Alcohol advertising in sport and non-sport TV in Australia, during children’s viewing times

Objective: To Estimate the amount of alcohol advertising in sport vs. non-sport programming in Australian free-to-air TV and identify children’s viewing audience composition at different times of the day. Alcohol advertising and TV viewing audience data were purchased for free-to-air sport and non-sport TV in Australia for 2012. We counted alcohol advertisements in sport and non-sport TV in daytime (6am-8.29pm) and evening periods (8.30pm-11.59pm) and estimated viewing audiences for children and young adults (0–4 years, 5–13 years, 14–17 years, 18–29 years). During the daytime, most of the alcohol advertising (87%) was on sport TV. In the evening, most alcohol advertising (86%) was in non-sport TV. There was little difference in the mean number of children (0–17 years) viewing TV in the evening (N = 273,989), compared with the daytime (N = 235,233). In programs containing alcohol advertising, sport TV had a greater mean number of alcohol adverts per hour (mean 1.74, SD = 1.1) than non-sport TV (mean 1.35, SD = .94). Alcohol advertising during the daytime, when large numbers of children are watching TV, is predominantly in free-to-air sport TV. By permitting day-time advertising in sport programs and in any programs from 8.30pm when many children are still watching TV, current regulations are not protecting children from exposure to alcohol advertising

Correction: Alcohol advertising in sport and non-sport TV in Australia during children's viewing times

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0134889.]

Testing the neurobiological model of emotion-enhanced memory with emotion elicited by music

Extensive research has revealed that central and peripheral physiological mechanisms that act to assess and respond to negative and arousing emotional events also act to consolidate memory for the event. An area of research yet to be fully investigated is the effect of positive and arousing emotion on long-term memory. The paucity of research may be due to the difficulty in experimentally manipulating positive and arousing emotions in the research laboratory. A source of emotional arousal yet to be fully explored in this context is music. A number of studies now demonstrate that music a) elicits strong subjective feelings of emotion, b) activates limbic structures involved in emotion processing, and c) elicits physiological responses consistent with emotion. The aim of the current research project was to determine whether positive emotional arousal elicited by music could facilitate long-term declarative memory. Three experiments were conducted with a total of 127 participants ranging in age from 18 to 50 years (M = 28.10, SD = 10.05), 68% of which were female. Full exploration of the relationship between emotion elicited by music and non-music stimuli and memory was made possible with the use of a wide range of emotion measures and material to be remembered. The aims of Experiment 1 were to: a) replicate the emotion-enhanced memory effect reported by previous researchers using a three-phase slideshow paradigm; and b) determine whether the presentation of emotionally arousing background music further enhanced memory for the slideshow. The results revealed that relative to non-music and neutral music comparison conditions, the experimenter-selected music had no effect on emotional arousal, or on long-term declarative memory. Experiment 2 was designed to establish the emotion inducing properties of music with participant-selected positive and arousing music, and to determine whether emotion elicited in this way influenced memory. The results confirmed that participant-selected music elicited subjective and physiological arousal responses that were consistent with positive and arousing emotions, and that this music facilitated the early stages of long-term memory. Experiment 3 tested the memory modulating effect of positive and arousing music on memory consolidation by presenting music soon after learning. Results revealed that after controlling for high baseline arousal levels and memory ability, music modulated memory consolidation processes. However, music tended to have an impairing effect on memory in this experiment. Conclusions drawn from this project were that music has the capacity to elicit positive emotion, and that this music induced emotion has the potential to both enhance and impair long-term memory. The time of music presentation, and participants’ choice in music utilized, may determine the direction of this effect. These conclusions must, however, be accepted with caution given the low sample size for many of the statistical analyses. The major contribution of this research project is the methodological rigor applied to understanding the conditions under which emotion elicited by music influences memory. Future research investigating the influence of music on cognitive functioning can thus proceed from a stronger base of empirical evidence

Testing the emotional vulnerability pathway to problem gambling in culturally diverse university students

Loneliness and adapting to an unfamiliar environment can increase emotional vulnerability in culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) university students. According to Blaszczynski and Nower’s pathways model of problem and pathological gambling, this emotional vulnerability could increase the risk of problem gambling. The current study examined whether loneliness was associated with problem gambling risk in CALD students relative to their Australian peers. Additionally, differences in coping strategies were examined to determine their buffering effect on the relationship. A total of 463 female and 165 male university students (aged 18–38) from Australian (38%), mixed Australian and CALD (23%) and CALD (28%) backgrounds responded to an online survey of problem gambling behaviour, loneliness, and coping strategies. The results supported the hypothesis that loneliness would be related to problem gambling in CALD students. There was no evidence of a moderating effect of coping strategies. Future research could test whether the introduction of programs designed to alleviate loneliness in culturally diverse university students reduces their risk of developing problem gambling. © Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2018

Testing the neurobiological model of emotion-enhanced memory with emotion elicited by music

