Disputas - Master i psykologi Yevhen Damanskyy

Avhandlingen er tilgjengelig her! / The doctoral thesis is available here!

Prøveforelesning over oppgitt emne starter kl. 09.15 / The trial lecture starts at 09.15
Tittel/Title: " Theories on attentional selection: predictions and findings "
Prøveforelesningen strømmes her / The trial lecture will be streamed here

Disputasen starter kl. 11.15 / The defense starts at 11.15
Disputasen strømmes her / The defense will be streamed here

Populærvitenskapelig sammendrag av avhandlingen/ Summary of the thesis

Theories about action control suggest that our actions and perceptions are closely linked, working together as a unified system. The Ideomotor theory takes this idea a step further, emphasizing the role of internal factors in guiding our actions. According to this theory, people control their actions by connecting the movements they make with the visible outcomes. For example, when someone realizes that flipping a light switch makes the room brighter, their mind links these two events. Later, when they want the room to be bright again, their mind automatically employs the action that led to that result. However, this theory has a limitation: it assumes people can only learn these associations through performing actions themselves. Recently, researchers have started looking into a new aspect of action control: verbal instructions. Language helps us share knowledge, prevent mistakes, and learn how to carry out specific actions. But how exactly verbal information influences action control is still mostly unknown. This thesis investigates whether people can learn to associate actions and perceptions solely through understanding verbal instructions.

In a series of five online experiments, this thesis studies the impact of verbal instructions on our actions and perceptions. Articles 1 and 2 examine how verbal instructions affect our action selection, while Article 3 investigates if verbal instructions can affect our visual selective attention. The results from all three articles reveal that people can learn to link actions and their perceivable outcomes not just through their own experiences, but also by simply processing verbal instructions.

Veiledere/ Supervisors:
Hovedveileder/Main supervisor:
Førsteamanuensis Torsten Martiny-Huenger, Institutt for psykologi, Det helsevitenskapelige fakultet, UiT Norges arktiske universitet.

Biveileder/supervisor:
Assistant professor Elizabeth J. Parks-Stamm, University of Southern Maine

Bedømmelseskomité/Defensecomitee:
Professor Carina G. Giesen, HM Health and Medical University, Germany – 1. opponent.
Professor Hermundur Sigmundsson, NTNU – 2. opponent.
Førsteamanuensis Audun Hetland, Institutt for psykologi, Det helsevitenskapelige fakultet, UiT Norges arktiske universitet – leder av komité.

Disputasleder/ Leader of defense:
Instituttleder Per-Håkan Brøndbo, Institutt for psykologi, Det helsevitenskapelige fakultet, UiT Norges arktiske universitet.