IMPULSE moment-by-moment test:An implicit measure of affective responses to audiovisual televised or digital advertisements

IMPULSE is a novel method for detecting affective responses to dynamic audiovisual content. It is an implicit reaction time test that is carried out while an audiovisual clip (e.g., a television commercial) plays in the background and measures feelings that are congruent or incongruent with the content of the clip. The results of three experiments illustrate the following four advantages of IMPULSE over self-reported and biometric methods: (1) being less susceptible to typical confounds associated with explicit measures, (2) being easier to measure deep-seated and often nonconscious emotions, (3) being better able to detect a broad range of emotions and feelings, and (4) being more efficient to implement as an online method.Published versio

Sooo Sweeet!:Presence of long vowels in brand names lead to expectations of sweetness

Throughout the history of languages, poets and writers have used linguistic tools to enhance euphony in their creations. One of the widely used tools to convey melody in any written (or spoken) creative art form is the use of long vowels. This paper examines the linkages between long (vs. short) vowel sounds and taste expectations of sweetness. Across four studies, we demonstrate that people expect products with brand names containing long vowels to taste sweeter than those including short vowel sounds. In studies 1 and 2, we demonstrate this association with the use of self-reported measures, and in studies 3 and 4, we employ indirect measures (implicit taste-shape correspondence and Single Category Implicit Association Test (SC-IAT) paradigm) to show the effect holds at a subconscious level of processing. Previous research in this field has typically linked vowel position (high vs. low or front vs. back) with product or brand attribute expectations. This paper contributes to the growing body of literature in this field by demonstrating the importance of vowel length in sound symbolism, and more precisely, how it pertains to the taste continuum.Published versio

Implicit and Explicit Identification of Counterfeit Brand Logos based on Logotype Transposition

Purpose With trade amounting to more than US$400bn, counterfeiting is already affecting many successful brands. Often, consumers are deceived into buying fake products due to the visual similarity between fake and original brand logos. This paper aims to explore the varying forms of fraudulent imitation of original brand logotypes (operationalized at the level of logotype transposition), which can aid in the detection of a counterfeit brand. Design/methodology/approach Across two studies, this research tested how well consumers can differentiate counterfeit from original logos of well-known brands both explicitly and implicitly. Seven popular brand logos were altered to create different levels of visual dissimilarity and participants were required to discriminate the logos as fake or genuine. Findings Results demonstrate that although consumers can explicitly discriminate fake logos with a high degree of accuracy, the same is not true under conditions in which logos are presented very briefly (tapping participants’ implicit or automatic logo recognition capabilities), except when the first and last letters of the logotype are substituted. Originality/value A large body of research on counterfeit trade focuses on the individual or cross-cultural differences behind the prevalence of counterfeit trade. There is limited research exploring the ability of a consumer to correctly identify a fake logo, based on its varying similarity with the original logotype; this paper addresses this gap. Given that many of the purchase decisions are often made automatically, identifying key implicit differentiators that can help a consumer recognize a fake logo should be informative to both practitioners and academics

Multisensory processing in the human brain

Perception has traditionally been studied as a modular function where different sensory systems operate as separate and independent modules. However, multisensory integration is essential for the perception of a coherent and unified representation of the external world that we experience phenomenologically. Mounting evidence suggests that the senses do not operate in isolation but that the brain processes and integrates information across modalities. A standing debate is at what level in the processing hierarchy the sensory streams converge, for example, if multisensory speech information converges first in higher-order polysensory areas such as STS and is then fed back to sensory areas, or if information is already integrated in primary and secondary sensory areas at the early stages of sensory processing. The studies in this thesis aim to investigate this question by focussing on the spatio-temporal aspects of multisensory processing, as well as investigating phonetic and non-phonetic integration in the human brain during auditory-visual speech perception. [continued in text ...] **NOTE: There is a missing section of the abstract at the foot of the scan of p.4. is this a reflection of the original or a technical glitch?*