Alpha oscillations are known to play a central role in several higher-order cognitive functions, especially selective attention, working memory, semantic memory, and creative thinking. Nonetheless, we still know very little about the role of alpha in the generation of more remote semantic associations, which is key to creative and semantic cognition. Furthermore, it remains unclear how these oscillations are shaped by the intention to \"be creative,\" which is the case in most creativity tasks. We aimed to address these gaps in two experiments. In Experiment 1, we compared alpha oscillatory activity (using a method which distinguishes genuine oscillatory activity from transient events) during the generation of free associations which were more vs. less distant from a given concept. In Experiment 2, we replicated these findings and also compared alpha oscillatory activity when people were generating free associations versus associations with the instruction to be creative (i.e. goal-directed). We found that alpha was consistently higher during the generation of more distant semantic associations, in both experiments. This effect was widespread, involving areas in both left and right hemispheres. Importantly, the instruction to be creative seems to increase alpha phase synchronisation from left to right temporal brain areas, suggesting that intention to be creative changed the flux of information in the brain, likely reflecting an increase in top-down control of semantic search processes. We conclude that goal-directed generation of remote associations relies on top-down mechanisms compared to when associations are freely generated.

We assess whether the classic psychometric paradigm of risk perception can be improved or supplanted by novel approaches relying on language embeddings. To this end, we introduce the Basel Risk Norms, a large data set covering 1004 distinct sources of risk (e.g., vaccination, nuclear energy, artificial intelligence) and compare the psychometric paradigm against novel text and free-association embeddings in predicting risk perception. We find that an ensemble model combining text and free association rivals the predictive accuracy of the psychometric paradigm, captures additional affect and frequency-related dimensions of risk perception not accounted for by the classic approach, and has greater range of applicability to real-world text data, such as news headlines. Overall, our results establish the ensemble of text and free-association embeddings as a promising new tool for researchers and policymakers to track real-world risk perception.
UNASSIGNED: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1140/epjds/s13688-024-00478-x.

Microplastics are an issue of rising concern, in terms of their possible implications for both the environment and human health. A survey was distributed among a representative sample of the adult Norwegian population (N = 2720) to explore the public understanding of microplastics. Respondents were asked to report the first thing that came to mind when they read or heard the word \"microplastics,\" based on which a coding scheme was developed that served to categorize the obtained answers into thematic clusters. Results indicate that the public seem to think of microplastics as something bad that might pollute the ocean and harm animal species. Awareness of the sources of microplastics appeared to be rather low, and few respondents mentioned potential ways to solve the problem. Responses differed across certain socio-demographic characteristics; for example, female and younger respondents were more likely to think about the spread and causes/sources of microplastics, whereas a higher educational level was associated positively with thinking of ways to solve the problem. Additional analyses indicated relationships between personal values and the identified thematic clusters; for example, endorsing self-transcendence and openness-to-change values was associated with thinking of ways to solve and of consequences of microplastics. These findings are informative to those wanting to design tailored communications and interventions aimed at reducing plastic pollution and plastic waste.

Backround and Objectives: It is widely agreed that patients suffering from Alzheimer\'s disease (AD) and patients suffering from semantic dementia (SD) might fail clinically administered semantic tasks due to a different combination of underlying cognitive deficits: namely, degraded semantic representations in SD and degraded representations plus executive control deficit in AD. However, no easy administrable test or test battery for differentiating the semantic impairment profile in these populations has been devised yet. Materials and Methods: In this study, we propose a new easy administrable task based on a free association procedure (F-Assoc) to be used in conjunction with category fluency (Cat-Fl) and letter fluency (Lett-Fl) for quantifying pure representational and pure control deficits, thus teasing apart the semantic profile of SD and AD patients. Results: In a sample of 10 AD and 10 SD subjects, matched for disease severity, we show that indices of asymmetric performance contrasting F-Assoc and each of the two verbal fluency tasks yield a clearly distinguishable discrepancy pattern across SD and AD. We also provide empirical support for the validity of an asymmetry measure contrasting F-Assoc and Cat-FL as an index of control impairment. Conclusions: The present study suggests that the free association procedure provides a pure measure of degradation of semantic representations avoiding the confound of possible concomitant executive deficits.