Extensive research has revealed that central and peripheral physiological mechanisms that act to assess and respond to negative and arousing emotional events also act to consolidate memory for the event. An area of research yet to be fully investigated is the effect of positive and arousing emotion on long-term memory. The paucity of research may be due to the difficulty in experimentally manipulating positive and arousing emotions in the research laboratory. A source of emotional arousal yet to be fully explored in this context is music. A number of studies now demonstrate that music a) elicits strong subjective feelings of emotion, b) activates limbic structures involved in emotion processing, and c) elicits physiological responses consistent with emotion. The aim of the current research project was to determine whether positive emotional arousal elicited by music could facilitate long-term declarative memory. Three experiments were conducted with a total of 127 participants ranging in age from 18 to 50 years (M = 28.10, SD = 10.05), 68% of which were female. Full exploration of the relationship between emotion elicited by music and non-music stimuli and memory was made possible with the use of a wide range of emotion measures and material to be remembered. The aims of Experiment 1 were to: a) replicate the emotion-enhanced memory effect reported by previous researchers using a three-phase slideshow paradigm; and b) determine whether the presentation of emotionally arousing background music further enhanced memory for the slideshow. The results revealed that relative to non-music and neutral music comparison conditions, the experimenter-selected music had no effect on emotional arousal, or on long-term declarative memory. Experiment 2 was designed to establish the emotion inducing properties of music with participant-selected positive and arousing music, and to determine whether emotion elicited in this way influenced memory. The results confirmed that participant-selected music elicited subjective and physiological arousal responses that were consistent with positive and arousing emotions, and that this music facilitated the early stages of long-term memory. Experiment 3 tested the memory modulating effect of positive and arousing music on memory consolidation by presenting music soon after learning. Results revealed that after controlling for high baseline arousal levels and memory ability, music modulated memory consolidation processes. However, music tended to have an impairing effect on memory in this experiment. Conclusions drawn from this project were that music has the capacity to elicit positive emotion, and that this music induced emotion has the potential to both enhance and impair long-term memory. The time of music presentation, and participants’ choice in music utilized, may determine the direction of this effect. These conclusions must, however, be accepted with caution given the low sample size for many of the statistical analyses. The major contribution of this research project is the methodological rigor applied to understanding the conditions under which emotion elicited by music influences memory. Future research investigating the influence of music on cognitive functioning can thus proceed from a stronger base of empirical evidence

Commentary on de Bruijn et al. (2016): Effective alcohol marketing policymaking requires more than evidence on alcohol marketing effects—research on vested interest effects is needed

Evidence on the link between alcohol marketing and problematic drinking is important, but effective alcohol marketing policymaking also requires evidence on the activities of vested interests and associated effects on policymakers and policy attributes

Facilitatory effects of music on memory: A review of the potential role of emotional arousal

Research reveals background music played during learning can variously enhance or impair memory, although the conditions which determine its effect are not yet understood. Possible explanations for the differing effects of music on memory include characteristics of the music itself, such as tempo and lyrics, induced mood of the listener and personality differences. In this chapter, consideration of the type of music used to manipulate learning and memory will be reviewed, indicating that arousal may play an important moderating role, either as a means of reducing anxiety or increasing arousal to an optimum performance levels. As music is often reported to increase arousal via emotion induction or enjoyment, a well established theory of arousal-modulated memory will be argued to underly the facilitatory effects of music on memory. The methodology used within this research paradigm will be described, and adaptations will be proposed that make it amenable to investigating the effect of music induced arousal on memory. This approach provides a novel method for combining the knowledge gained from music and memory research with arousal and memory literature to further investigate the potential memory enhancing role of music

Non-target flanker effects on movement in a virtual action centred reference frame

Visual selective attention is thought to underly inhibitory control during pointing movements. Accounts of inhibitory control during pointing movements make differential predictions about movement deviations towards or away from highly salient non-target flankers based on their potential cortical activation and subsequent inhibition: (1) Tipper et al. (Vis Cogn 4:1-38, 1997) "response vector model" predicts movements away from highly salient flankers; (2) Welsh and Elliott's (Q J Exp Psychol 57:1031-1057, 2004a and J Mot Behav 36:200-211, 2004b) "response activation model" predicts movements towards highly salient flankers early in the response, that is resolved by a race for inhibition. To eliminate the confounds of physical properties, such as obstacle avoidance and information cues of non-target objects, pointing was conducted in a virtual environment (graphical user interface). Participants were 14 skilled computer users who moved a computer cursor with a mouse to virtual targets. Analysis revealed non-target flankers significantly interfered with movement consistent with action centred selective attention, and reflecting a proximity-to-hand effect. Spatial analysis revealed evidence of highly salient flankers attracting movement, and less salient flankers repelling movement, supporting Welsh and Elliott's response activation model. These effects were achieved in a virtual 2D environment where interference caused by the physical properties of objects was less cogent

Counts of alcohol advertisements in sport and non-sport TV programming by time in Australia’s five major metropolitan regions.

<p>* <i>P</i>-values for Chi square analyses indicate significant differences in the counts of alcohol advertisements in sport vs. non-sport TV, for each of the times of day, for respective metropolitan regions.</p><p>Counts of alcohol advertisements in sport and non-sport TV programming by time in Australia’s five major metropolitan regions.</p