1
|
Kuang C, Chen X, Chen F. Recognition of Emotional Prosody in Mandarin-Speaking Children: Effects of Age, Noise, and Working Memory. JOURNAL OF PSYCHOLINGUISTIC RESEARCH 2024; 53:68. [PMID: 39180569 DOI: 10.1007/s10936-024-10108-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 08/09/2024] [Indexed: 08/26/2024]
Abstract
Age, babble noise, and working memory have been found to affect the recognition of emotional prosody based on non-tonal languages, yet little is known about how exactly they influence tone-language-speaking children's recognition of emotional prosody. In virtue of the tectonic theory of Stroop effects and the Ease of Language Understanding (ELU) model, this study aimed to explore the effects of age, babble noise, and working memory on Mandarin-speaking children's understanding of emotional prosody. Sixty Mandarin-speaking children aged three to eight years and 20 Mandarin-speaking adults participated in this study. They were asked to recognize the happy or sad prosody of short sentences with different semantics (negative, neutral, or positive) produced by a male speaker. The results revealed that the prosody-semantics congruity played a bigger role in children than in adults for accurate recognition of emotional prosody in quiet, but a less important role in children compared with adults in noise. Furthermore, concerning the recognition accuracy of emotional prosody, the effect of working memory on children was trivial despite the listening conditions. But for adults, it was very prominent in babble noise. The findings partially supported the tectonic theory of Stroop effects which highlights the perceptual enhancement generated by cross-channel congruity, and the ELU model which underlines the importance of working memory in speech processing in noise. These results suggested that the development of emotional prosody recognition is a complex process influenced by the interplay among age, background noise, and working memory.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Chen Kuang
- School of Foreign Languages, Hunan University, Lushannan Road No. 2, Yuelu District, Changsha City, Hunan Province, China
| | - Xiaoxiang Chen
- School of Foreign Languages, Hunan University, Lushannan Road No. 2, Yuelu District, Changsha City, Hunan Province, China.
| | - Fei Chen
- School of Foreign Languages, Hunan University, Lushannan Road No. 2, Yuelu District, Changsha City, Hunan Province, China.
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Martinon LM, Ferrand L, Burca M, Hasshim N, Lakhzoum D, Parris BA, Silvert L, Augustinova M. Distributional analyses reveal the polymorphic nature of the Stroop interference effect: It's about (response) time. Mem Cognit 2024; 52:1229-1245. [PMID: 38467923 DOI: 10.3758/s13421-024-01538-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 02/09/2024] [Indexed: 03/13/2024]
Abstract
The study addressed the still-open issue of whether semantic (in addition to response) conflict does indeed contribute to Stroop interference (which along with facilitation contributes to the overall Stroop effect also known as Congruency effect). To this end, semantic conflict was examined across the entire response time (RT) distribution (as opposed to mean RTs). Three (out of four) reported experiments, along with cross-experimental analyses, revealed that semantic conflict was absent in the participants' faster responses. This result characterizes Stroop interference as a unitary phenomenon (i.e., driven uniquely by response conflict). When the same participants' responses were slower, Stroop interference became a composite phenomenon with an additional contribution of semantic conflict that was statistically independent of both response conflict and facilitation. While the present findings allow us to account for the fact that semantic conflict has not been consistently found in past studies, further empirical and theoretical efforts are still needed to explain why exactly it is restricted to longer responses. Indeed, since neither unitary nor composite models can account for this polymorphic nature of Stroop interference on their own, the implications for the current state of theory are outlined.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Léa M Martinon
- Normandie Université, UNIROUEN, CRFDP, Rouen, France.
- LAPSCO, Université Clermont Auvergne, CNRS, Clermont-Ferrand, France.
- Université de Rouen Normandie, Le Centre de Recherches sur les Fonctionnements et Dysfonctionnements Psychologiques (CRFDP, EA 7475) and Université Clermont Auvergne, Laboratoire de Psychologie Sociale et Cognitive (LAPSCO, CNRS UMR 6024), UFR PSSSE - 34 avenue Carnot - TSA 60401, 63001, Clermont-Ferrand Cedex, France.
| | - Ludovic Ferrand
- LAPSCO, Université Clermont Auvergne, CNRS, Clermont-Ferrand, France
| | - Mariana Burca
- Normandie Université, UNIROUEN, CRFDP, Rouen, France
- LAPSCO, Université Clermont Auvergne, CNRS, Clermont-Ferrand, France
| | - Nabil Hasshim
- Department of Psychology, University of Salford, Salford, UK
| | - Dounia Lakhzoum
- LAPSCO, Université Clermont Auvergne, CNRS, Clermont-Ferrand, France
| | | | - Laetitia Silvert
- LAPSCO, Université Clermont Auvergne, CNRS, Clermont-Ferrand, France
| | - Maria Augustinova
- Normandie Université, UNIROUEN, CRFDP, Rouen, France.
