The Social Functionality of Language Coordination: Linguistic Alignment in Children with and Without Autism.
Linguistic alignment between conversationalists is a well documented phenomenon; however, the underlying motivational basis for this tendency remains to be established. This study explored the extent to which language convergence in terms of both lexical choice and syntactic structure is mediated by feelings of affiliation toward an interactional partner. In Experiment 1, children with Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and typically developing (TD) children completed a ‘Snap!’ game in which they alternated turns to name picture cards with a partner. In actuality, the partner was an experimental confederate who utilised non-preferred lexical choices to name the pictures. Results found that all children aligned their word choices with the lexical selections of the experimenter to an equivalent extent. However, evidence to link this tendency toward liking for an interactional partner could not be substantiated. Experiment 2 sought to further investigate evidence for syntactic convergence in children and employed a replication of the paradigm utilised by Allen et al. (2011). Again, there were no differences between the alignment abilities of children with ASD and the performance TD controls. Taken together, the results of this study add more support for the notion of automated low-level priming as one explanation of convergent functioning. Identified implications of these findings and proposals for future research are discussed.
Lexical Snap Cards The experimental materials comprised of 16 paired experimental items and 50 filler picture cards. An initial pool of 55 items which could be named by two different lexical choices was compiled by images provided by Snodgrass and Vanderwart (1980) and experimental items utilised by Branigan et al. (2011). The images were presented in a list alongside two lexical choices to name each picture; one lexical choice was a highly preferred name for the picture which was paired with a second less-preferred but equally appropriate word to name the picture. For example, an image of a mushroom was presented adjacent to the names ‘Mushroom’ and ‘Toadstool’. Ten adult participants were then asked to individually rate the appropriateness of each lexical choice for naming the pictures on a seven point Likert scale, with ‘1’ indicative that the lexical choice was completely inappropriate for naming the picture and ‘7’ indicative that the lexical choice was completely appropriate for naming for the picture. Additionally, using a forced choice paradigm each participant was required to indicate their preferred word choice for naming the picture from the two options provided. From this initial pool, twenty-four items were identified where both lexical choices had acceptability ratings above five and where there appeared a distinct majority preference for one word choice to name the picture (above 80%). Ten typically developing children (mean age: 9.7 years, range 9.2-10.1 years) were then asked to spontaneously provide names for these pictures in the absence of written or verbal prompts in order to further confirm the existence of a distinct lexical preference for each picture in child participants. A final list of 16 experimental items (see Appendix 1) was then selected where over 80% of children spontaneously used the word choices that had been preferentially indicated by adults to name the pictures. The final card set therefore comprised of 82 cards: the 16 paired experimental item picture cards (consisting of an experimenter prime card and subsequent matching participant target card), two sets of six matching filler ‘Snap!’ cards and 38 filler cards which pictured random objects. Each participant received the sixteen experimental items in a different order, split randomly each time between two experimental conditions that were introduced to assess both the presence and strength of language coordination over time and to eliminate the potential of immediate echolalia as an experimental confound in participants with ASD. In accordance with the design utilised by Slocombe et al. (2013), eight of the paired experimental items were split by two filler card interventions between the experimenter’s prime card and the participant’s target card, whilst the other eight paired experimental items were split by four filler card interventions between the prime and target cards (see Figure 1). Cards were also colour coded so that ‘Snap!’ was only possible when both the colour and the pictures on the experimenter’s prime and participant’s target cards matched, in order to avoid distractions in responses to the experimental items. The order of the filler and ‘SNAP!’ cards remained fixed throughout the trials. ‘Reading the Mind in the Eyes’ Task The first fourteen experimental items from the official ‘Reading the Mind in the Eyes’ test (Baron-Cohen, 2001 – child version) were utilised as measures of emotion recognition and social sensitivity; abilities that have been recurrently taken as indicators of Theory of Mind (ToM) functioning in children. ToM Book Additional to the ‘Reading the Mind in the Eyes’ task, children were also given a higher -order ToM assessment in order to obtain a more advanced measure of both social understanding and the abilities of participant’s to make inferences about the mental states of others. The story ‘The School Football Team’ developed by Liddle & Nettle (2006, story number 4) to investigate higher-order ToM functioning was presented pictorially to children in a story-book format and contained two scripted memory questions and a ToM question at the end (see Appendix 2). Shopping list game A commercially available child-appropriate board game was selected where it was possible that the experimenter could systematically manipulate the resultant winner of the game. The ‘Shopping List’ game by Orchard Toys is a picture-matching game designed for children with Verbal Mental Ages between three and six years and served as a quick experimental task where the outcomes could be reliably manipulated. Liking Scale In order to assess the resultant outcomes of the positive and neutral conditions on children’s affiliation to the experimenter, a picture sorting task was employed. Ten photographs that varied in content to include food, animals, people and events (e.g. baked beans, Spiderman and a giraffe) were obtained from an online picture database and constituted filler card items. The experimental item in this task was a head and shoulders photograph of the experimenter. Five line-drawing pictures of faces that varied in degrees of emotion from one (very unhappy face) through to five (very happy face) were then utilised as a pictorial adaptation of a Likert scale that was understandable to child participants. All participants received the pictures in same order, with the experimental item being placed at number eight out of the ten picture cards. Procedure Each participant was tested individually in a quiet room, away from distractions. Testing was divided between two sessions that were held approximately twenty-one days apart. During the first session participants completed the BPVS which took approximately ten minutes to administer and required children to select (either verbally or via pointing) a picture from a choice of four that depicted a word spoken by the experimenter. During this session children also completed the two ToM assessment tasks. For the Baron-Cohen ‘Reading the Mind in the Eyes’ task (2001-child version) each participant was firstly shown a practice example sheet depicting a photograph of a pair of eyes with the names of four different emotions surrounding them. Each child was asked to look at the eyes whilst the experimenter read aloud the four names in turn and was then asked to choose the emotion that they thought best described the eyes. After the practice trial had been successfully completed the same procedure was repeated for the fourteen experimental items, taking approximately five minutes in total. For the second higher-order ToM task, children were asked if