Complexity,response competition,and preference

In an attempt to resolve disagreements about the events underlying repeated exposure to a stimulus and the affective consequences of these events, two experiments examined psychological complexity and response competition (two measures of the uncertainty produced by a stimulus) as related to each other and to liking and goodness of meaning ratings of Chinese characterlike stimuli. In Experiment 1, 60 undergraduates' mean latency of first free association to the stimuli (response competition) increased as a perfect monotonic function of the number of lines constituting them (psychological complexity). In Experiment 2, ratings of liking by 40 undergraduates were highest for stimuli associated with an intermediate level of uncertainty (psychological complexity and response competition). Thus it was speculated that a moderate number of stimulus exposures (reducing uncertainty to an intermediate level) is preferable to an indefinitely large number of exposures (reducing uncertainty to a minimal level). The finding of no relationship between rated goodness of stimulus meaning and uncertainty was judged to be consistent with Stang's (1974) hypothesis that characteristically observed increases in rated goodness with increasing stimulus exposures (decreasing uncertainty) are a result of subject intuitions rather than an effect of decreasing uncertainty.     

The activation of semantic memory: Effects of prime exposure,prime-target relationship,and task demands

Priming facilitation was examined under conditions of brief incremental prime exposures (28, 43, 71, and 199 msec) under masked conditions for two types of lexical relationships (associative-semantic pairs, such as "wolf-fox," and semantic-feature pairs, such as "whale-dolphin") and in two tasks (primed lexical decision and semantic categorization). The results of eight experiments revealed, first, that priming elicits faster response times for semantic-feature pairs. The associative-semantic pairs produced priming only at the longer prime exposures. Second, priming was observed earlier for semantic categorization than for the lexical decision task, in which priming was observed only at the longer stimulus onset asynchronies. Finally, our results allowed us to discredit the congruency hypothesis, according to which priming is due to a common categorical response for the prime and target words. The implications of these results for current theories of semantic priming are discussed.     

Cardiac deceleration in newborns: habituation, dishabituation, and offset responses.

Twenty healthy, 1–4 day-old infants were selected from a sample of 135 neonates on the basis of alertness during testing. The infants were presented mild intensity colored light with gradual onset and offset while heart rate was monitored. Half the infants received six exposures to blue light followed by two exposures to blue-green light, whereas remaining subjects received colors in reverse order. Stimulus duration was 20 sec and variable periods between stimuli averaged 30 sec. Results of trend analysis of variance of the second-by-second cardiac data indicated that for infants older than the median age, the decelerative responses to both stimulus onset and offset were significant. Further, these subjects' onset decelerations significantly habituated within the six stimulus repetitions and significantly dishabituated with change in the stimulus color. Offset decelerations incremented over habituation trials and decremented with change in stimulus color. Responses of younger subjects were more variable which probably reflects their less complete recovery from the effects of maternal medication and the birth process.     

Social-relational exposures and well-being: Using multivariate twin data to rule-out heritable and shared environmental confounds

The aims of the present study were as follows: (1) Using a large sample of adults, estimate overlap between social-relational exposures measured at midlife and well-being measured at midlife and approximately 9-years later. (2) Using a subsample of twins, test for heritable variation in social-relational exposures, and (3) controlling for heritable and shared environmental variation, estimate overlap between social-relational exposures and well-being, both concurrently and approximately 9-years later. Results indicated small-to-moderate overlap between exposures and well-being (mean r = 0.29, range = 0.05–0.54). There was also evidence for heritable variation in exposures, and after accounting for these genetic factors, the degree of overlap between social-relational exposures and well-being decreased (mean r = 0.10, range = −0.07 to 0.33).     

Subliminal mere exposure: specific, general, and diffuse effects

The present research examined the possibility that repeated exposure may simultaneously produce specific and diffuse effects. In Study 1, participants were presented with 5-ms exposures of 25 stimuli each shown once (single-exposure condition) or with five repetitions of 5 stimuli (repeated-exposure condition). Participants in the repeated-exposure condition subsequently rated their own mood more positively than those in the single-exposure condition. Study 2 examined whether affect generated by subliminal repeated exposures transfers to unrelated stimuli. After a subliminal exposure phase, affective reactions to previously exposed stimuli, to new but similar stimuli, and to stimuli from a different category were obtained. Previously exposed stimuli were rated most positively and novel different stimuli least positively. All stimuli were rated more positively in the repeated-exposure condition than in the single-exposure condition. These findings suggest that affect generated by subliminal repeated exposure is sufficiently diffuse to influence ratings of unrelated stimuli and mood.     