- Université de Rouen Normandie, Le Centre de Recherches sur les Fonctionnements et Dysfonctionnements Psychologiques (CRFDP, EA 7475), UFR SHS - Bâtiment Freinet, Place Emile Blondel, 76821, Mont Saint Aignan Cedex, France.
| |
Collapse
|
3
|
Viviani G, Visalli A, Montefinese M, Vallesi A, Ambrosini E. The Stroop legacy: A cautionary tale on methodological issues and a proposed spatial solution. Behav Res Methods 2024; 56:4758-4785. [PMID: 37620747 PMCID: PMC11289023 DOI: 10.3758/s13428-023-02215-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 07/31/2023] [Indexed: 08/26/2023]
Abstract
The Stroop task is a seminal paradigm in experimental psychology, so much that various variants of the classical color-word version have been proposed. Here we offer a methodological review of them to emphasize the importance of designing methodologically rigorous Stroop tasks. This is not an end by itself, but it is fundamental to achieve adequate measurement validity, which is currently hindered by methodological heterogeneity and limitations. Among the several Stroop task variants in the literature, our methodological overview shows that the spatial Stroop task is not only a potentially methodologically adequate variant, which can thus assure measuring the Stroop effect with the required validity, but it might even allow researchers to overcome some of the methodological limitations of the classical paradigm due to its use of verbal stimuli. We thus focused on the spatial Stroop tasks in the literature to verify whether they really exploit such inherent potentiality. However, we show that this was generally not the case because only a few of them (1) are purely spatial, (2) ensure both all the three types of conflicts/facilitations (at the stimulus, response, and task levels) and the dimensional overlaps considered fundamental for yielding a complete Stroop effect according to the multiple loci account and Kornblum's theory, respectively, and (3) controlled for low-level binding and priming effects that could bias the estimated Stroop effect. Based on these methodological considerations, we present some examples of spatial Stroop tasks that, in our view, satisfy such requirements and, thus, ensure producing complete Stroop effects.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Giada Viviani
- Department of Neuroscience, University of Padova, 35121, Padova, Italy
- Padova Neuroscience Center, University of Padova, Padova, Italy
| | | | - Maria Montefinese
- Department of Developmental and Social Psychology, University of Padova, Padova, Italy
| | - Antonino Vallesi
- Department of Neuroscience, University of Padova, 35121, Padova, Italy
- Padova Neuroscience Center, University of Padova, Padova, Italy
| | - Ettore Ambrosini
- Department of Neuroscience, University of Padova, 35121, Padova, Italy.
- Padova Neuroscience Center, University of Padova, Padova, Italy.
- Department of General Psychology, University of Padova, Padova, Italy.
