EFFECTS OF REPEATED STIMULATION ON

COGNITIVE ASPECTS OF BEHAVIOR

SOME EXPERIMENTS ON THE PHENOMENON OF

SEMANTIC SATIATION

Leon Jakobovits James

A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studio and Research in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.

Department of Psychology,

McGill University,

Montreal.

April, 1962.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. ‘

It is a pleasure and privilege to acknowledge the help of the following persons whose criticisms have contributed to the improvement 0f the research program reported in this thesis. Dr. Charles E. Osgood of the Institute of Communications Research and the University of Illinois has shown a keen interest in our work on semantic satiation and has offered many helpful suggestions in design and interpretation of results. The presentation of some of the experiments reported here profited from the criticism. Dr. Arthur V. Mellon of the University of Michigan who read them in his capacity as Editor of the Journal of Experimental Psychology. I owe my greatest indebtedness to Dr. Wallace E. Lambert of McGill University who has acted as my director throughout it this research program and has been an active participant in it since its inception. This research was supported in part by the Defense Research Board of Canada.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

I	HISTORICAL BACKGROUND…………………………………………... Introductory Remarks………………………………………………. Mental Fatigue………………………………………………………. Cortical Satiation……………………………………………………. Inhibition and Extinction…………………………………………….. Concluding Remarks………………………………………………..	1 1 4 7 12 15
II	THE PHENOMENON OF SEMANTIC SATIATION…………………….. Verbal Satiation…………………………………………………….. The Semantic Differential………………………………………… The Phenomenon of Semantic Satiation………………………… Summary……………………………………………………………	18 18 22 25 35
III	SOME THEORETICAL CONSIDERATIONS………………………….. The Psychological Meaning of Meaning…………………………. Osgood’s Mediation Theory of Meaning…………………………. Changes in the Intensity of Meaning……………………………...	37 37 39 49
IV	SEMANTIC SATIATION IN THINKING………………………………….. The Problem………………………………………………………. Summary…………………………………………………………..	55 55 64
V	SEMANTIC SATIATION IN PROBLEM SOLVING…………………….. Concept Formation Task…………………………………………. Problem Solving…………………………………………………... Summary…………………………………………………………..	65 65 80 87
VI	MEDIATED SATIATION IN SYMBOLIC PROCESSES………………. Generalization of Semantic Satiation……………………………. Mediated Inhibition in Verbal Transfer…………………………… Semantic Satiation Among Bilinguals…………………………… Summary………………………………………………………….	89 89 89 102 118
VII	STIMULUS CHARACTERISTICS AS DETERMINANTS OF SEMANTIC SATIATION………………………………………………………………. Statement of the Problem……………………………………….. Summary………………………………………………………….	121 121 136
VIII	THE EFFECTS OF REPETITION IN COMMUNICATION AND SOME CONSIDERATIONS OF INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES IN SUSCEPTIBILITY TO SATIATION……………………………………. The Molar Approach……………………………………………… Repetition in Mass Media………………………………………… A Study on Hit Parade Songs…………………………………… Individual Differences in Semantic Satiability………………….. Reliability………………………………………………………….. Repeated Testing with the Semantic Differential……………… A Replication Attempt……………………………………………. Summary………………………………………………………….	138 138 139 146 157 158 163 166 173
IX	SUMMARY AND OVERVIEW…………………………………………. Chapter I………………………………………………………….. Chapter II…………………………………………………………. Chapter III…………………………………………………………. Chapter IV………………………………………………………… Chapter V………………………………………………………… Chapter VI………………………………………………………… Chapter VII……………………………………………………….. Chapter VIII……………………………………………………….. Overview…………………………………………………………. Direction of Future Research…………………………………… BIBLIOGRAPHY…………………………………………………………	175 175 175 176 177 178 179 181 182 183 183 187