they would like to read a story about two friends, Johnny and Bob. If the participant agreed then the experimenter and the child looked at the picture book together, with the experimenter reading the story aloud to each child. At the end of the story book children were then asked two scripted memory comprehension questions about the story in order to gain an indication of overall attention and comprehension of the story and a third scripted question that assessed higher-order ToM functioning. This task took less than five minutes to administer. In the second session participants were asked if they would like to play some more fun games with the experimenter. If the child agreed they were informed that the first game they would be playing was a race to find all of the items on their ‘shopping list’ and that the winner of this game would receive a prize. In this board game task both the experimenter and participant received a ‘shopping list’ and alternated attempts to turn over cards from a pile in the middle of the table in order to correctly identify items on their list. The first person to complete their ‘shopping list’ and identify all of their items was determined the winner, however by removing a card either on the experimenter’s shopping list or on the participant’s shopping list meant that the ‘winner’ of the game could be systematically manipulated. Six children in both the ASD and TD groups were allowed to win, whereas the other six children in each group played and lost. When children ‘won’ the game they received positive verbal reinforcement and praise from the experimenter (e.g. “Wow! You were brilliant at that game! You must be very clever”) and were allowed to choose a sticker as a reward (positive affiliation condition). In contrast, when children ‘lost’ the game the experimenter retained a strictly neutral manner towards the child and continued with the next task (e.g. “okay, shall we play the next game?” neutral affiliation condition). Immediately following this game, children were asked to sort some photographs according to how much they liked the things depicted in the pictures. Five images of faces that displayed varying emotional expressions were placed in a line on the table, going from one (a really unhappy face) through to five (a really happy face). Children were then given three examples of picture sorting by the experimenter e.g. “This is a picture of broccoli, I really hate broccoli and so I would give it a number one and put it in this pile”, “This is a picture of a cupcake, I really like cupcakes and so I would give it a number five and put it in this pile” and finally “This is a picture of the Queen, I don’t really like or really dislike the Queen and so I will give her a number three and put her in this pile”. Each child was then asked to sort the ten photographs in turn according to how much they liked the things depicted in the pictures whilst the experimenter busied herself ‘preparing the next task’. Finally, children were asked if they would like to play a fun game of ‘Snap!’ with the experimenter. If the child agreed then the experimenter explained the rules of the game; that ‘Snap!’ in this game occurred when cards were both the same picture and the same colour and that before deciding if it was ‘Snap!’ each player was firstly required to name the picture depicted on their card. In order to further establish these rules each child was then shown four sets of example picture cards; the first pair of cards had the same picture but were not the same colour (a pink penguin and a blue penguin), the second pair of cards were the same colour but did not have the same picture (a blue bell and a blue tie), the third pair had different colours and different pictures (a green carrot and a blue star) and the final pair had the same colour and the same picture (two green shoes) depicting ‘Snap!’. The child and the experimenter then played with these example cards until it became clear that the child understood the conditions that constituted ‘Snap!’ in this game. Following indication that the participant understood how to play the game, the experimenter and child took turns in taking the top card from their pre-ordered card pile, naming the picture on the card, before placing the card on the table and deciding if it was ‘Snap!’ The experimenter always began the game and utilised pre-scripted non-preferred word choices to name the pictures on the sixteen experimental item prime cards. When both the experimenter’s prime card and participant’s target cards both had the same picture and were the same colour it was ‘Snap!’ and the first person to shout this won the cards. At the end of the game the person who had won the most cards was determined the winner (the experimenter let all children win the game). This task took 5-10 minutes dependent upon the participant’s age and concentration and was digitally recorded for later transcription.
What impact does the model statement have on future intentions for liars and truth tellers?
liars manipulation model statement truth tellers veracity
Current literature states that there is a marked difference between statements given by truth tellers in comparison to liars. This difference is seemingly determined from when the cognitive load for participants is increased and liars struggle more. There is also evidence from distinctions in the linguistic make-up of the statements. Thirty-six undergraduate participants took part in a study exploring the effect of the model statement on truth tellers compared to liars when discussing a future event. All participants gave their first statement, then listened to the model statement before giving their second statement. Participants also filled out a questionnaire after completing the interview. All interviews were transcribed and analysed using CBCA, WMatrix and ANOVA. Results indicated that while there was a clear effect of the model statement, there was no significant effect of veracity from the CBCA and ANOVA analysis. On the other hand, WMatrix indicated differences in veracity. In conclusion, both truth tellers and liars were able to increase the amount of information between their first and second statements, thus providing an effect of the model statement. However, there were nevertheless distinct differences between the language used by participants under both conditions; suggesting that there are in fact marked differences between truth tellers and liars when discussing a future event.
The model statement (Appendix A) is a 734-word document and was replicated from Leal et al. (2015). It is known that the model statement had an effect in the Leal et al. (2015) experiment and therefore it seemed appropriate to remain consistent with using the exact same model statement for this study. The interview questions (Appendix B) were also adapted from the Leal et al. (2015) study. Questionnaires (Appendix C and Appendix D) were fashioned for each condition. The material for the questionnaires was largely developed for this experiment with the questions specifically tailored to relate to the interview. Both questionnaires contained a total of nine questions, a mix of Likert-scale and open-ended questions. A digirecorder was used to record all participant interviews. This study is a 2 (within factor: the manipulation through using the model statement) x 2 (between factor: the veracity, participants are either in the truth telling condition or the lying condition) mixed effects ANOVA. The experiment was carried out in two sections, the first being the interview and the second involving a questionnaire. Procedure Before completing the experiment, all participants were provided with an information sheet (Appendix E). Participants met with the researcher so that they could be briefed about their task: to discuss the day in which the participants would go and collect their degree results. In addition, the participants were given a consent form (Appendix F), which they were required to fill out in order to participate. Participants took part in the experiment individually. Once consent was given the participants were further briefed about which