| |
Collapse
|
4
|
Shichel I, Goldfarb L. The effect of spatial distance on numerical distance processing. Q J Exp Psychol (Hove) 2024:17470218241263325. [PMID: 38853289 DOI: 10.1177/17470218241263325] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/11/2024]
Abstract
The close relationship between numerical and spatial representation has been widely studied. However, little is known regarding the influence of spatial distance on the processing of numerical distance. The purpose of this study was to examine this relationship by employing a modified numerical Stroop task, in which the spatial distance was either congruent or incongruent with the numerical distance. That is, numerical and spatial distances were either compatible with each other or incompatible. Experiment 1 demonstrated that when participants were directly requested to assess the numerical distance, spatial distance influenced task performance, thereby revealing a novel effect-the spatial-numerical distance congruency effect. Experiment 2 demonstrated that these relations are asymmetrical and revealed that numerical distance did not influence spatial distance when the numerical distance was task-irrelevant. Experiment 3 revealed that the spatial-numerical distance congruency effect can also be obtained automatically by employing a numerical comparison task, which is considered a marker for indirect distance processing. In addition, also tested across the three experiments was whether spatial alignment on the screen (i.e., left, centre, and right) can influence the spatial-numerical distance congruency effect. Results revealed that when numbers were presented more naturally (on the left and centre of the screen), a larger effect was obtained compared with when stimuli were presented on the right side. Together, these findings shed new light regarding the relationship between numerical distance and spatial distance and whether and how these aspects influence each other.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Ido Shichel
- Department of Learning Disabilities, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel
| | - Liat Goldfarb
- Department of Learning Disabilities, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel
| |
Collapse
|
5
|
Spinelli G, Lupker SJ. A spatial version of the Stroop task for examining proactive and reactive control independently from non-conflict processes. Atten Percept Psychophys 2024; 86:1259-1286. [PMID: 38691237 PMCID: PMC11093857 DOI: 10.3758/s13414-024-02892-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 04/01/2024] [Indexed: 05/03/2024]
Abstract
Conflict-induced control refers to humans' ability to regulate attention in the processing of target information (e.g., the color of a word in the color-word Stroop task) based on experience with conflict created by distracting information (e.g., an incongruent color word), and to do so either in a proactive (preparatory) or a reactive (stimulus-driven) fashion. Interest in conflict-induced control has grown recently, as has the awareness that effects attributed to those processes might be affected by conflict-unrelated processes (e.g., the learning of stimulus-response associations). This awareness has resulted in the recommendation to move away from traditional interference paradigms with small stimulus/response sets and towards paradigms with larger sets (at least four targets, distractors, and responses), paradigms that allow better control of non-conflict processes. Using larger sets, however, is not always feasible. Doing so in the Stroop task, for example, would require either multiple arbitrary responses that are difficult for participants to learn (e.g., manual responses to colors) or non-arbitrary responses that can be difficult for researchers to collect (e.g., vocal responses in online experiments). Here, we present a spatial version of the Stroop task that solves many of those problems. In this task, participants respond to one of six directions indicated by an arrow, each requiring a specific, non-arbitrary manual response, while ignoring the location where the arrow is displayed. We illustrate the usefulness of this task by showing the results of two experiments in which evidence for proactive and reactive control was obtained while controlling for the impact of non-conflict processes.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Giacomo Spinelli
- Dipartimento di Psicologia, Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca, Piazza dell'Ateneo Nuovo 1, 20126, Milano, MI, Italy.
| | - Stephen J Lupker
- Department of Psychology, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, N6A 5C2, Canada.
| |
Collapse
|
6
|
Arie L, Roginska A, Wu Y, Lin D, Olsen AF, Harel D, Lubetzky AV. Type of auditory cues and apparatus influence how healthy young adults integrate sounds for dynamic balance. Exp Brain Res 2024; 242:1225-1235. [PMID: 38526742 DOI: 10.1007/s00221-024-06819-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/16/2023] [Accepted: 03/10/2024] [Indexed: 03/27/2024]
Abstract
It is unclear whether the brain handles auditory cues similarly to visual cues for balance. We investigated the influence of headphones and loudspeaker reproduction of sounds on dynamic balance performance when an individual is facing a cognitive challenge. Twenty participants (16 females, aged 19-36) were asked to avoid a ball according to a specific visual rule. Visuals were projected from the HTC Vive head-mounted display in an acoustically controlled space. We varied the environment by adding congruent sounds (sounds coincide with the visual rule) or incongruent sounds (sounds may or may not coincide with the visual rule) as well as creating a multimodal (visual and congruent sounds) vs. unimodal (visual or congruent sounds only) display of stimuli. Sounds were played over headphones or loudspeakers. We quantified reaction time (RT) and accuracy (choosing the correct direction to move) by capturing the head movement. We found that in the absence of sounds, RT was slower with headphones compared to loudspeakers, but the introduction of either congruent or incongruent sounds resulted in faster movements with headphones such that RT was no longer different between apparatus. Participants used congruent sounds to improve accuracy but disregarded incongruent sounds. This suggests that selective attention may explain how sounds are incorporated into dynamic balance performance in healthy young adults. Participants leveraged sounds played over loudspeakers, but not over headphones, to enhance accuracy in a unimodal dark environment. This may be explained by the natural listening conditions created by loudspeakers where sounds may be perceived as externalized.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Liraz Arie
- Department of Physical Therapy, New York University, NYU, 380 2nd Ave 4th floor, New York, 10010, USA
| | | | - Yi Wu
- Music and Audio Research Laboratory, New York University, New York, USA
| | - Delong Lin
- Music and Audio Research Laboratory, New York University, New York, USA
| | | | - Daphna Harel
- Department of Applied Statistics, Social Science, and Humanities, New York University, New York, USA
| | - Anat V Lubetzky
- Department of Physical Therapy, New York University, NYU, 380 2nd Ave 4th floor, New York, 10010, USA.