BEHAVIORAL TECHNOLOGY FOR REDUCING OCCUPATIONAL EXPOSURES TO STYRENE

We conducted a test of the usefulness of behavioral methods to control occupational health problems by reducing workers' exposures to toxic chemicals. Four plastics workers were trained in nine behaviors selected for potential to reduce their exposures to styrene, a common chemical with multiple toxic effects. Behavioral measures indicated that the workers quickly came to emit most of the behaviors. Measures of air samples indicated that large decreases in exposures to styrene accompanied the changes in behaviors for the three workers who had been selected because they most needed relief from their exposures and because they had opportunities to control their exposures by the ways they behaved.     

Orthographic learning via self-teaching in children learning to read English: effects of exposure, durability, and context

This experiment investigated orthographic learning via self-teaching in 8- and 9-year-olds learning to read English. Children were exposed to novel words, and following a 1- or 7-day delay interval, orthographic learning was assessed by asking children to select previously seen novel words from an array of visually and phonologically similar foils. Novel words were exposed either in meaningful text or in isolation, and number of exposures was manipulated with each novel word appearing once, twice, or four times. Learning increased as a function of number of exposures, although some evidence of durable one-trial learning was observed. Context played no role, suggesting that orthographic learning is not dependent on meaning-based information. In general, these findings offer support for the central aspects of Share's self-teaching hypothesis. However, although we observed a general relation between phonological decoding and orthographic learning, the relation did not hold at an item-by-item level of analysis, suggesting that a strong version of Share's item-based account is not correct.     

Uncertainty and preference for ‘ambiguous’ figures, ‘impossible’ figures and the drawings of M. C. Escher1

With regard to two kinds of dependent response measures, number of one s exposures and verbal ratings of interestingness and pleasingness, preference was greater for unaltered ‘ambiguous’ figures, drawings of M. C. Escher and ‘impossible’ figures, characterized by greater complexity and uncertainty, than for altered versions of these stimuli. Furthermore, preference increased over the three types of unaltered slides while remaining fairly constant across altered ones. Lastly, number of exposures and ratings of interestingness diminished for unaltered pictures when preceded by their altered versions. The findings were interpreted using Berlyne's notions regarding aesthetic preference, uncertainty, and response conflict.     

Amodal completion in visual search: preemption or context effects?

In a previous study, search for a notched-disk target abutting a square among complete-disk nontargets and squares was inefficient in 250-ms exposures, but relatively efficient in 100-ms exposures. This finding was interpreted as evidence that amodal completion proceeds through a mosaic and then a completion stage, with the latter preempting the former. We used the same target but changed its context: Nontargets were instead notched disks near squares. Task set was also different: Participants searched for a complete disk. Contrary to the prediction of the preemption model, search was efficient in the 100-ms condition and inefficient in the 250-ms condition. We propose that in both the present and the previous studies, the target was ambiguous, and task set and context affected how it was perceived. In both experiments, set effects were evident for 100-ms exposures; context effects were evident for 250-ms exposures.     

Childhood Emotional Abuse and Maladaptive Coping in Adults Seeking Treatment for Substance Use Disorder

Little is understood about distinct traumatic exposures and their relationship to later coping strategies. Adults receiving treatment for substance use were assessed for experiential avoidance and a range of traumatic exposures. Only childhood emotional abuse significantly predicted experiential avoidance.     

Reading with and without eye movements: reply to Just, Carpenter, and Woolley

Just, Carpenter, and Woolley propose that measures of single-word processing times, such as gaze durations during normal reading or durations of reader-controlled exposures, can be used both for developing theories of comprehension and for determining the course of new reading technologies. We argue that better understanding of comprehension processes does not necessarily follow from observed correlations between text variables and eye-fixation parameters. Further, recent rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) research suggests that eye fixation data obtained from studies of normal reading might have little practical value in optimizing the readability of RSVP displays and other means of text presentation.     

The interaction of memories in the rat: Effects on short-term retention performance

In four experiments, rats were tested for short-term retention of a target spatial location either with or without prior exposures to alternate spatial locations in a T-maze. In all cases, exposure to alternate locations prior to exposure to the target location impaired retention of the target. This impairment increased as the number of exposures to the alternate location was increased, and the impairment decreased as the interval between alternate and target exposures was increased. In no case was the magnitude of the impairment found to increase as the retention interval was lengthened.     