condition they would be participating in – either the truth telling condition or the lying condition. Participants were randomly assigned to one of the conditions. All participants were told as a baseline for the interview that the normality for collecting their degree results was that they would go to their subject department on the day, show their library card, and be given an envelope with their degree results in. Those participants placed in the Truth Telling condition (N = 16) were told to answer the questions asked by the interviewer as truthfully as possible to the best of their knowledge. Participants in the Lying condition (N = 17) were informed to lie when answering the interviewer’s questions. Participants in the lying condition were told that they could either lie about one element of the intended event or all aspects of it. A third party member, who was unaware of the participants’ veracity status, carried out the interview; this is how the interview was conduced in the Leal et al. (2015) experiment. During the interview the participants were asked the first question of “OK, just so I can understand, I am going to need you to take me to the day that you will collect your degree results, and tell me in as much detail as possible everything that will happen from before you collect your results through to you receiving your results”. Participants then gave their first statement in response to the question. Preceding this, all participants in both conditions were exposed to an example statement after the interviewer said, “I know that sometimes people are not sure just how much detail to include. In order to give you an idea of what I am looking for I'd like to play you an example of what we consider a detailed answer”. This example statement, known as the model statement was a recording of someone dictating the details of an event that has no relevance to what the participants were asked to talk about during the experiment. Following the model statement, the interviewer asked “OK, I know that wasn’t too relevant to your story but hopefully you have an idea of the amount of detail it takes for us to get a clear rounded idea of how the event will go! Could you now please tell me in as much detail as possible everything that will happen from before you collect your results through to you receiving your results” and the participants proceeded to give their second statement. Once the participants had completed the interview section of the experiment, they were given a questionnaire to fill out. The questionnaire was tailored to whichever condition they were allocated – there was a separate questionnaire for the Truth Tellers and the Liars. All participants in the lying condition were asked as part of their questionnaire to state the element(s) they had lied about. Data Analysis After the data collection, the participants’ interviews were transcribed and a primary analysis was performed using Criteria-Based Content Analysis (CBCA). There are a total of 19 possible criteria for analysing statements, however only a certain number were selected for the purpose of this study. The chosen criteria can be seen in table 1. Each statement was given a score corresponding with each individual criterion, leading to an overall CBCA score. Each criterion was scored between 0 and 2: 0, if the criterion is not found in the statement; 1 if it is a present, but only a small amount; and 2, if the criterion was found frequently throughout the statement. Following CBCA coding, the scores were analysed in SPSS using a repeated measures ANOVA, in which the overall scores for each of the statements could be compared. Table 1 List of criteria used for CBCA coding and the descriptions General Characteristics 1.Logical Structure Coherency of the statement in terms of not containing logical inconsistences or contradictions 2. Unstructured Production The presentation of the information in a (non) chronological order 3. Quantity of Details The inclusion of specific descriptions of place, time, persons, objects and events Specific Contents 4. Contextual Embedding Events being placed in time and location, and actions being connected with other daily activities and/or customs 5. Description of Interactions Information that interlinks at least the alleged perpetrator and witness 7. Unexpected Complications During the Incident Elements incorporated in the statement that are somewhat expected 8. Unusual Details Details of people, objects or events that are unique, unexpected or surprising but meaningful in the context 9. Superfluous Details Details in connection with the allegations that are not essential for the accusation 11. Related External Associations Events are reported that are not actually part of the alleged offence but are merely related to the alleged offence 12. Accounts of Subjective Mental State Development and change in feelings experienced at the time of the incident Motivated-Related Contents 14. Spontaneous Corrections Corrections that are made or information that is added to material previously provided in the statement without having been prompted by the interviewer 15. Admitting Lack of memory An unprompted interviewee admitting lack of memory either by saying “I don’t know” or “I don’t remember” Note. This list of criteria was adapted from Vrij, A. (2005). Criteria-Based Content Analysis: A Qualitative Review of the First 37 Studies. Psychology, Public Policy and Law. 11(1), 3-41 WMatrix (Rayson, 2008) was used in addition to CBCA and SPSS. All the statements were separated into files and uploaded onto WMatrix so that linguistic analysis could commence. WMatrix is a software program that allows for corpus linguistic analysis and comparison. It provides frequencies and percentages of how the words are distributed in a given text; it also lists the concordances for reference. It produces tables from the output for each comparison and ranks the words based on their log-likelihood. The log-likelihood is an indicator based on the difference among frequencies, in this instance how often a particular word is used by participants. The word count and interview duration were also calculated and used in the analysis.
Could eye movements provide a window into early signs of dementia? Investigating the relationship between eye movements and cognitive decline.
Past research has indicated a relationship between eye movement abilities and cognitive decline. Specifically, performances on the anti-saccade task and pro-saccade task have demonstrated a correlation with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) severity, suggesting that impairments in visual ability may be a potential biomarker for dementia. However, little research has investigated whether the same deficiency is present in more ecologically valid tasks. The current study therefore aimed to extend the dementia literature by examining eye movement abilities in individuals with AD when completing a task that required the visual exploration of videos. In order to investigate a disease effect, patients with AD were compared to healthy older controls. To explore age effects, the older controls were additionally compared to healthy younger controls. To attempt to replicate previous findings, all groups first completed both the pro-saccade and anti-saccade task, before subsequently completing a video task designed to require similar abilities as those necessitated by the anti-saccade task. The findings revealed clear qualitative differences between the age effect and the disease effect on the anti-saccade task, suggesting that AD is not purely an accelerated form of ageing. Furthermore, the results supported the contemporary literature, in that, patients with AD made more errors, and less corrected errors, on the anti-saccade task. In turn, these results advocate for the utilisation of the task as a biomarker of AD. However, this impairment did not translate to the videos task. These results suggest that certain conditions may be conducive to normal viewing behaviour in patients with AD, and thus may potentially indicate that the natural exploration of videos is not a reliable biomarker for AD.
