When you use this multimedia exhibit…you’ll try two different ‘find-a-word’ puzzles.
This is a fun way to show how performance can be affected by words and images, or priming techniques.
Sports coaches, motivational speakers and even magicians and illusionists use priming words and pictures to steer people into thinking a certain way.
The next time you’re in a supermarket, think about how the images and words are trying to influence your shopping habits.
In a New York university study, subjects were asked to complete word puzzles where they had to form words using a selection of letters.
One group were given letters that created words like ‘bingo’, ‘grey’ and ‘retired’, while the other group were given letters that created more neutral words.
The subjects were not aware of the purpose of the test and after they performed their ‘create-a-word’ test, they were allowed to leave the building.
However, the research scientists secretly measured how long it took each subject to walk out of the building.
They found that the group exposed to the ‘slower’ and ‘older’ words took longer to leave the building than those exposed to the ‘neutral’ words.