Copyright (c) 2009 All rights reserved. http://works.bepress.com/stephen_crites Recent documents in Stephen L Crites Jr. en-us Mon, 16 Nov 2009 23:25:23 PST 3600 http://works.bepress.com/stephen_crites/16 http://works.bepress.com/stephen_crites/16 Sun, 15 Nov 2009 20:46:12 PST Stephen L. Crites http://works.bepress.com/stephen_crites/15 http://works.bepress.com/stephen_crites/15 Sun, 15 Nov 2009 20:29:20 PST The evaluative categorizations that underlie affective and attitudinal judgments have often been equated with nonevaluative categorizations despite the central importance of evaluative processes for survival. In the present experiment, a late positive potential (LPP) of the event-related brain potential elicited when participants evaluatively categorized food items as positive or nonpositive was compared with the LPP elicited when participants semantically (i.e., nonevaluatively) categorized food items as vegetable or nonvegetable. Results revealed that evaluative categorizations evoked an LPP that was relatively larger over the right than the left scalp regions compared with the LPP evoked by nonevaluative categorizations. This finding provides evidence regarding the differences in neural and cognitive processes involved in evaluative and nonevaluative categorizations. Stephen L. Crites Attitudes http://works.bepress.com/stephen_crites/14 http://works.bepress.com/stephen_crites/14 Sun, 15 Nov 2009 19:30:08 PST The authors recently developed a paradigm to investigate the evaluative categorization stage of attitudes using event-related brain potentials (ERPs). The present series of 5 studies with a total of 118 Ss extended this approach by analyzing the spatial topography of the ERP over the lateral scalp region to address complementary questions regarding the nature of operations underlying the evaluative categorization stage of attitude processing. Consistent with the hypothesis that evaluative categorizations engage mechanisms associated with hedonic or global language processing, results revealed that the standardized amplitudes of the late positive potential of the ERP during evaluative categorization were larger over the right than the left scalp region, whereas nonevaluative categorizations were associated with a symmetrically distributed ERP across the left and right scalp regions. John T. Cacioppo Attitudes http://works.bepress.com/stephen_crites/13 http://works.bepress.com/stephen_crites/13 Sat, 14 Nov 2009 06:07:01 PST In two experiments, we explored the utility of using event-related brain potentials (ERPs) evoked during picture recognition to examine the cognitive and neural processes underlying primacy and recency effects. Each experiment consisted of 210 trials in which a recognition probe followed a 12-picture sequence (105 match and 105 nonmatch trials). The 105 match-probe trials consisted of 35 trials in which the probe matched a prime memory set item (Positions 1–3), 35 in which the probe matched a middle memory set item (Positions 6–8), and 35 in which the probe matched a recent memory set item (Positions 10–12). Behavioral results revealed recency but not primacy effects in both experiments. Recent probes, compared with prime and middle probes, evoked ERPs that were more positive from approximately 300 to 400 ms; this enhanced positivity occurred in a positive component peaking around 315 ms and a negative component peaking around 365 ms. These findings fit more closely with the notion of short-term memory as an activation of elements in long-term memory than as a distinct memory store (or stores) separate from long-term memory. Stephen L. Crites Memory http://works.bepress.com/stephen_crites/12 http://works.bepress.com/stephen_crites/12 Sat, 14 Nov 2009 05:33:04 PST This experiment investigated whether hunger selectively influences attitudes toward common food items. Ss completed a take-home questionnaire on which they rated their attitudes toward food and non-food items when they were either hungry (45 Ss) or not hungry (45 Ss); after returning the questionnaire, Ss completed a second take-home questionnaire in the opposite hunger condition. Results of both between-subject and within-subject analyses revealed that Ss rated foods more positively when hungry compared to not hungry and that there was no difference in the ratings of nonfoods when hungry vs not hungry. Moreover, attitudes toward high-fat foods changed more as a function of hunger than attitudes toward low-calorie foods. As attitudes are important for guiding behavior, these results suggest that food attitudes influence daily eating patterns and consumer decisions regarding food purchases. The findings may also have important health implications because hunger exerts a greater influence on attitudes toward high-fat foods. Dora I. Lozano Food Attitudes http://works.bepress.com/stephen_crites/11 http://works.bepress.com/stephen_crites/11 Wed, 11 Nov 2009 21:03:37 PST Examined whether event-related potentials (ERPs) associated with stimulus repetition and recognition in a serial-probe recognition task were comparable to ERPs in other tasks that are more typically used to investigate old/new ERP effects. The experiment consisted of 320 trials in which a recognition probe followed a four-item memory set; 160 trials consisted of images depicting common objects that were easy to label (EL task), and 160 trials consisted of images depicting abstract patterns that were difficult to label (DL task). 