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Item Backward associative priming relies on an automatic semantic matching process(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2019) Calcaterra, Ryan David; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Keith A. HutchisonBackward (BA) priming, which is the facilitated recognition of targets that have a backward association with the prime (e.g., baby-stork), is said to occur due to a semantic matching process that is only engaged in the LDT at long SOAs (Neely, Keefe, & Ross, 1989). However, BA priming occurs at short SOAs and in other tasks (Kahan, Neely, & Forsythe, 1999), suggesting that it may rely on an automatic process. A lexical decision task was administered in which a nonword relatedness proportion (NWRP) was created, such that 50% of nonwords were related to their primes (e.g., boy-girk), and participants were warned that checking for a relation will not be helpful for task performance. For unmasked (but not masked) primes, BA priming occurred even when conditions (i.e., high NWRP and warning) decreased the utility of a semantic matching strategy. This suggests that BA priming relies on an automatic semantic matching process that requires a conscious prime. Furthermore, analyses of integrative priming (e.g., log-house) suggest that INT priming relies on a hybrid prospective/retrospective process.Item Eye movement measures of semantic priming(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2000) Alberts, Amy ElizabethItem Inducing proactive control using a Stroop cueing paradigm(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2014) Olsen, Mariana Rachel; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Keith A. HutchisonCognitive control refers to the relative ability to attend to relevant stimuli while ignoring irrelevant stimuli in service of a goal. Braver, Gray, and Burgess (2007) have proposed two complementary forms of control: proactive, which is preparatory in nature, and reactive, which is engaged after a stimulus or imperative event. The ability to use proactive control is often tested using the Stroop task; however, what is usually thought of as evidence for proactive control can be confounded with item-specific effects, sequential effects, and speed-accuracy trade-offs. To remedy this issue, the current study utilized a modified version of the Stroop task to examine the use of proactive control on a trial-by-trial basis. Two experiments tested participants' ability to flexibly engage proactive control in which participants were given 80% predictive EASY or HARD cues indicating whether an upcoming stimulus would be congruent or incongruent, respectively. I hypothesized that participants, especially those high in working memory capacity, would use the HARD cues to engage top-down control to suppress word-reading, leading to a) reduced Stroop interference following HARD cues, b) impaired recall and recognition for neutral words following HARD cues, and c) greater pupil dilation following HARD than EASY cues. In Experiment 1, participants showed reduced Stroop interference for stimuli following HARD relative to EASY cues. This effect was replicated in Experiment 2, with reduced Stroop interference in both reaction times and errors following HARD cues. However, neither recall or pupil dilation differed reliably as a function of cue or WMC. Together, these experiments demonstrate the utility of using a cueing procedure when examining proactive control in the Stroop task. Limitations and future directions in cueing research are discussed.Item The effect of predictive cues on the flanker effect and negative priming(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2014) Powell, Suzanna Lee; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Keith A. HutchisonThe present study examined peoples' use of predictive environmental cues to exert cognitive control in preparation for early selection of target information. Braver, Gray, and Burgess (2007) suggested two forms of control: reactive, which is stimulus-driven, and proactive, which is preparatory in nature. We hypothesized that participants would engage in proactive control following "hard" cues in preparation for a difficult task. Additionally we expected increased pupil diameter following "hard cues", a further indicator of increased cognitive control. Participants performed a modified Eriksen flanker task (e.g. ABA) in which they were given the preparatory cues "easy" and "hard," which signaled with 70% validity the probability upcoming flankers would be congruent. In Experiment 1 we found reduced flanker interference following "hard" cues. In addition, we examined negative priming effects (i.e., slower responding when the target on trial N was the distractor on trial N-1, ABA-CAC). As predicted, there was greater negative priming following "hard" cues. These results suggest that the predictive "hard" cue enhances participants' early selection of target information and suppression of distracting information. Experiment 2 included older adults and incorporated eye tracking. Participants showed increased pupil diameter and more gaze variation following "hard" cues, indicating that proactive control was indeed being used. No effects of age were obtained, suggesting that older adults may also be able to utilize cues to increase cognitive control. Finally, Experiment 3 sought to rule out an alternative explanation that the results in Experiment 1 & 2 were due to context specific effects. Experiment 3 found no effects, indicating that previous effects were not the result of automatic associations. Together, these experiments demonstrate that predictive cues can maximize performance on a flanker task.Item Expectancy generation and utilization(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2007) Shipstead, Zachary Martin; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Keith A. HutchisonAlthough the research of Balota, Black and Cheney (1992) has shown attentional deficits in older adults to be detrimental to performance in semantic priming tasks which require a shift of attention away from a presented category, no attempt has been made to link performance to measures of attentional control. The current study utilizes the same paradigm as Balota, Black and Cheney with participants' attentional control measured using the battery of Hutchison (in press). Results show ability not only to generate expectancy for the target category, but to override automatic processes initiated by the prime word is tied to attentional control. Unfortunately, the attempt of Balota, Black and Cheney to estimate expectancy generation when no shift of attention is required may require revision.Item Attentional control and asymmetric priming(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2012) Winward, Shelly Janine; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Keith A. HutchisonThe current research examined the relation between attentional control and strategies used during a lexical decision task. Participants completed a battery of three attentional control tasks and also performed a lexical decision task with symmetrical (e.g., brother, sister) or asymmetrical associated items presented in either the forward (e.g., stork, baby) or backward direction (e.g., baby, stork). Results indicated that individuals higher in attentional control showed greater priming for forward associates, but no priming difference in attentional control for backward associates. Further, equal priming occurred for symmetrical associates regardless of attentional control. Results thus illustrated that both high and low attentional control participants used a retrospective semantic matching strategy, while participants high in attentional control used an expectancy generation strategy. Implications are discussed in terms of existing strategies of attentional control and semantic priming.Item Semantic activation without awareness : still no reliable evidence(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2005) Bengson, Jesse Jon; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Keith A. HutchisonThree experiments were conducted to examine whether semantic association contributes to unconscious priming. Experiment 1 used exclusion instructions in which participants were told to avoid completing the stem (e.g. mo---) with a word related to a masked prime (e.g. cash) flashed for 0, 38, or 212 ms. Significant semantic priming was found only in the items analysis when data was averaged across participants. In the subjects analysis, this performance was moderated by participantsα ability to report the prime. Experiment 2 used a free association task to examine unconscious semantic priming. Participants were instructed to respond to a target homograph (e.g. pupil) with the first word that came to mind that is not related to the meaning of the flashed word (e.g. student). No significant unconscious semantic priming was found. Experiment 3 replicated the conditions previously used to demonstrate unconscious semantic priming and show that such priming is due to methodological problems. The same methodology as Experiment 2 was used except participants were given inclusion instead of exclusion instructions. Significant priming was found across all trials; however, this priming dissolved when only the trials where participants failed to report the prime were examined. The results of all experiments suggest that unconscious semantic priming from word stimuli is a result of residual conscious awareness of the prime.