For all saccade tasks, a repeated measures design was used, with group as the independent variable (AD, OC, and YC). For the PST there were 2 dependent variables: latency and amplitude (see appendix A for definitions). For the AST there were 5 dependent variables latency, amplitude, number of errors, corrected errors percentage, and corrected errors start time (see appendix B for definitions). For the videos a 3(Group: AD, OC, YC) x 2(Instructions: free view, instructed view) mixed design was used, with group as a between-subjects factor and instructions as a within-subjects factor. For each of the videos, dwell time was calculated as the dependent variable. A total of 25 AD, 17 OC and 37 YC completed the video task. Materials Eye tracking apparatus. An EyeLink Desktop 1000 eye-tracker was used at 1000Hz to record eye movements. Participants sat approximately 55cm away from the screen with their head on a chin rest to minimise movement. A 3x3 grid of sequentially appearing dots was used to calibrate participant’s dominant eye with the machine. Pro-saccade task. The PST provides a measure of involuntary responses to visual stimulus. The methods utilised in this study followed previously established procedures (Crawford et al., 2005). In order to centre the participant’s gaze, the trial commenced displaying a central fixation target for 1000 milliseconds. This target then disappeared for 200 milliseconds, before a peripheral target appeared for 2000 milliseconds either to the left or right of the initial central fixation target (at ± 4°). The direction was randomised in order to avoid predictive saccades. The inter-trial interval then took place for 1200 milliseconds. The next trial began when the central fixation point reappeared. The participant’s task was to look at the peripheral target as quickly and accurately as possible (see appendix C). There were 36 trials in total. Anti-saccade task. The AST provides a measure of inhibition. The task format was identical to the PST except here the participants were instructed to look as quickly as possible to the area, equidistant, but in the opposite direction to the peripheral target (mirror image) (see appendix D). There were 24 test trials in total and 4 practice trials. Video task. The video task required participants to watch four, 40 seconds long videos. Three of the videos were viewed three times by participants and consisted of clips from past events in history: the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, Neil Armstrong landing on the moon, and Gordon Brown and his family leaving Downing Street after losing the general election. Prior to each viewing of the video, participants were given different instructions relating to the video. On first viewing participants were instructed to freely watch the video, this was in order to elicit a bottom-up control of eye gaze to highly salient objects. On second viewing participants were asked questions relating to non-salient objects in order to elicit a top-down control of eye gaze. The fourth video, an advertisement for Hovis bread, was viewed only once by participants. Participants were asked to follow with their eyes one object for the entirety of the video. Full details of the questions are given in Appendix E. Procedure The experiment took place in a well-lit room with no distractions that may have garnered attention. Participants firstly received an information sheet that briefly explained the study (see appendix F). All participants then signed a consent form (see appendix G) to formally provide their consent to take part. Before each of the saccade tasks, participants were given time to ask any questions they had. Once they confirmed they understood the experiment, the test trials began. All groups completed the eye-tracking tasks in a pre-defined order. The PST was completed first to avoid carry-over effects previously reported by Roberts et al. (1994), followed by the AST, and lastly the videos task. Participants were offered breaks in-between each task to ensure they did not become distracted or bored. It took no longer than 45 minutes to complete all tasks. Once the experiment had finished, participants were handed a debrief sheet explaining the aims of the study (see appendix H). Analyses To analyse the videos, total dwell times to the question relevant interest areas were compared to total dwell times to these interest areas when the participants viewed the same video freely. For example, to analyse the trial were participants were asked to count the windows when viewing the Gordon Brown video, a number of interest areas were created around the windows (see appendix I). The total dwell times inside these areas were then compared to the total dwell times inside these areas when participants viewed the same video freely.
This is part of an on-going EPSRC funded MoDEM study approved by the NHS to Dr Crawford
The Impact of Spatial Locations Involving Schema Representations on False Memories
Schema, false memory, source monitoring, distinctiveness heuristic, object-location binding.
While numerous studies have investigated the effects of schema on false memories, few have looked at how schematic framework involving spatial locations have influenced levels of true and false memories in different age groups. For this study, two separate analyses were conducted; both analyses required participants to study four environment scenes, which contained schema- consistent objects that were placed in either schema-expected or schema-unexpected locations and schema- irrelevant objects. After each scene, a distractor task was presented, followed by the test scene. In the first analysis, false memory rates were examined by adding objects, which were not present during study, into test scenes; in the second analysis, false memory rates were assessed by shifting schema-consistent objects from a schema-expected to a schema-unexpected location or vice versa between study and test scene. In both analyses, target objects that remained in the same location for both study and test scenes assessed for true memories. Three different age groups were studied; younger children aged seven and eight, older children aged nine and ten, and adults who were university students. Results revealed that overall, adults were more schema-bound, and had significantly higher levels of true memories as well as significantly lower levels of false memories compared to younger and older children. Furthermore, schema-inconsistent objects attracted lower levels of false memories across all age groups. However, objects that shifted from a schema-unexpected to a schema-expected location yielded high false memories for object-location pairing. This study is of particular significance to the field of forensic psychology.
The experiment was programmed using a computer software called Psyscript and was run on a Mac laptop. Four different environments were used during the experiment, which were a kitchen, a living room, an office and a bathroom. For the practice run, a separate image, which was a seminar room, was used. All the photographs used were standardized across all four environments, with each photograph being 1300 x 864 pixels, to ensure that the quality and clarity of each photograph was the same. To every environment image, three different versions were prepared for the study scene, ensuring that all six of the schema-relevant target objects had the opportunity to appear in a schema-unexpected location, a schema-expected location, or not being present at all. Moreover, to every version, two test scenes were prepared, to create a variation between which of the target objects that were initially placed in schema-relevant or schema-irrelevant locations during study phase would be shifted during the test scene. Figure 1a is an example of a bathroom scene during study phase and Figure 1b is an example of the test scene for that version. The program had been set to ensure that the sequence of the four different environment images would be pseudo-randomized for counterbalancing purposes, in which all the scenes were presented once, whereas the versions and test scenes selected were randomized. Moreover, the target objects that were circled during the test scenes were also pseudo-randomized, in which each object would only be circled once. For the practice run, both the study scene and the test scene were presented in a hardcopy form, which was laminated. Two separate slips of paper were prepared, one being “Was this object anywhere in this picture before?” for the participants allocated to the Presence condition, and “Was this object in this place before?” for the participants allocated to the Location condition. The paper slips containing the questions were left on the table for participants to refer to. Figure 1a The above image depicts version 1 of the bathroom scene. The two target objects in schema-expected locations are the shampoo and toothpaste, whilst the two target objects in the schema-unexpected locations are the mirror and toilet brush, and the schema-irrelevant objects