LIST OF TABLES

TABLE PAGE

1	ILLUSTRATION OF A SEMANTIC PROFILE……………………………….	25
2	AVERAGE CHANGE IN POLARITY PER WORD OVER THE SUM OF 9 SCALES…………………………………………………………………………	30
3	H TESTS OF SIGNIFICANCE BETWEEN CONDITIONS………………….	31
4	AVERAGE CHANGE IN POLARITY PER WORD OVER THE SUM OF 6 SCALES (N = 23)……………………………………………………………..	60
5	H TESTS OF SIGNIGICANCE BETWEEN CONDITIONS…………………	62
6	WORDS USED IN THE CONCEPT FORMATION TASKS AND IN THE SEMANTIC SATIATION TREATMENT……………………………………….	69
7	DISTUBUTION OF CLASSIFICATIONS PER TYPE (S = SEMANTIC, P = PHONETOGRAPHIC, I = IDIOSYNCRATIC) AND LATENCIES IN SECONDS FOR THE SEVEN TASKS FOR BOTH GROUPS……………	73
8	2 X 2 TABLES SHOWING DISTRIBUTION OF PHONETOGRAPHIC (P), SEMANTIC (S), AND IDIOSYNCRATIC (I) CLASSIFICATIONS FOR THE EXPERIMENTAL (E) AND CONTROL ( C ) GROUPS…………………….	75
9	NUMBER OF Ss IN THE EXPERIMENTAL (E) AND CONTROL ( C ) GROUPS SHOWING A PREPONDERANCE OF PHONETOGRAPHIC VS. OTHER (SEMANTIC OR IDIOSYNCRATIC) CLASSIFICATIONS……...	77
10	SATIATION SCORES PER WORD OVER THE SUM OF 4 SCALES FOR THE TWO GROUPS……………………………………………………………	79
11	AVERAGE AND MEDIAN SATIATION SCORES FOR THE GROUP (N = 33)………………………………………………………………………………..	86
12	ILLUSTRATION OF THE DESIGN USED IN THE EXPERIMENT…………..	92
13	COMPARISON BETWEEN THE EXPERIMENTAL AND CONTROL GROUPS ON THE VARIOUS CONDITIONS…………………………………	95
14	COMPARISON BETWEEN THE MEDIATOR NONSATIATED (A1-Dn) AND MEDIATOR SATIATED (A1-Ds) CONDITIONS OF LIST 2 FOR GROUPS E AND C…………………………………………………………….	99
15	SCHEMATIC REPRESENTATION OF THE PROCEDURE……………….	105
16	INITIAL SEMANTIC DIFFERENTIAL POLARITY AND MEAN CHANGE IN POLARITY OVER THE SUM OF TWO WORDS AND 5 SCALES FOR THE COMPOUND AND COORDINATE GROUPS………………………….	110
17	AVERAGE CHANGES IN POLARITY OVER THE SUM OF TWO WORDS AND 5 SCALES FOR THE COMPOUND GROUP ON THREE DIFFERENT CONDITIONS……………………………………………………	119
18	RELEVANT (+) AND NON-RLEVANT (-) DIMENSIONS FOR THE FOUR TYPES OF STIMULI USED……………………………………………………..	123
19	DESCRIPTION OF PROCEDURE AND MATERIALS USED FOR GROUP 1……………………………………………………………………………………	125
20	MEAN POLARITY SCORES (INITIAL, FINAL, AND DIFFERENCE) PER STIMULUS OVER THE SUM OF 6 SCALES FOR ALL 4 GROUPS (N = 22 FOR EACH GROUP)…………………………………………………………….	129
21	RAW DATA ON HIT PARADE SONGS………………………………………...	153
21	(CONT.) RAW DATA ON HIT PARADE SONGS……………………………...	154
22	PRODUCT-MOMENT CORRELATRION COEFFICIENTS BETWEEN THE VARIOUS MEASURES USED FOR THE HIT PARADE SONGS (N = 33)	155
23	INTERCORRELATION AMONG TEST-RETEST SEMANTIC SATIATION SCORES, SUCCESS IN FRENCH, AND IQ (N = 30)………………………..	160
24	INTERCORRELATRIONS AMONG SEVEN VARIABLES USED WITH MALE HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS…………………………………………….	170

LIST OF FIGURES

FIGURE PAGE

1	Mean intial and final extremity of ratings for each of the four groups (entries are averages per stimulus over the sum of 6 scales)…………………………..	131
2	Direction and amount of semantic changes with repeated presentation as a function of stimulus specificity (entries are averages per stimulus over the sum of 6 scales)…………………………………………………………………...	132
3	Polarity scores as a function of repeated testing with the semantic differential (high school males)………………………………………………………………..	164

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

Introductory Remarks.