| |
Collapse
|
7
|
Bozkurt O, Misirlisoy M, Atalay NB. The role of spatial uncertainty in the context-specific proportion congruency effect. Atten Percept Psychophys 2024; 86:1206-1221. [PMID: 38519736 DOI: 10.3758/s13414-024-02865-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 02/11/2024] [Indexed: 03/25/2024]
Abstract
The prime-probe version of the Stroop task has been predominantly used to demonstrate the context-specific proportion congruency (CSPC) effect. In this version, the location of the color is not known until its presentation, creating a spatial uncertainty for the color dimension. We propose that spatial uncertainty plays an important role in observing the CSPC effect. In this study, we investigated the role of spatial uncertainty with two experiments. In Experiment 1 (N = 53), we used a spatially separated version of the Stroop task having spatial uncertainty on the color dimension, and observed a significant CSPC effect. For Experiment 2, we conducted a preregistered prime-probe CSPC experiment with a considerably large sample (N = 128), eliminating the uncertainty of only the color dimension in one condition and both the color and the word dimensions in the other. Results showed that the CSPC effect was not observed in the first condition, while it was very small yet significant in the second condition. The Bayesian approach confirmed frequentist analyses of Experiment 1 and the first condition of Experiment 2. However, in the second condition of Experiment 2, there was no evidence regarding the existence of the CSPC effect. These findings support our claim that the spatial uncertainty of the color dimension, inherent in the prime-probe version Stroop task, contributed to the CSPC effect.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Ozge Bozkurt
- Department of Psychology, Anadolu University, Eskişehir, Türkiye.
- Department of Psychology, Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Türkiye.
| | - Mine Misirlisoy
- Department of Psychology, Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Türkiye
| | - Nart Bedin Atalay
- Department of Psychology, TOBB University of Economics and Technology, Ankara, Türkiye
| |
Collapse
|
8
|
Yao T, Vanduffel W. Conflict detection and resolution in macaque frontal eye fields. Commun Biol 2024; 7:119. [PMID: 38263256 PMCID: PMC10805886 DOI: 10.1038/s42003-024-05800-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/28/2022] [Accepted: 01/09/2024] [Indexed: 01/25/2024] Open
Abstract
Stimulus-induced conflicts in decision-making tasks produce both behavioral and neuronal congruency effects. However, how and when conflicts are detected and resolved at the neuronal level remains largely unclear. To address these issues, we recorded from single neurons in the frontal eye fields of two macaques performing a conflict task. Although the temporal dynamics of the neuronal congruency effects are independent of the specific task rules, they are substantially different in target- and distractor-encoding neurons. Conflicts were detected ~100 ms after the conflict-inducing cue (20-30 ms after the visual response), which is much faster than predicted based on human EEG results. This suggests that conflict detection relies on a fast mechanism in frontal eye fields. Resolving the conflict at the neuronal level, however, requires between <400 ms to ~1000 ms, and shows profound interindividual differences and depends on task rules, indicating that it is a more complex and top-down driven process. Our findings illuminate the neuronal mechanisms underlying decision-making when a conflict is present, a crucial cognitive process playing a role in basic survival and high-level cognitive functions.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Tao Yao
- Department of Neurosciences, Laboratory of Neuro- and Psychophysiology, KU Leuven Medical School, Leuven, 3000, Belgium.
- Leuven Brain Institute, KU Leuven, Leuven, 3000, Belgium.
| | - Wim Vanduffel
- Department of Neurosciences, Laboratory of Neuro- and Psychophysiology, KU Leuven Medical School, Leuven, 3000, Belgium.
- Leuven Brain Institute, KU Leuven, Leuven, 3000, Belgium.
- Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, Charlestown, MA, 02129, USA.