are the file, glove, toy. Figure 1b The above image depicts Test 1 of Version 1 of the bathroom scene. The mirror has now been shifted from a schema-unexpected location to a schema-expected location whilst the toothpaste remains in the same position. The shampoo has now been shifted to a schema-unexpected location. The toilet paper and weighing scale, which was previously not present during the study scene is now present in the schema-expected and schema-unexpected location respectively, with the toilet paper being circled for the participant to respond to. The schema-irrelevant objects that were added were the jacket, pencil case and handbag. Design: This study consists of two analyses; to address the two research questions. First regarding whether location affects true and false memories, and second, to see what shifts in location do to memory for the original object memory (condition 1) and object-location pairing (condition 2). The first analysis investigates the true and false memories involving objects that were present and not present at study, whilst the second analysis investigates the true and false memories toward objects that were present at study and were later shifted during the test scene. Hence, a mixed ANOVA design was used to address the first of these questions. The within-subject independent variables include the study (present, not present), and the schema appropriateness of the object location (schema-expected, schema-unexpected, irrelevant). The between- subjects factors include the conditions (presence, location) and age groups (younger children, older children, adults). The “yes” responses for the objects that were present in both scenes but not shifted and objects that were not present during the study scenes but were present in the test scene were analyzed. For objects that were shifted during the study and test scenes, the within-subjects factor was schema (schema-expected, schema-unexpected), and the shifting of objects (shift, no shift). The between-subjects factors include the conditions (Presence, Location) and age groups (younger children, older children and adults). The dependent variable was the accuracy of responses given, to compare the difference between objects that shifted and objects that did not shift. Procedure: The experiment consisted of a study phase, a distracter task and a test phase, which took an estimated 10 minutes to complete and was conducted in an unoccupied learning classroom, in the Burnley Primary School, whereby participants were individually tested. Each participant was required to undergo a practice run before the actual experiment took place, to ensure that the participant had understood what he or she had to do. In the practice run, the laminated image of the seminar room was presented alongside the paper slip with either the Presence question or the Location question, depending on which condition the participant had been assigned to. The participants were given 12 seconds to study the image. After 12 seconds, the participant was presented with another image with several target objects circled, in which the objects would be pointed to one by one by the researcher. The participant would then be prompted to verbally respond if they had either seen that object anywhere before during the study scene or if that object had been in that location before during the study scene. For both conditions, the participants were instructed to press either the “Y” or “N” key on the keyboard in response to whether they had seen the circled object anywhere in the picture before during the study phase (Presence condition), or if they had seen the circled object in that particular location before were it the Location condition. Once the participants acknowledged that they had understood, they were presented with the actual experiment. Each participant was required to study four different environments, in which one of three versions would be selected for every environment. Each study scene would last for 12 seconds for the participant to study, and then a distracter task would immediately appear. The distracter task, which lasted for 30 seconds, required the participant to hit any key on the keyboard whenever a specified animal (eg: giraffe, frog, hippopotamus) appeared. A green tick would appear every time the participant successfully presses a key before the specified animal disappears. Once 30 seconds was up, the distracter task would end, and one of two of the test scenes for that environment would appear. A total of twelve objects would be circled sequentially, with the next object only being circled 0.5s after the participant had given a response. Depending on which condition the participant was in, once every object had been circled, the participant would be required to respond to the question “was this object anywhere in this picture before?” (Presence condition), or “was this object in this place before?’ (Location condition). If the participant, who was in the ‘presence’ condition, deemed that the object was somewhere in the picture before, he or she would respond by pressing the “Y” for Yes on the keyboard; if it was deemed to not be in the picture before, the participant would then press the “N” for No on the keyboard. The same thing was conducted for the Location condition. Once the participant had responded to all 12 objects, a different environment scene would appear and the participant would be required to repeat the process until all four scenes had been shown.
Sketch Mental Reinstatement of Context: A Comparison of Autistic and Typically Able Children’s Drawings
The increasing number of children coming into contact with the criminal justice system is prompting further research into interviewing children. There is a lack of research in the area of children with developmental disorders such as autism (Mcrory, Henry & Happe, 2007). As sketching is one of the domains in which children develop favourably in comparison to their age matched peers it could be utilised in order to gain the most information. Sketch MRC has been used on typically developing individuals and has been very beneficial for a variety of reasons such as; gives structure to narrative, lessens cognitive demand of interviewer and also lessens social demand of interview. This study aims to see whether content and style of the drawings of typically developing and autistic group are similar. Also correlating data in the sketch to data from the interview recall would give insight into how the act of drawing may be beneficial. A group of 30 children who were either typically developing or autistic were split into 3 groups depending on the results of BPVS 3 and RPM. All children watched a film stimulus and were then asked to recall as much information as possible in a sketch MRC condition. The drawings were then analysed. Autistic children’s sketches when compared with mental ability matched children showed similarities in; number of salient items, number of items drawn, representational detail, detail in human figure drawings, number of correct, incorrect and confabulation as well as accuracy. A regression model indicated correct number of items recalled in verbal transcript significantly predicted the correct number of items in the sketch. By presenting a significant relationship between number of correct items sketched and recalled it can be said the act of drawing is useful in the sketch MRC condition. This indicates that the sketch MRC condition is just as useful for the autistic individuals as it is for the TD individuals.
A between subject’s experimental design was employed with two independent variables: Group, with two levels: (i) autistic, (ii) typically developed, and Mental ability: low, intermediate, and high. The dependent variable was the drawings which were produced during the interview and were coded using a top down coding scheme measuring the number of correct, incorrect, confabulated items of recall and accuracy. Content including representational detail of human figure drawing and what the individual focuses whether it is on people or the environment. Qualitative analysis attempts to uncover a range of issues such as; is structure used in the sketch, whether the sketches depict movement or a still image, the detail with which the items are drawn, and if the sketch demand interaction. Materials Film stimulus – Each child individually viewed a non-violent crime film exactly one minute in duration. The stimulus film was one which had been previously used in police training sessions. Keeping in mind ethical guidelines the clip shown had no abuse or violence. The film depicted a busy road with a roundabout, two people walk from around the corner and into a shop. Moments later the two individuals run out of the shop with another individual chasing after them. The clip then ends. The British Picture Vocabulary Scale: Third Edition (BPVS3) is used in order to act as a distracter task but also determine the child’s mental ability. The BPVS3 plays an important role in assessing a child’s receptive vocabulary, from 3 