At the 1916 meeting of the American Psychological Association in New York City, Raymond Dodge delivered the presidential address entitled “The Laws of Relative Fatigue.” His words set the tone for the historical background of this thesis.

“Certainly few psychological subjects have so widely interested investigators in the allied sciences. Few sects to have at once such far reaching bearings on psychological theory and the conduct of human affairs. Few present such a bewildering literature, with such an array of apparently mutually contradictory experimental results. None is more confused with an equal pressure for practical working rules. Confusion and eagerness for practical results make a situation fraught with great peril to science. If anything could, they justify this attempt to clarify and systematize the fundamental concept of mental fatigue” (Dodge, 1917, p. 89).

For students of the present generation, Dodge’s statement may seem very puzzling. What is this all—important and pervasive phenomenon, which he does not even feel, needs a definition? “The concept of mental fatigue is so familiar that a precise analysis of its differentia has seldom seemed necessary” (p. 93). One cannot find an explanation in modern textbooks. “Mental fatigue” does not appear in the index, or for that matter, anywhere else in the body of the textbook. Our first reaction, then, might be to dismiss Dodge with a shrug and relegate his statement to the unfashionable world of mentalistic psychology. However, in the opine ion of at least the present writer, it would be committing a grave error. It is the purpose of the Present chapter to show that the topic of mental fatigue is very much alive and of interest today and has always occupied an important role in psychology, although its name has varied over the years, reflecting changes in theoretical biases from era to era. A quotation from a recent paper by two modern neurologists helps to bridge the gap of the years:

If a drop of water falls on the surface of the sea

Just over the flower—like disc of a sea anemone, the whole animal contracts vigorously. If, then, a second drop falls with in a few minutes of the first, there is less contraction, and finally, on the third or fourth drop, the response disappears altogether. Here, is clearly exhibited one of the most pervasive phenomena of the animal kingdom decrement of response with repeated stimulation. Almost every species studied, from amoeba to man, exhibits some form of response decrement when the stimulus is frequently repeated or constantly applied. The ubiquity of the phenomenon plus its obvious survival value suggests that this kind of plasticity must be one of the most fundamental properties of animal behavior” (Sharpless and Jasper, 1956, p. 655).

The reader can of course appreciate that Dodge’s “mental fatigue” and Sharpless and Jasper’s "habituation" both refer to the same phenomenon. Throughout the rest of this chapter, it will become apparent that many other names have been used for what appears to be essentially the same process: inhibition (Herbert, 1824, in Boring, 1950), refractory phase and mental fatigue (Dodge, 1917; 1926a), lapse of meaning (Bassett and Warne, 1919), work decrement (Robinson and Bills, 1926), cortical inhibition (Pavlov, 192?), adaptation (Gibson, 1937), extinction (Hilgard and Marquis, 1940), satiation (Kohler and Wallach, 1940), reactive inhibition (Hull, 19113), stimulus satiation (Glanzer, 1953), reminiscence (Eysenck, 1956), verbal satiation (Smith and Raygor, 1956), and verbal transformation (Warren, 1961b).¹ Such an enumeration of terms, taken over a wide period of time, shows the interest which the problem of decreased responsiveness with repeated stimulation has claimed in psychology. To be sure, the variety itself of the terms used insures a high degree of disagreement and confusion on the subject. Many of the theories proposed over the years have been discarded for new ones, which in turn were replaced by others. In the present work, another term and supporting

1The authors enumerated here are not necessarily the inventors of the specific terms quoted. They represent investigators or reviewers who have studied the effects of repeated stimulation and these are the specific terms they happened to favor to refer to the phenomenon.

Theory will be added to the preceding ones in the belief that they are more appropriate and useful for interpreting various forms of behavior. Furthermore, the present theory will be stated in the language of contemporary learning theories, reflecting the recent revival of interest in higher mental processes (see Mowrer, 1960).