- Department of Radiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, 02144, USA.
| |
Collapse
|
9
|
Keha E, Kalanthroff E. Proactive control affects task conflict beyond contingency learning. Q J Exp Psychol (Hove) 2023:17470218231210533. [PMID: 37864484 DOI: 10.1177/17470218231210533] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/23/2023]
Abstract
Various models of the Stroop task suggest that proactive task control adaptation accounts for the modulation of task conflict in different conditions of the Stroop task, for example, when task conflict is very frequent or very infrequent. Other researchers have argued that a contingency learning of colour-word associations is the main contributor to the modulations of the Stroop effect. In this work, we constructed a design that controls for confounds that are suspected to rule out the role of control adaptation in the Stroop task. We focused on one type of conflict-task conflict and tested whether colour-naming of neutral-words (where task conflict is present) differed from colour-naming of neutral-symbols (where task conflict is not present) in four different conditions: mostly words-congruent, mostly words-incongruent, mostly words-neutral, or mostly non-words-shape. Importantly, the conditions used for the task conflict marker were identical in all four conditions. We found that the marker of task conflict (reaction time [RT] for neutral-words > RT for neutral-symbols) was significant in the mostly non-words-shape condition, where proactive task control is relaxed, but not in the mostly words conditions, where proactive task control is activated, with no difference between these three words conditions. These findings suggest that control adaptation is the main contributor to the modulations of the Stroop effect. The relevance of the results to the current literature is discussed and the results are explained in light of the proactive control-task conflict (PC-TC) model.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Eldad Keha
- Department of Psychology, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel
- Department of Psychology, Achva Academic College, Beer Tuvia, Israel
| | - Eyal Kalanthroff
- Department of Psychology, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel
| |
Collapse
|
10
|
Prashad N, Melara RD, Root JC, Ahles TA. Pre-Treatment Breast Cancer Patients Show Neural Differences in Frontal Alpha Asymmetry. Clin EEG Neurosci 2023; 54:189-197. [PMID: 35118900 PMCID: PMC9741869 DOI: 10.1177/15500594221074860] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/11/2023]
Abstract
Cognitive impairment has been observed consistently in a subset of breast cancer survivors. Yet, still unknown is whether neural and behavioral effects of cancer exist prior to treatment, which may contribute to later cognitive decline. The current study investigated pre-treatment differences in attention performance and frontal alpha asymmetry (FAA), an established neural index of inhibitory control, in non-metastatic breast cancer patients (n = 42) compared with healthy controls (n = 28). We additionally investigated whether differences between groups appear in specific cuing conditions and across different stages of information processing. Participants underwent EEG while completing the Attention Network Task (ANT), a cognitive measure of alerting, orienting, and inhibitory control of attention. Results revealed no behavioral differences between patients and controls but significantly greater right-hemisphere alpha activity (reduced inhibitory control) in patients, particularly to uninformative (no cue, double cue) versus informative (valid cue) cues and in later stages of information processing (400-800 ms post-stimulus). Results suggest neural differences between groups to uncertain stimulus environments that have yet to manifest behaviorally. FAA may thus serve as a unique neural correlate that could potentially be used to predict later cognitive decline.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Neelam Prashad
- Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science Services, 641 Lexington Avenue, 7 Floor, New York, New York 10022
| | - Robert D. Melara
- Department of Psychology, The City College, City University of New York, 160 Convent Avenue, NAC 7-120, New York, NY 10031
| | - James C. Root
- Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science Services, 641 Lexington Avenue, 7 Floor, New York, New York 10022
| | - Tim A. Ahles
- Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science Services, 641 Lexington Avenue, 7 Floor, New York, New York 10022
| |
Collapse
|
11
|
Quétard B, Spatola N, Parris BA, Ferrand L, Augustinova M. A mouse-tracking study of the composite nature of the Stroop effect at the level of response execution. PLoS One 2023; 18:e0279036. [PMID: 36656875 PMCID: PMC9851562 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0279036] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/01/2022] [Accepted: 11/29/2022] [Indexed: 01/20/2023] Open
Abstract