years up to 16 years of age. Ravens Progressive Matrices (RPM) is also required not only to act as a distracter task but also determine the child’s mental ability. The RPM is a nonverbal group test ranging from 5 year olds to the elderly. It consists of 60 multiple choice questions listed in order of difficulty. iPad was used to show children the film stimulus with approximately a 8-inch screen. The child was able to hold the iPad themselves to watch the film stimulus. Procedure Each child was individually taken from their class and shown the film stimulus by an assistant teacher. The researcher did not show the clip to the child, as the child was led to believe that the researcher has never seen the clip before. This was done to make sure the child recalled as much information as possible, and did not presume the researcher already knew it all. Once they had watched the entire film stimulus, the child was brought into a different room by the researcher. The researcher then began to carry out the BPVS3. When this was completed the child was asked to work through the RPM and complete the 60 questions. This allowed the child and researcher to build a rapport and also acted as a distracter task from the film stimulus. The researcher then explained to the child that for the next part of the experiment the child’s voice would be recorded. The child was asked for their permission and if the child agreed the researcher explained that recording was about to begin. The child was then asked to recall as much information about the video clip as possible, and asked to draw what they remember. Once they had began drawing they were then asked about their drawing with questions such as ‘what is it that you are drawing there?’ They were given as much time as required to complete the drawing. Once the drawing was completed, the child was asked to tell the researcher about everything they remembered, and told they were free to use the drawing to help them in the explanation. After the child had told the researcher about everything they remembered in a free recall phase, the child was questioned on what they remembered. For example, if the child said there were two people, the researcher would try and gain some in depth information about these people. The child was then thanked for taking part in the experiment and told that their parent or guardian will be given a gift voucher for them to spend. Scoring The drawings produced by autistic and typically developed children were coded alongside the transcripts from the interview to aid the understanding of the drawings. A similar approach was successfully adopted in Campbell, Sicovdal, Mupambireyi and Greyson (2010) as it minimised the analysts’ subjective interpretation of the drawings. However, the transcripts themselves were not analysed as they form the dataset of another PhD project. The rationale for using the transcripts is to aid understanding of the drawing is offered by Each drawing was analysed using a three-step framework (see Fig.1) which started by analysing to what extent sketches represented the event that was witnessed. This was done to determine whether the sketch was successful in depicting the TBR event. The second step involved further analysing the items in the drawing, focusing on correctness. The final step examined representational detail and differences in what groups focussed upon, as well as qualitative analysis. The first step of analysis shed light on the overarching aim of the study and to gain an idea about how the sketches depicted an illustration of the film stimulus. A gross measure of the sketches was taken, which took into consideration the total number of attributes, to give an understanding of how detailed these sketches were. To determine whether the sketches successfully depicted what was shown in the film stimulus, the five most salient aspects of the TBR event were defined as follows: a road, cars, two individuals, shop, and another individual (the victim). One mark was awarded for each aspect depicted in the sketch, giving a possible total completeness score of 5. The following step in analysis was to bring to attention correctness scores. Every item drawn in the sketch was determined as correct, incorrect (sketching one person going into the shop instead of two) or a confabulation (sketching a detail that was not present in the film stimulus). Accuracy was calculated by dividing total number of correct items sketched by total number of items. The items were then divided into three groups whether they illustrated people or environment. Using the PhD projects data a correlation is carried out to see whether total number of items and total number of correct items depicted in the sketch correlates with total number of items and total number of correct items recalled in the transcript. This would help understand how useful the act of sketching rather than focusing on the sketches content. As it was of essence to capture representational details human figure drawings were recognised on their complexity according to Cox and Parkins (1986) classification system of human figure drawings. In this stage data will be analysed qualitatively in order to gain a better understanding of the sketches. Figure 1. Concepts guiding analysis of drawings.
Carer adaptation to childhood epilepsy: The role of the Epilepsy Specialist Nurse.
Positive carer adaptation to childhood epilepsy is essential as poor adaptation can be detrimental to child behaviour outcomes. Fulfilment of carer psycho social and informational need is important to facilitate successful adaptation to childhood epilepsy. The role of the Epilepsy Nurse Specialists (ESN) is well suited to meet psychosocial need and so ESNs are hypothesised to improve carer adaptation and in turn child behaviour. This study investigated carer adaptation in geographical areas in the north of England with and without ESN provision using telephone interviews with carers of children with epilepsy. It was found that ESN provision had no significant effect on carer adaptation, psycho social needs of the carer, or child behaviour. Reasons for why no effect was found is attributed to the significant difference in condition severity and comorbidity between the groups that require more complex care needs. Limitations and future research directions are discussed.
1. Parent Response to Child Illness (PRCI). Participants were assessed in three outcome measures. 2. Parent Report of Psychosocial Care Scale (PRPCS). The second area of assessment was carers' perceived need for information and support. 3. Child Behaviour Checklist (CBCL). The third measure is a measure of child behaviour using the CBCL (Achenbach & Rescorla, 2001). 4. Hague Seizure Severity Scale (HASS). Participants were also asked to provide information relating to their child's seizure severity, their mental health and demographic information so intergroup comparisons could be made. 5. General Health Questionnaire (GHQ). Mental health of the carer was assessed using the short form of the GHQ (Goldberg & Hillier, 1979). 6. Demographic Information. Additionally participants were asked to complete a questionnaire containing demographic information, and also information relating to age of seizure onset, time of last seizure, seizure frequency, anti-epileptic drug (AED)therapy and adherence to this medication.
Testing The Validity of Videogame Modifications for Psychological Research
An experiment consisting of 40 participants sampled from both Lancaster University and the Sefton area investigated the validity of using video game modifications (Mods) to construct more reliable testing methods for video game research. Mods are additions to video game code that allow the manipulation of various otherwise unattainable features. It is typical of research in this area to use two different games when attempting to manipulate one variable, this often results in a failure to compare like for like leaving various extraneous variables unaccounted for. Building upon the work of Böche (2009), this present research uses a program Garry’s Mod to construct identical variations that were relatable to popular current games while attempting to manipulate a single variable, violence. Participants played both an antisocial and prosocial variation of the same game and were asked to fill out a survey documenting their opinions on the game and its traits. It was predicted that while features such as graphics, maps, difficulty and the player’s performance in the game would not differ, the self reported violence participants experienced between variations would significantly differ. Predicted trends were observed in ratings of violence t(39) = -22.06, p < .001 and whether the player character’s actions were perceived as prosocial t(39) = -14.64, p < .001. Contrary to predictions, participant’s reported enjoyment t(39) = -4.55, p< 0.001 and the similarity of the game mission to the current game market t(39) = -6.37, p < 0.001 also differed significantly between variations. The implications are discussed throughout the paper.
