Graduation Date
Spring 2021
Document Type
Thesis
Program
Master of Arts degree with a major in Psychology, option Academic Research
Committee Chair Name
Dr. Kauyumari Sanchez
Committee Chair Affiliation
HSU Faculty or Staff
Second Committee Member Name
Dr. Amber Gaffney
Second Committee Member Affiliation
HSU Faculty or Staff
Third Committee Member Name
Dr. Gregg Gold
Third Committee Member Affiliation
HSU Faculty or Staff
Subject Categories
Psychology
Abstract
It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s superman!? Sometimes there are things in our world that are ambiguous. An ambiguous object, for the purposes of this thesis is any object that has more than one interpretation to it. The brain is designed to “fill in the blanks” and make sense of the world. Thus it will use anything available, like language, to help in resolving the ambiguity. Language can change how we perceive information in the world (Dils & Boroditsky, 2010) and where we direct our attention (Ostarek & Vigliocco, 2017; Estes et. al. 2008; Estes, Verges, Adelman, 2015). Language can play a role in resolving ambiguity by directing attention in certain directions. For example, if I say “upward” and you see something in the sky, you might be inclined to perceive items that are typical in that location (e.g. bird and plane) as compared to atypical items (e.g. wrench) (Estes, Verges, & Adelman, 2015; Estes, Verges, & Barsalou, 2008). However, to date, no study has investigated whether it is possible that such spatial language cues (like “upwards” and “downwards”) can affect the interpretation of an ambiguous stimulus. The aim of this thesis is to explore the effect of spatial language cues on the perception of ambiguous images.
Citation Style
APA
Recommended Citation
Foster, Aaron, "Effects of spatial language cues on attention and the perception of ambiguous images" (2021). Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects. 467.
https://digitalcommons.humboldt.edu/etd/467