某院医务人员职业暴露的现状调查

职业暴露是医务人员最常见的职业伤害,为探求有效的防护方法,对我院2005年至2008年报告的职业暴露进行了分析,结果发现医务人员职业暴露漏报严重,护士发生职业暴露最多（占57．4％）,主要为针刺伤（占85．2％）,暴露源以乙型肝炎为主（占53．2％）。应加强医务人员标准预防和职业安全知识的教育与培训,建立和健全职业暴露的监测体系。     

Cognitive processing of emotional information in depression, panic, and somatoform disorder

Emotional Stroop tasks (subliminal/supraliminal exposures), implicit memory tasks (tachistoscopic word identification), and explicit memory tasks (free recall after incidental learning) with 4 word types (physical threat, positive, negative, and neutral words) were administered to patients with major depressive disorder (n=30), panic disorder (n=33), somatoform disorder (n=25), and healthy control participants (n=33). On the Stroop task, panic patients showed subliminal interferences for physical threat and negative words, depressive patients showed supraliminal interferences for negative words, and somatoform patients showed supraliminal interferences for physical threat words. No patient groups demonstrated implicit memory biases. On the explicit memory task, depressive and panic patients showed memory biases for negative words; somatoform patients showed biases for physical threat words.     

Additional exposures to a compound of two preexposed stimuli deepen latent inhibition

The present experiments studied the role of error correction mechanisms in the latent inhibition of conditioned fear responses by conditioned stimulus (CS) preexposure. They demonstrated that a preexposed CS subjected to additional exposures in compound with either another preexposed stimulus or a novel stimulus was more latently inhibited than a preexposed CS which received additional exposures in isolation. They also showed that a preexposed CS subjected to additional exposures in compound with another preexposed stimulus was more latently inhibited than a preexposed CS given additional exposures in compound with a novel stimulus. These results were discussed in terms of the Hall-Rodriguez (2010) model of latent inhibition.     

Adaptation to displaced vision: Evidence for transfer of adaptation and long-lasting aftereffects

Aftereffects following a single exposure to visual rearrangement last for 48 h and longer. Following multiple spaced exposures to visual rearrangement, aftereffects persisted for at least 2 weeks. Over the course of the multiple exposures, subjects showed diminished scatter when pointing without sight of hand to visual targets but did not show diminished constant errors. Adaptation achieved in one visuomotor transferred nearly perfectly to a test situation involving somewhat different movement demands.     

Liking for happy- and sad-sounding music: Effects of exposure

We examined liking for happy- and sad-sounding music as a function of exposure, which varied both in quantity (number of exposures) and in quality (focused or incidental listening). Liking ratings were higher for happy than for sad music after focused listening, but similar after incidental listening. In the incidental condition, liking ratings increased linearly as a function of exposure. In the focused condition, liking ratings were an inverted U-shaped function of exposure, with initial increases in liking (after 2 exposures) followed by decreases (after 8 or 32 exposures). The results documented that: (1) sad music is liked as much as happy music in some instances; (2) frequency of exposure causes both familiarity (positive) and over-familiarity (negative) effects; and (3) effects of exposure on liking differ for focused and incidental listening.     

Consequences of Violence Exposures by Emergency Nurses

Emergency nurses are among the most likely groups of health care professionals to be exposed to violence. Violence exposure is the witnessing or receiving of a violent act with or without the intention to cause physical or psychological harm. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the literature in relation to emergency nurses' exposure to violence and discuss the implications for emergency nursing practice. A review of the literature was conducted using the keywords violence, emergency nursing, health care workers, and productivity. Emergency nurses exhibited anxiety, vulnerability, guilt, anger, sadness, and peer blaming following violence exposures. Violence exposures affect emergency nurses both physically and psychologically. Interventions should be developed to reduce the negative consequences of violence exposures.     

Simultaneous media usage: a critical consumer orientation to media planning

This research study is the third in a series of surveys exploring the incidence of simultaneous media usage among a national sample of US consumers. The research is based on 12,322 respondents who were sampled via an online network. The findings show that simultaneous media usage, ie multiple exposures to various media forms at a single point in time for the same media consumer, occurs in and among a substantial portion of the US media population. The existence of simultaneous media exposures, created by multi‐tasking consumers, is a fact in today's media marketplace. The existence of simultaneous media exposures undermines most current media measurement systems as they are defined as isolated environments. Thus, the challenge of this paper is for media management to rethink how media evaluations should be rethought for the 21st century. Copyright © 2004 Henry Stewart Publications Ltd.     

Preference, familiarity, and recognition after repeated brief exposures to random geometric shapes

Repeated one-millisecond exposures to random polygon targets have been shown to result in preference for the target shapes over similar distractor shapes in the absence of recognition (Knust-Wilson & Zajonc, 1980). Seamon, Brody, and Kauff (1983a) interpreted this preference-without-recognition effect in terms of a two-process model of recognition memory. The present set of experiments tested three predictions of the two-process model: Target discrimination equal to that found in the preference task should also occur when subjects make familiarity judgments; recognition performance should improve if the target stimuli are presented and tested with an easily encodable visual context; and both preference and familiarity judgments should be unaffected by manipulations of context. The results supported all three predictions. The implications of the results for a competing model proposed by Zajonc (1980) are also discussed.