impaired Colour
Naming of Body Shape-Related Words in Anorexia Nervosa:
Affective Valence or Associative Priming. Cognitive Therapy
and Research, Vol 23, No. 4, 1999, 413-422
- Macleod and Matthews (1988) Anxiety and the
allocation of attention to threat Quarterly Journal of
Experimental Psychology 40A: 653-70
- Stroop, J.R. (1935) Studies of interference
in serial verbal reaction. Journal of Experimental Psychology,
18: 643-62
- Spielberger, C. D., Gorsuch, R. L., & Lushene,
R. E. (1970). State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. Palo Alto,
CA: Consulting Psychologists Press.
- Warren, R.E. (1972). Stimulus encoding and memory.
Journal of Experimental Psychology, 94, 90-100.
- Warren, R.E. (1974) Association, directionality
and stimulus encoding. Journal of Experimental Psychology,
102, 151-159.
PROJECT TITLE:
Can the difference in colour naming times between threat-related
words and neutral words be explained by a semantic priming
effect, rather than attributing it to the emotional salience
of the words?
HYPOTHESIS
The more semantically inter-related the category of words
the slower it will take to colour name each separate word
in that category.
THEORETICAL BACKGORUND AND AIMS OF PROJECT
The aim of the study is to explain the impaired colour
naming of threat-related words in terms of associative priming
effects rather attributing it to the emotional
Salience of the stimuli presented. The present study will
use a modification of the Stroop task, to demonstrate this
effect.
The original Stroop task, carried out by J.R.Stroop (1935)
involved subjects being presented with list of colour words,
presented in different coloured ink. The task was to name
the ink colour, not the colour the word said. It was found
the semantic meaning of the word interfered with the cognitive
process of saying the ink colour.
Macleod and Matthews (1985) adapted the Stroop (1935) task
to investigate if the emotional salience of words had an
effect on the task. Subjects were presented with lists of
threat-related words and neutral words. They proposed more
anxious people would be involuntary distracted by the meaning
of the threat word more than they would the neutral words
and consequently their speed at naming the ink colour would
be slower. Indeed, this was the outcome for the anxious
subjects. The control subjects (who were not anxious), named
the ink colour of the threat-related words, but not the
neutral words, more quickly than their anxious peers. Therefore
it was concluded that the emotional salience of the words
caused significant interference with the cognitive task.
These finding have also been replicated in studies by Logan
and Goetsch, (1993).
However, Green, Corr and De Silva (1999), believe it is
the associative strength of the list of words presented
that has a greater influence on colour naming times. For
example, they presented anorexic subjects with a list of
threat provoking stimulus (in form of body-shape-related
words) and three other word lists, all varying in associative
strength (high, intermediate, low).
It was found that the anorexic subjects were
slower to colour name the highly associative group of words
(in this case being ‘birds’) and the body-shape
related words. This led them to conclude that colour-naming
time for a category of words is partially affected by the
associative strength of the words, not just the emotional
salience. Among the controls in their study (non-anorexics)
they found that the pattern of colour-naming times for each
category of words was similar to the degree of association
between the words in each category. Also, the control subjects
colour-named the highly associative list more slowly than
the body shape words. Green et al (1999) conclude, the more
semantically related the category of words, the longer it
takes to process the colour it is presented in. These results
highlight a semantic priming effect occurring, similar in
nature to the priming effects reported by Warren (1972,
1974).
Others have attributed the impairment in colour-naming
of negative affective information to highly elaborated schemata
related to current concerns (Segal, Hood, Shaw and Higgins,
1988). Also meaning that personally salient information
will take the form a highly elaborated schematic network,
it should be processed in a similar way to other highly
elaborated information (Higgins & Bargh, 1987). Therefore
a highly associative list of ‘bird words’ will
be processed in a similar fashion to body-shape related
words in the anorexic subjects in Green et al’s (1999)
study.
In conclusion, my study hopes to show that
irrespective of affective salience, colour naming times
will be affected by the degree of semantic association between
the categories of the words not their emotion-provoking
content.
- KEY REFERENCES:
- Green, Corr and De Silva (1999) Impaired Colour
Naming of Body Shape-Related Words in Anorexia Nervosa:
Affective Valence or Associative Priming. Cognitive
Therapy and Research, Vol 23, No. 4, 1999, 413-422
- Macleod and Matthews (1988) Anxiety and the
allocation of attention to threat Quarterly Journal
of Experimental Psychology 40A: 653-70
- Stroop, J.R. (1935) Studies of interference
in serial verbal reaction. Journal of Experimental Psychology,
18: 643-62
- Spielberger, C. D., Gorsuch, R. L., &
Lushene, R. E. (1970). State-Trait Anxiety Inventory.
Palo Alto, CA: Consulting Psychologists Press.
- Warren, R.E. (1972). Stimulus encoding and
memory. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 94, 90-100.
- Warren, R.E. (1974) Association, directionality
and stimulus encoding. Journal of Experimental Psychology,
102, 151-159.
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