Participants were randomly allocated into two groups. The first group (“antisocial first”) played and answered questions concerning the antisocial version before then playing and answering questions concerning the prosocial version. The order was reversed for participants in the second group (“prosocial first”). Antisocial first. The group that played as soldiers first consisted of 14 males and 6 females. The ages of this sample ranged from 18 to 31 years with a mean of 22.25 and a standard deviation of 2.49. Prosocial first. A group of 14 males, 5 females and one individual who abstained from recording gender played the medic scenario first. The ages ranged from 19 to 26 years, with a mean of 22.3 standard deviation of 1.87. Task, Materials and Apparatus Several specialized items were required to set up and conduct this research. In order to attract participants, an email was sent to the Psychology students of Lancaster University as well as several flyers positioned around the department (See Appendix). These adverts offered a chance to win a £20 Amazon gift card for participation and provided individuals with the e-mail of researchers in order to set up meetings. Hardware. Data was collected using a Macbook Pro with a 13 inch screen. The laptop had a 2.5 GHz (Gigahertz) dual core processor, 4 GB (Gigabytes) of RAM (Random Access Memory), 500 GB Hard Drive memory space and an Intel HD Graphics 4000 graphics card. As well as the Macbook, an apple MagSafe power adapter, a wired optical mouse, a mouse mat and a USB powered laptop cooling pad were used (See Appendix). Software. The Macbook Pro operated the Mountain Lion operating system by Apple and several programs were required to run this experiment. Questionnaires concerning demographic information and perceptions of video games were created using an online research suite, Qualtrics. The questionnaire consisted of three sections (See Appendix). Firstly, participants were asked to input their demographic information such as age and gender, and information relating to their video game playing habits (“If you play video games, please tell us the name of your favourite video game?”, “Please tell us approximately how many hours per week you spend playing your favourite game?”). Some questions had pre-written responses, for example, the question regarding a participant’s gender could be answered as ‘☻ Male’, ‘☻ Female’ or ‘☻ Prefer not to say’. However, some questions were purposefully left open to response (e.g. How many hours a week do you spend playing video games?). The second and third section of the survey asked each individual to give responses to questions about the game they had previously played. These two sections were identical but the order of each item had been randomised in an attempt to reduce demand characteristics. The questions of most importance to the current study regarded how violent the participant felt the game they played was, as well as whether the actions of the video game character they controlled could be considered as prosocial or antisocial. Each question measured responses using a 7-point Likert scale beginning at 0 (“not at all”) and ending with 6 (“completely”). The first exception to this rule was that the question ‘To what extent was your virtual character behaving in a prosocial or antisocial manner?’ by using a scale beginning at -3 and ending with 3. The second exception to this rule was an item asking participants to read the Pan European Game Information (PEGI) definitions for age ratings of video games while asking them to estimate an age rating for the game they had previously played, the scale for this question was a 6-point Likert scale with the options 3+, 7+, 12+, 16+, 18+. To both construct and run the video game, the first program required was ‘Steam’ a digital video game client created by the company Valve to sell and store video games. Using Steam, Garry’s Mod was purchased to create and edit virtual environments and video game levels through a user-friendly interface featuring weapons, characters, miscellaneous objects and commands. A second game, Counter-Strike, was downloaded using Steam and provided the virtual environments that participants played in. Using Garry’s Mod, two versions of a game were created. In each version, there were 20 non-player characters (NPCs) scattered around the map for the player to locate and interact with; both variations had NPCs in the same starting location and a limited area in which they were allowed to move. When playing as a soldier, participants were told they had been sent to an enemy base and were tasked to eliminate all forces inside using the SMG. Whereas the medic scenario began under the pretence that the player character was a doctor sent to a quarantined facility to treat contaminated patients using a medikit. Players were informed to expect hostility during the antisocial variation, but were also made aware that 20 health vials scattered around the map to prevent the death of their virtual character. For the medic scenario, participants were informed that quarantined individuals purposefully avoid contact with their character, meaning they would often have to pursue the patient to administer treatment. Participants received no indication from the game as to whether an NPC had previously been treated; however, there was no penalty for giving the same NPC treatment twice. Design The study consists of a 2 level within-subject design whereby the independent variable is the version of the video game being played by: the soldier version or the medic version. Though both game environments have been designed to be identical, when individuals play as a solider they are asked to find and kill 20 enemy targets, whereas in while playing as a medic they are required to find and treat 20 contaminated patients. Procedure Having displayed interest in taking part in the study, participants were contacted by researchers to arrange a time and location to meet. Once a quiet area that would support the use of a computer with a Wi-Fi connection was found, participants were seated at a desk 20 cm from the MacBook. Before proceeding, participants were given a Participant Information Sheet (Appendix), which informed them that their participation was voluntary, that they could withdraw at any time and that their data was both anonymous and confidential. Participants were then provided with and asked to sign a consent form (see Appendix). Participants were given a 5-minute tutorial on the video game controls and mission aims. Participants then completed the demographic questionnaire, which was presented to them on the laptop. Participants indicated their name, gender, age and video game playing habits (see Appendix). Once the demographic questionnaire had been completed, participants played the first version of the video game. Participants in the soldier-first condition played the antisocial version requiring them to shoot other virtual characters. Participants explored using only the keyboard buttons ‘A’, ‘W’, ‘S’, ‘D’ and the mouse, each individual navigated an unfamiliar map searching for 20 NPCs and interacted with them using the left mouse button. A time limit of ten minutes was given for both play throughs while the researcher monitored the amount of soldiers killed or patients saved. After each variation was completed, participants answered a questionnaire on their experience playing the game, such as how similar was the mission given to them compared to games they usually play or how violent they felt the game was. Both questionnaires asked the same 9 questions, however the order in which these were presented was randomised in an attempt to reduce demand characteristics. After completing both games and their corresponding questionnaires, participants received a debriefing sheet outlining the expected findings and participants were given the chance to ask any questions they had about the study. Lastly, each individual was thanked for taking part and asked to provide a method of contact so that they might be informed if they won the Amazon gift card. Every participant agreed to have his or her data statistically analysed. Raw data was collected from Qualtrics and exported into an excel file, observations taken on video game performance (e.g number of patients saved) was added manually by the researchers. The dataset was then exported as a .csv file to be investigated using R Studio.
National Identity of chinese overseas student
Since 21st century, with the development of global and China’s economy, an increasing number of Chinese students preferred study abroad. Chinese oversea students are very special group. They were influenced by the traditional Chinese culture and education. They also accept Western education and thought. This research aims to investigate whether the study-abroad experience will affect Chinese oversea students’ national identity. 35 Chinese students who are studying in UK and 35 Chinese students who are studying in China completed the questionnaire which assessed national identity. All questionnaires sent to the participants by email. According to the results of this study, Chinese students who are studying in UK did not show significant differences in national identity by compared with the Chinese students who are studying in China. Results of current study also indicated that Chinese students’ ethnocentrism scores were marginally higher than Chinese oversea students.
The national identity was assessed using the National Identity Scale. The National Identity Scale has five factors: membership, private, public, Identity and comparison. On a 7-point Liker Scale, participants reported their agreement (1 = strongly disagree, 7 = strongly agree) with items. Ethnocentrism was measured with the Revised Ethnocentrism Scale, on a 5-point Liker scale, participants indicated their agreement (1 = strongly disagree, 5 = strongly agree) with statements.