In this study, we analyze the free verbal associations to the stimuli women quotas and men quotas of 327 medical students. Women and men quotas are characterized by the same modus operandi (i.e., preferential treatment based on sex/gender). However, women quotas help a low-status group, whereas men quotas help a high-status group. In line with a support paradox, that is, the perception that support for women is less fair and less legitimate than support for men, we expected that students would reject women quotas in academia more vehemently than men quotas. Specifically, we hypothesized that students would have more negative and more emotional associations with women quotas than men quotas. As predicted, students had more negative associations with women quotas than with men quotas. However, students did not have more emotional associations with women quotas than with men quotas. In addition, we explored the semantic content of the free associations to identify specific concerns over each quota. Students perceived women quotas as counterproductive, derogatory, and unfair, whereas they perceived men quotas as beneficial and fair. Concerns over the negative perceptions of quota beneficiaries were associated more frequently with women quotas than men quotas. Potential factors underlying students\' perceptions of both quotas are discussed.

This paper explores the public perception of energy transition pathways, that is, individual behaviors, political strategies, and technologies that aim to foster a shift toward a low-carbon and sustainable society. We employed affective image analysis, a structured method based on free associations to explore positive and negative connotations and affective meanings. Affective image analysis allows to tap into affective meanings and to compare these meanings across individuals, groups, and cultures. Data were collected among university students in Norway (n = 106) and Germany (n = 125). A total of 25 energy transition pathway components were presented to the participants who generated one free association to each component by indicating the first that came to mind when thinking of the component. Participants evaluated their associations by indicating whether they considered each association to be positive, negative, or neutral. These associations were coded by two research assistants, which resulted in 2650 coded responses in the Norwegian sample and 2846 coded responses in the German sample. Results for the two samples are remarkably similar. The most frequent type of association is a general evaluation of the component, for example concerning its valence or its importance. The second most frequent types of association are requirements needed to implement the component (e.g., national policies) and consequences of the component (e.g., personal or environmental consequences). Individual behaviors (e.g., walking) elicited thoughts about consequences and requirements, but also about the prevalence of such behaviors. Associations in response to technologies (e.g., carbon capture and storage) mainly referred to some descriptive aspect of the technology. Evaluations of the free responses were predominantly positive, but some components also elicited negative associations, especially nuclear power. The free associations that people generate suggest that they have vague and unspecific knowledge about energy transition pathways, that they process them in an automatic and intuitive rather than deliberative manner, and that they have clear affective evaluations of the presented components.

Positive attitudes toward evaluation among stakeholders are an important precondition for successful evaluation processes. However, empirical studies focusing on stakeholders\' attitudes toward evaluation are scarce. The present paper explores the approach of assessing social representations as indicators of people\'s attitudes toward evaluation. In an exploratory study, two groups were surveyed: University students (n = 60) with rather theoretical knowledge of evaluation and stakeholders (n = 61) who had shortly before taken part in participatory evaluation studies. Both groups were asked to name their free associations with the term \"evaluation\", which were subsequently analyzed lexicographically. The results indicate different social representations of evaluation in the two groups. The student group primarily saw evaluation as an \"appraisal\", whereas the stakeholders emphasized the \"improvement\" resulting from evaluation. Implications for further evaluation research and practice are discussed.

Puzzle pieces have become ubiquitous symbols for autism. However, puzzle-piece imagery stirs debate between those who support and those who object to its use because they believe puzzle-piece imagery evokes negative associations. Our study empirically investigated whether puzzle pieces evoke negative associations in the general public. Participants\' ( N = 400) implicit negative associations were measured with an Implicit Association Task, which is a speeded categorization task, and participants\' explicit associations were measured with an Explicit Association Task, which is a standard task for assessing consumers\' explicit associations with brands (and images of those brands). Puzzle pieces, both those used as autism logos and those used more generically, evoked negative implicit associations ( t(399) = -5.357, p < 0.001) and negative explicit associations ( z = 4.693, p < 0.001, d = 0.491). Participants explicitly associated puzzle pieces, even generic puzzle pieces, with incompleteness, imperfection, and oddity. Our results bear public policy implications. If an organization\'s intention for using puzzle-piece imagery is to evoke negative associations, our results suggest the organization\'s use of puzzle-piece imagery is apt. However, if the organization\'s intention is to evoke positive associations, our results suggest that puzzle-piece imagery should probably be avoided.

