Projects
Projects FNS
Experiencing the impossible and its effect on beliefs and cognition
2016 - 2019
Applicant : Christine Mohr
Other partners : Lise Lesaffre
Causal links between magical belief and adult cognitive functioningIt is generally assumed that magical beliefs become established in childhood and endure into adulthood. Magical beliefs keep influencing adult behavior , but we know little about whether cognitive tendencies that co-occur with magical beliefs foster or result from these beliefs. The current project will shed some light on this question.
Congrès SSP/SGP 2017
2017 - 2017
Applicant : Joëlle Darwiche, Christine Mohr
Hemispheric specialization and state-dependency: an evoked potential mapping study
2001 - 2007
Applicant : Theodor Landis, Christoph Michel (UNIGE)
Other partners : Christine Mohr et al. (UNIGE)
This research project focused on mechanisms underlying hemispheric specialization in human. It was evoked by the fact that the traditional views of hemispheric specialization only holds true for cerebral lesions and for split brain patients, but that it is difficult to reliably show it in individual healthy subjects. We hypothesized that intra- and inter-individual differences in brain lateralization might be sustained by differences in the electric neural state before the incoming of the stimulus. Our 2nd hypothesis was that this momentary functional state of the brain varies over time, and also between men and women. Finally, we hypothesized that it varies over the different phases of the menstrual cycle within women. To test these hypotheses, we performed several behavioral, electrophysiological and clinical studies. Our main aim was to further elucidate and understand hemispheric specialization in the healthy and pathological brain. We developed a bilateral lexical decision task with simultaneously presented words and non-words. Subjects had to indicate by button press on which side a word appeared. Words are presented very briefly and subjects were not aware that some of the words were of emotional connotation. Behavioral results showed a general better detection of emotional words. Most striking was the difference for words presented to the left visual field, i.e. to the non-dominant hemisphere, where neutral words were detected at chance level. The analysis of the electrophysiological data showed that this emotional word advantage depended on the momentary state of the brain just before stimulus presentation. This state dependency was more pronounced in men. Women showed most man-like behavior during the menstrual phase. The analysis of the event-related potential showed early differences between emotional and neutral words. Again, this was more pronounced in men than women. Women show more bilateral activation after word presentation than men in the time period where language processing takes place.
Others projects
Research on the role of emotion and cognition on color processing and preferences
2011 - 2016
grant-giving organisation : AkzoNobel NV (NL) (Switzerland)
Applicant : Christine Mohr
Other partners : Betty Althaus, Domicele Jonauskaite
Humans like some colours and dislike others, but which particular colours and why remains to be understood. Empirical studies on colour preferences generally targeted most preferred colours, but rarely least preferred (disliked) colours. In addition, findings are often based on general colour preferences leaving open the question whether results generalise to specific objects. Here, 88 participants selected the colours they preferred most and least for three context conditions (general, interior walls, t-shirt) using a high-precision colour picker. Participants also indicated whether they associated their colour choice to a valenced object or concept. The chosen colours varied widely between individuals and contexts and so did the reasons for their choices. Consistent patterns also emerged, as most preferred colours in general were more chromatic, while for walls they were lighter and for t-shirts they were darker and less chromatic compared to least preferred colours. This meant that general colour preferences could not explain object specific colour preferences. Measures of the selection process further revealed that, compared to most preferred colours, least preferred colours were chosen more quickly and were less often linked to valenced objects or concepts. The high intra- and inter-individual variability in this and previous reports furthers our understanding that colour preferences are determined by subjective experiences and that most and least preferred colours are not processed equally.
Digitizing visual art: Does a multimodal enriched visualization enhance our aesthetic experience?
2016 - 2016
grant-giving organisation : UNIL-EPFL (Switzerland)
Applicant : Christine Mohr
Artworks such as paintings are visually rich and exhibit a highly complex interaction between light and the medium. Standard digitisation process consists in taking a photograph of an artwork. However, the perceptual richness of the artwork is irremediably lost through this process. In the current project, we propose to investigate how humans use and respond (UNIL partner, SSP-IP) to new perceptual solutions (EPFL partner, eFacsimile project, IC-LCAV) that allow the digital visualisation and manipulation of visual art using a multimodal interactive interface. Two planned studies will take place at the Fondation Martin Bodmer and at EPFL.