Recalling Memories of Childhood Bullying: Links Between Early Victimisation and Anxiety in Adulthood
Objectives: This study investigated the relationship between retrospective reports of bullying (primary school, secondary school and general experiences of bullying) with social anxiety (SAD), generalised anxiety (GAD) and grit (perseverance). Method: Demographic information was obtained from participants (n=147) as well as measures from primary school bullying, secondary school bullying and general bullying experiences utilising the Retrospective Bullying Questionnaire (RBQ; Schafer et al., 2004). The Social Phobia Inventory (Connor et al., 2000) measured social anxiety in participants, the Penn State Worry Questionnaire (Meyer et al., 1990) assessed general anxiety and the Grit Test (Duckwoth et al., 2007) evaluated participant’s determination. Results: There was evidence that primary school bullying was associated with higher levels of GAD whilst higher levels of SAD were associated with general bullying experiences. There was no evidence to suggest that the individual difference measure of grit impacted upon anxiety for participants. The results support previous studies which have linked anxiety disorders in adulthood to earlier experiences of bullying
In the Retrospective Bullying Questionnaire (RBQ) (Schafer et al., 2004), there are a number of sections, three of which were used in this study. The first looks at bullying in primary school, the second at bullying in secondary school and the third section at general bullying behaviour. The general bullying behaviour section concentrated on the long-term effects of any bullying the participants had experiences of in primary or secondary school. This section asked such questions as “Do you ever have dreams or nightmares about the bullying events?” and “Do you ever feel distressed in situations which remind you of the bullying event(s)?” (appendix A). This questionnaire was subject to intensive pilot studies by Schafer et al. (2004) and insight was gained from the success of Rivers (2001) study which also utilised a retrospective measure. Reliability of the RBQ was assessed in the Schafer et al. study, which found a good level of test-retest reliability (Spearman correlation coefficients, primary school r=.88, secondary school r=.87). The Social Phobia Inventory is a 17-item self-report questionnaire (Connor et al., 2000) that screens for social anxiety disorder and assesses the acuteness of such a disorder. The measure has three subsections which evaluate key symptoms of SAD: fear of social situations, avoidance of social situations and physiological discomfort within social situation. Each item is rated on a scale from zero to four. Scores ranged from 0 to 68, and a cut off score of 19 or above distinguishes between healthy controls and SAD sufferers. The SPIN has previously demonstrated good internal consistency as well as suitable test-retest reliability. The Penn State Worry Questionnaire (Meyer, Miller, Metzger & Borkovec, 1990) is a 16-item questionnaire which has been considerably utilised in existing studies to measure generalised anxiety disorder in participants. This questionnaire has been shown to differentiate between different anxiety disorders, e.g. General anxiety sufferers score higher than phobics (Meyer et al., 1990). The scoring for questions 1, 3, 8, 10 and 11 were reverse scored for the analysis. Each answer is scored on a five point likert-type scale ranging from 1= not at all typical to 5= very typical. The scores could range from 16 to 80 where the average score in a “normal” student population was 49. The average score in a GAD population was 68 for men and women (Hawkins, 2008). The Grit Test (Duckworth, Peterson, Matthews, & Kelly, D.R. (2007) is 12-item questionnaire which considers how ‘gritty’ a person you are. It looks at how you face challenges as a person and what your reaction to them is. The scores are added up and divided by 12. The maximum score on this scale is 5 (extremely gritty), and the lowest scale on this scale is 1 (not at all gritty). This measure was included as a personality measure to explore if there are any links between what type of person you are, and whether this affects if you are bullied or not. Procedure Following the briefing sheet, participants received a consent form to inform them of the nature of the study, their participation requirements, and their right to withdraw should they so wish. Once consent was gained, participants were asked to provide some demographic information on the following: gender, age, educational achievement, relationship status, ethnicity and employment status. For the purposes of analysis, females were coded as 1, whilst males were coded as 2. Questionnaires made up the materials for this research project. Once participants had completed these they were informed of the end of the study and given more insight into the nature of the study. Participants were also given helplines and details of advisory websites, where they could go if they felt they had been affected by the nature of the research. The information for two journal articles whose research has facets of the current research were given, so that participants could gather more information if they so wished
An Exploration of the Use and Effectiveness of Nature Imagery, Metaphor, and Symbolism in Advertising.
Nature imagery in advertising, symbolism in advertising, metaphors in advertising
Core participation of nature imagery, indoor scenery, visual metaphor, and literal image in the construction of commercials and advertising industry has been established through repeated research. The current study aims to deeper investigate regarding the role of two specific components of aesthetic communication (nature imagery, poetry) in advertising. Results suggested that between nature imagery and indoor scenery there was a significant preference to nature imagery. However, results from the comparison between visual metaphor and literal image indicated a more divided outcome with participants suggesting that both presented as equally appealing. Overall, our results suggest that nature imagery was established to be the most significant component towards forming an appealing advertisement. We indicated that further research could investigate and highlight the effectiveness of other mediator components of aesthetics (verbal language, humour, music, etc) in advertising.
In all focus groups, a digital voice recorder was used for further analysis. The first selected pair of ads, with indoor and outdoor imageries, was about Coca-Cola brand. At the first Coca Cola’s ad film, which was broadcasted for the first time in 2010, participants had the chance to watch two young people inside an overcrowded bus. Even if these two passengers were completely strangers, they finally broke the ice between them, thanks to an invisible Coca-Cola bottle. At the second Coca-Cola’s commercial, diversity in terms of gender, religion and race, within the United States of America, was presented. At the same time, the viewers were given the opportunity of admiring some of the most breathtaking landscapes in USA. The second selected pair of ads, in terms of connotative and denotative imageries, was about Smirnoff brand. At the Smirnoff’s connotative commercial, there were clear signs that its creators intended to show temptation and seduction. From the beginning it was clear that the starring couple was meant to represent a modern day Adam and Eve. As the music picked up, snakes appeared from the bartender’s sleeves to help make an Apple Bite and the customers got up to dance in a fast-paced song. The bartender was leading ‘Adam and Eve’ to the apple flavour cocktail and the fast-paced music suggested that something big would happen if the drink was taken. This also insinuated that the drink was so desirable that they would not be able to resist the apple drink. At the denotative one, there was a stylish, classy man that was just listing the values of Smirnoff vodka. The initial 40 advertisements were selected randomly from Coloribus.com (See Appendix H for full links) an online databases for commercials and advertisements. Data analysis Responses to the focus groups’ questions were thematically analyzed. The current research followed the six step thematic analysis approach as described by Braun and Clarke (2006). Notes of detailed observation were used to generate and apply codes to the qualitative data and to identify potential themes, as the small sample gave us that opportunity.