Emotional Valence Words on a Level of Masked Repetitive Priming and its Effect

Emotional valence words on a level of masked repetitive priming and its effect
Student name: Jullie Franciska Indriani
Student id: 102132206
Due date: Monday, 13th of January 2020
Word count: 1700
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Abstract
The study and the included experiments aimed to evaluate the influence of semantic
priming on different individuals on the basis of their perceived difference depending on the
conscious and unconscious effort to recognize and identify during the experiments. A total of
three experiments were carried out with a group of 65 students from the University of
Melbourne who all claimed English to be their Native language. The first experiment, namely
the meaning experiment was to determine the way they connect the semantics of the meaning
of the word for them as positive, negative or neutral. The second experiment and its result
were based on two scales- Spielberg State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (SSTAI) and Oxford
Happiness Scale (OHS) for the evaluation to be based on and easier to recognize the
emotional identification of the word as positive and negative. During the experiments, the
second and the third were combined to get a better assessment of the emotional valence and
association. The result was a confirmation of the predominant conception that the reactions
were quicker for the negative words.
Introduction
The study of semantic activation and priming has been at the forefront of arguments
in the area of cognitive recognition of stimuli identification in the formation and association
of words. The task consists of experiments carried out to search the relation between stimuli,
both symbolic and perceptual with the semantic activation which Heyman specified in his
paper – “The Influence of Working Memory Load on Semantic Priming”. The conscious and
unconscious access of an individual is characterised by the responses chartered during the
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experiments showing the recognition of negative semantic recognition which is quicker and is
retained more than the positive words. This was done with the aim of analysing the impact of
stimuli which is processed by the conscious processing given to them through the Learning
Management System. The individuals were observed to be following the experiments
chronologically without anyone changing their direction.
Perceptions were not only based on their awareness of the note and meaning denoting
it but the connotation of the stimuli which arose in them due to the use of the different cases
of the alphabets used. It also enabled the experiment and the researcher to reach the result
whether the awareness was the sole reason for the conception and perception. The conscious
effort which the individual thought was not entirely conscious but it was triggered by the
perception which came into play without them being aware of it. As the same negative word
denoted negative stimuli in the individual when used in the uppercase was taken as positive
under unrelated priming. This came as a breakthrough supporting the hypotheses that the
stimuli are not always the result of the conscious and the aware but rather the cognitive
recognition under the load. The individuals were completing the experiments in the sequence
they were provided without deviating due to the cognitive pressure of retaining the pairs
which they knew would be analysed in the next step. Perception, plays an important role here
such that they knew they would be able to respond better following the sequence signifying
the compliance with the theory of Deutsch that an individual is able to retain information
intentionally that they want to in order to get the result they want. It breaks away from the
assumption that perception is the result of an unconscious recognition and retention of the
information around them. It is instead the conscious effort of an individual which comes into
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play, when they are already aware of the experiment. In scenarios such as these, they are able
to manipulate their reaction to permit themselves to fare better.
The research consisted of a lexical experiment where masked priming played a pivotal
role. It could be reflected to study the priming effect on the individuals based on the cognitive
reaction. Numerous studies are already present in the aspect which shows us the segregation
of words into three distinct divisions. The process of categorizing these responses with
respect to the stimulus produced in an individual is termed as the priming effect. Therefore,
the categorization follows as- the first stimulus is due to the visualization of the formation of
the word which is shown to have a distinct effect on the psychology of onlooker. This is the
orthographic effect where the alphabets and its structure has stimuli or more likely a prompt
which produces an image in the mind of an individual. The second stimulus is the result of
the phonological effect of the word, formed by the combination of alphabets and the sound of
the term produced when spoken. And lastly, the meaning of the word which sometimes again
plays as a prompt which may or may not respond to the actual meaning of the word.
The study is also aimed at finding the semantic priming effect which can be defined
as the unconscious response produced in an individual as a result of being exposed to another
completely unrelated to the given the word. For example, the use of accidents are more
recognized with the use of the term Cars and yet it is not the case with a bicycle. This is due
to the fact known as repetitive semantic, where the human mind unconsciously saves the
result of each stimulus and the next mention or occurrence of these will result in a quicker
recognition (Bodner & Stalinski, 2008). The process continues to be modified each time a
new unrelated prime gets added and later has been observed to take almost the face of an
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