19 Ss indicated whether a probe that followed each memory set was or was not presented in the memory set. Half of the probes matched, and half did not match, an item in the preceding memory set. ERPs appeared to reflect two processes-one that differentiated between recently presented stimuli and other stimuli and another that distinguished between repeated stimuli and new stimuli. ERPs to recent probes were more positive than ERPs to other probes in the EL and DL tasks. ERPs to match (old) probes were more positive than ERPs to nonmatch (new) probes only in the EL task. Stephen L. Crites Memory http://works.bepress.com/stephen_crites/10 http://works.bepress.com/stephen_crites/10 Wed, 11 Nov 2009 20:50:08 PST Comments on the J. R. Rossiter et al (see record 2001-01255-001) study of brain electrical activity accompanying visual recognition of TV commercials in long-term memory. According to S. L. Crites and S. N. Aikman-Eckenrode, although it would be useful to be able to predict which scenes in a commercial would be best remembered by examining physiological responses to the initial presentation of a commercial, it is very premature to conclude that the study by Rossiter et al has found a means of doing so. Stephen L. Crites http://works.bepress.com/stephen_crites/9 http://works.bepress.com/stephen_crites/9 Wed, 04 Nov 2009 20:47:52 PST We reviewed the literature on affect, with a special emphasis on affective experience. We proposed a taxonomy of affective experience that distinguishes types, qualities, and aspects of affective experience. Different types of affective experience have different origins and have different consequences for the formation and change of attitudes. Emotions and sensory affects are more likely to have lasting effects on attitudes than moods. A salient distinction between qualities of affective experience is valence (pleasant vs. unpleasant). Recent evidence of mixed feelings suggests that pleasure and displeasure are distinct affective qualities. One important avenue for future research is relating mixed affective experience to ambivalent attitudes (Priester & Petty, 1996). We also believe that attitude research can benefit from the distinction among aspects of affective experience. Some attitudes may be based on a few intense experiences, whereas others may be based on frequent mild affective experiences. Finally, the rapid progress in affective neuroscience provides new opportunities to study the neurological underpinning of the affective component of attitudes. Ulrich Schimmack Affect http://works.bepress.com/stephen_crites/8 http://works.bepress.com/stephen_crites/8 Tue, 03 Nov 2009 08:19:55 PST Two studies were conducted to identify the informational bases of food attitudes. Study I was an exploratory study in which participants indicated the importance of food characteristics and emotional reactions for determining their attitudes toward a variety of foods. On the basis of a series of exploratory factor analyses, 5 informational bases of food attitudes were identified: positive affect, negative affect, specific sensory qualities, abstract cognitive qualities, and general sensory qualities. A second confirmatory study corroborated the appropriateness of this 5-factor structure. Furthermore, the food-specific attitude structure model was found to have better fit than a more traditional attitude structure model. The implications of these findings for attitude theory, understanding eating behavior, and changing food selection are discussed. Shelley N. Aikman Food Attitudes http://works.bepress.com/stephen_crites/7 http://works.bepress.com/stephen_crites/7 Mon, 02 Nov 2009 21:54:17 PST Two studies investigated whether participants' motivational state and the context in which attitude reports are made influence food attitudes. Specifically, these studies examined whether hunger and the time-typicality of foods (i.e. match or mismatch between the time when a food is typically eaten and the time the attitude is reported) interact to influence reported attitudes. Study 1 suggests that hunger leads to more positive attitudes toward foods that are typically eaten at the time the attitude report is made (e.g. breakfast foods in morning) compared to foods not typically eaten at the time the attitude report is made (e.g. breakfast foods in evening). Study 2 replicates this time-typical effect of hunger and suggests that time-typical experience rather than general experience with foods is important for hunger induced attitude change. By demonstrating that food attitudes are influenced by motivational states and the match between when the attitude is reported and when it is typically encountered, the present studies extend previous attitude theory and research that has identified other contextual factors that influence attitude reports. Stephen L. Crites Food Attitudes