By forcing selection into response execution processes, the present mouse-tracking study investigated whether the ongoing process of response selection in the colour-word Stroop task is influenced by conflict and facilitation at both the level of response and stimulus. Mouse-tracking measures including partial errors provided credible evidence that both response and semantic conflict (i.e., distinct constituents of interference) contribute to the overall Stroop interference effect even after a response has been initiated. This contribution was also observed for the overall facilitation effect (that was credibly decomposed into response and semantic components in response times but not in mouse deviation measures). These results run counter to the dominant single-stage response competition models that currently fail to explain: 1) the expression of Stroop effects in measures of response execution and; 2) the composite nature of both interference and facilitation. By showing that Stroop effects-originating from multiple levels of processing-can cascade into movement parameters, the present study revealed the potential overlap between selection and execution process. It therefore calls for further theoretical efforts to account for when, where and under what conditions Stroop effects originating from different loci are controlled.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Boris Quétard
- Université Clermont Auvergne, CNRS LAPSCO, Clermont-Ferrand, France
- Department of Brain and Cognition, University of Leuven (KU Leuven), Leuven, Belgium
| | - Nicolas Spatola
- Université Clermont Auvergne, CNRS LAPSCO, Clermont-Ferrand, France
- Artimon Perspectives, Paris, France
| | | | - Ludovic Ferrand
- Université Clermont Auvergne, CNRS LAPSCO, Clermont-Ferrand, France
| | | |
Collapse
|
12
|
Šaban I, Schmidt JR. Interlinguistic conflict: Word-word Stroop with first and second language colour words. Cogn Process 2022; 23:619-636. [PMID: 36149518 DOI: 10.1007/s10339-022-01105-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/13/2021] [Accepted: 06/30/2022] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
The congruency (or Stroop) effect is a standard observation of slower and less accurate colour identification to incongruent trials (e.g. "red" in green) relative to congruent trials (e.g. "red" in red). This effect has been observed in a word-word variant of the task, when both the distracter (e.g. "red") and target (e.g. "green") are colour words. The Stroop task has also been used to study the congruency effect between two languages in bilinguals. The typical finding is that the congruency effect for L1 words is larger than that for L2 words. For the first time, the present report aims to extend this finding to a word-word variant of the bilingual Stroop task. In two experiments, French monolinguals performed a bilingual word-word Stroop task in which target word language, language match, and congruency between the distracter and target were manipulated. The critical manipulation across two experiments concerned the target language. In Experiment 1, target language was manipulated between groups, with either French (L1) or English (L2) target colour words. In Experiment 2, target words from both languages were intermixed. In both experiments, the congruency effect was larger when the distracter and target were from the same language (language match) than when they were from different languages (language mismatch). Our findings suggested that this congruency effect mostly depends on the language match between the distracter and target, rather than on a target language. It also did not seem to matter whether the language-mismatching distracter was or was not a potential response alternative. Semantic activation of languages in bilinguals and its implications on target identification are discussed.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Iva Šaban
- LEAD-CNRS UMR 5022, Université Bourgogne Franche-Comté, Pôle AAFE, 11 Esplanade Erasme, 21000, Dijon, France.
| | - James R Schmidt
- LEAD-CNRS UMR 5022, Université Bourgogne Franche-Comté, Pôle AAFE, 11 Esplanade Erasme, 21000, Dijon, France
| |
Collapse
|
13
|
Shakuf V, Ben-David B, Wegner TGG, Wesseling PBC, Mentzel M, Defren S, Allen SEM, Lachmann T. Processing emotional prosody in a foreign language: the case of German and Hebrew. JOURNAL OF CULTURAL COGNITIVE SCIENCE 2022; 6:251-268. [PMID: 35996660 PMCID: PMC9386669 DOI: 10.1007/s41809-022-00107-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/07/2022] [Revised: 06/13/2022] [Accepted: 07/16/2022] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Abstract
This study investigated the universality of emotional prosody in perception of discrete emotions when semantics is not available. In two experiments the perception of emotional prosody in Hebrew and German by listeners who speak one of the languages but not the other was investigated. Having a parallel tool in both languages allowed to conduct controlled comparisons. In Experiment 1, 39 native German speakers with no knowledge of Hebrew and 80 native Israeli speakers rated Hebrew sentences spoken with four different emotional prosodies (anger, fear, happiness, sadness) or neutral. The Hebrew version of the Test for Rating of Emotions in Speech (T-RES) was used for this purpose. Ratings indicated participants’ agreement on how much the sentence conveyed each of four discrete emotions (anger, fear, happiness and sadness). In Experient 2, 30 native speakers of German, and 24 Israeli native speakers of Hebrew who had no knowledge of German rated sentences of the German version of the T-RES. Based only on the prosody, German-speaking participants were able to accurately identify the emotions in the Hebrew sentences and Hebrew-speaking participants were able to identify the emotions in the German sentences. In both experiments ratings between the groups were similar. These findings show that individuals are able to identify emotions in a foreign language even if they do not have access to semantics. This ability goes beyond identification of target emotion; similarities between languages exist even for “wrong” perception. This adds to accumulating evidence in the literature on the universality of emotional prosody.