BACKGROUND: The link between social practices and representations is now well known. But while many studies have focused on the social representation of mental illness, in various populations, few studies have focused on the notion of disease/illness by comparing professionals and non-professionals health workers representations. Indeed, the disease is both a reality described, explained and treated by medicine; for those who are affected by a disease, it is an individual experience with psychological, social and cultural impacts. The social representation is determined by the structure of the social groups in which it develops; therefore, it is a form of knowledge socially shaped and shared by the members of a social group. Several theoretical extensions have been elaborated and particularly, the structural approach and the central core theory. These approaches sustain the arguments of a hierarchical organization of a social representation with a central core surrounded by peripheral zones. The central core is common and shared by the majority of the members of a given group, whereas the peripheral zones provide space for the individualization of the social knowledge.
OBJECTIVE: The main goal of our study is to highlight the social representations of disease in health professionals (HP) and in non-health professionals (NHP). The group of HP has been differentiated into three subgroups: \"medical doctors\", \"nurses\" and \"pharmacists\", while that of NHP in two subgroups: those submitted to a \"long period medical treatment\" and those \"without treatment\". Our aim is to show that there are different social and professional Representations of disease. The professional representations are specific social representations related to professional contexts. We formulate the following assumptions (a) that the social representations of HP and NHP will be articulated around a common central core. Nevertheless, we expect to find specific peripheral elements related to professional status, based on different knowledge and a differentiated \"practice\"; (b) the HP should refer to more descriptive aspects of the disease and monitoring of patients, while (c) NHP should refer more to the experience of illness around emotional aspects.
METHODS: Our sample is composed of 270 participants (135 HP and 135 HNP). Representations are measured by a free association task based on the target term: disease. The data have been submitted to prototypical and categorical analyses in agreement with the central core theory.
CONCLUSIONS: The results confirm that there is a common social representation of disease shared by the two groups, which refers essentially to suffering and pain. The analysis of each group brings to light two different registers: the one of the HP with more descriptive words referring to the nature and the illness\'s characteristics, and the other ones of the HNP with more words connected to emotions and referring to personal real experience of the illness. As expected, the social representation of the HP is referring to the \"professional representations\" of the disease, while the one for the HNP is linked to \"practices\" of an illness. An analysis of intra-group differences shows specificities for each of the questioned subgroups. In the HP, medical doctors focus on the diagnosis and consequences of the disease, pharmacists refer to the treatment of the disease and its management, while nurses focus on the treatment and on the relation while monitoring patients. In the NHP, people submitted to a \"long period medical treatment\" refer to the emotional aspects and to the consequences of the illness on their live, while those without treatment use more descriptive and formal terms. These results suggest to the PS to expand exchanges related to the disease in order to facilitate communication centered on taking care of the patient, considered in its wholeness and not only as an actual or potential patient. This is an important step in improving the health of the patient.

OBJECTIVE: This study explores the attitudes toward analgesic therapy among persistent pain patients and health workers in palliative care in India.
METHODS: Free word association was used and quantitative content analysis was performed.
RESULTS: A total of 59 patients and 28 health workers participated. In total, 41% of the patients had <5/10 points on a pain scale. A total of 3733 associations were recovered. Personal associations were majorly coming from patients having negative connotation. Morphine produced few associations, especially among patients. Most of them were about pain relief and for patients about negative emotions.
CONCLUSIONS: Two types of knowledge were detectable, differing in quality and quantity. One was based on lived experience among patients; the other arose from scientific foundation among health workers.