Collapse
|
14
|
Neuronal congruency effects in macaque prefrontal cortex. Nat Commun 2022; 13:4702. [PMID: 35948534 PMCID: PMC9365805 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-32382-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/09/2021] [Accepted: 07/27/2022] [Indexed: 11/08/2022] Open
Abstract
The interplay between task-relevant and task-irrelevant information may induce conflicts that impair behavioral performance, a.k.a. behavioral congruency effects. The neuronal mechanisms underlying behavioral congruency effects, however, are poorly understood. We recorded single unit activity in monkey prefrontal cortex using a task-switching paradigm and discovered a neuronal congruency effect (NCE) that is carried by target and distractor neurons which process target and distractor-related information, respectively. The former neurons provide more signal, the latter less noise in congruent compared to incongruent conditions, resulting in a better target representation. Such NCE is dominated by the level of congruency, and is not determined by the task rules the subjects used, their reaction times (RT), the length of the delay period, nor the response levels of the neurons. We propose that this NCE can explain behavioral congruency effects in general, as well as previous fMRI and EEG results in various conflict paradigms. Stimulus-induced conflicts impair behavior in conflict tasks resulting in a phenomenon known as the behavioral congruency effect. Here, the authors investigate the neural underpinnings of this phenomenon and report a neuronal congruency effect in macaque prefrontal cortex to explain this impairment.
Collapse
|
15
|
Dor YI, Algom D, Shakuf V, Ben-David BM. Age-Related Changes in the Perception of Emotions in Speech: Assessing Thresholds of Prosody and Semantics Recognition in Noise for Young and Older Adults. Front Neurosci 2022; 16:846117. [PMID: 35546888 PMCID: PMC9082150 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2022.846117] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/30/2021] [Accepted: 03/14/2022] [Indexed: 11/15/2022] Open
Abstract
Older adults process emotions in speech differently than do young adults. However, it is unclear whether these age-related changes impact all speech channels to the same extent, and whether they originate from a sensory or a cognitive source. The current study adopted a psychophysical approach to directly compare young and older adults’ sensory thresholds for emotion recognition in two channels of spoken-emotions: prosody (tone) and semantics (words). A total of 29 young adults and 26 older adults listened to 50 spoken sentences presenting different combinations of emotions across prosody and semantics. They were asked to recognize the prosodic or semantic emotion, in separate tasks. Sentences were presented on the background of speech-spectrum noise ranging from SNR of −15 dB (difficult) to +5 dB (easy). Individual recognition thresholds were calculated (by fitting psychometric functions) separately for prosodic and semantic recognition. Results indicated that: (1). recognition thresholds were better for young over older adults, suggesting an age-related general decrease across channels; (2). recognition thresholds were better for prosody over semantics, suggesting a prosodic advantage; (3). importantly, the prosodic advantage in thresholds did not differ between age groups (thus a sensory source for age-related differences in spoken-emotions processing was not supported); and (4). larger failures of selective attention were found for older adults than for young adults, indicating that older adults experienced larger difficulties in inhibiting irrelevant information. Taken together, results do not support a sole sensory source, but rather an interplay of cognitive and sensory sources for age-related differences in spoken-emotions processing.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Yehuda I Dor
- School of Psychological Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel.,Communication, Aging and Neuropsychology Lab (CANlab), Baruch Ivcher School of Psychology, Reichman University (IDC), Herzliya, Israel
| | - Daniel Algom
- School of Psychological Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
| | - Vered Shakuf
- Department of Communications Disorders, Achva Academic College, Arugot, Israel
| | - Boaz M Ben-David
- Communication, Aging and Neuropsychology Lab (CANlab), Baruch Ivcher School of Psychology, Reichman University (IDC), Herzliya, Israel.,Toronto Rehabilitation Institute, University Health Networks (UHN), Toronto, ON, Canada.,Department of Speech-Language Pathology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
| |
Collapse
|
16
|
More Than Words: the Relative Roles of Prosody and Semantics in the Perception of Emotions in Spoken Language by Postlingual Cochlear Implant Users. Ear Hear 2022; 43:1378-1389. [PMID: 35030551 DOI: 10.1097/aud.0000000000001199] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVES The processing of emotional speech calls for the perception and integration of semantic and prosodic cues. Although cochlear implants allow for significant auditory improvements, they are limited in the transmission of spectro-temporal fine-structure information that may not support the processing of voice pitch cues. The goal of the current study is to compare the performance of postlingual cochlear implant (CI) users and a matched control group on perception, selective attention, and integration of emotional semantics and prosody. DESIGN Fifteen CI users and 15 normal hearing (NH) peers (age range, 18-65 years) 1istened to spoken sentences composed of different combinations of four discrete emotions (anger, happiness, sadness, and neutrality) presented in prosodic and semantic channels-T-RES: Test for Rating Emotions in Speech. In three separate tasks, listeners were asked to attend to the sentence as a whole, thus integrating both speech channels (integration), or to focus on one channel only (rating of target emotion) and ignore the other (selective attention). Their task was to rate how much they agreed that the sentence conveyed each of the predefined emotions. In addition, all participants performed standard tests of speech perception. RESULTS When asked to focus on one channel, semantics or prosody, both groups rated emotions similarly with comparable levels of selective attention. When the task was called for channel integration, group differences were found. CI users appeared to use semantic emotional information more than did their NH peers. CI users assigned higher ratings than did their NH peers to sentences that did not present the target emotion, indicating some degree of confusion. In addition, for CI users, individual differences in speech comprehension over the phone and identification of intonation were significantly related to emotional semantic and prosodic ratings, respectively. CONCLUSIONS CI users and NH controls did not differ in perception of prosodic and semantic emotions and in auditory selective attention. However, when the task called for integration of prosody and semantics, CI users overused the semantic information (as compared with NH). We suggest that as CI users adopt diverse cue weighting strategies with device experience, their weighting of prosody and semantics differs from those used by NH. Finally, CI users may benefit from rehabilitation strategies that strengthen perception of prosodic information to better understand emotional speech.
Collapse
|
17
|
Niv L, Moran R, Algom D. The nature of Garner interference: The role of uncertainty, information, and variation in the breakdown in selective attention. Cognition 2021; 218:104950. [PMID: 34768122 DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2021.104950] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/16/2021] [Revised: 10/29/2021] [Accepted: 11/01/2021] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
The popular measure of Garner Interference specifies the detriment to performance with the task-relevant attribute in the presence of a randomly varying distractor. But is irrelevant variation per se responsible for this breakdown of selective attention as the traditional account suggests? In this study we identified an overlooked alternative account - increased irrelevant information - which threatens the validity of the variation interpretation. We designed a new condition within the Garner paradigm, Roving Baseline, which allowed for dissociating the separate and combined contributions of information and variation at both macro and micro levels of analysis. A third account, increased number of stimuli or stimulus uncertainty, was also considered as well as the rival interpretations of configural processing and change detection. Our conceptual assay was complemented by a pair of dedicated experiments that included the novel Roving Baseline condition. The results of the theoretical analysis and of the experiments converged on supporting variability as the source of Garner interference. We found no evidence for an influence of information or of stimulus uncertainty. Our study thus adds further support for W. R. Garner's original intuition when designing the paradigm and the interference bearing his name.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
| | - Rani Moran
- Max Planck UCL Centre for Computational Psychiatry and Ageing Research, University College London, 10-12 Russell Square, London WC1B 5EH, UK; Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging, University College London, London WC1N 3BG, UK
| | | |
Collapse
|
18
|
Can the Stroop effect serve as the gold standard of conflict monitoring and control? A conceptual critique. Mem Cognit 2021; 50:883-897. [PMID: 34766252 DOI: 10.3758/s13421-021-01251-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 10/05/2021] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
The Stroop effect has been a key to the assay of selective attention since the time of the epoch-making study by J.R. Stroop almost a century ago. However, recent work based on computational modeling and recording of brain activations ignored the primary meaning of the Stroop effect as a measure of selectivity-with the Stroop test losing its raison d'être. Espousing the new framework, numerous studies in the past 20 years conceived performance in the Stroop task in terms of conflict-induced adjustments governed by central control on a trial-to-trial basis. In the face of this tsunami, we try to convince the reader that the Stroop effect cannot serve as a testing ground for conflict-monitoring and control, because these constructs are fundamentally unsuited to serve as a candidate theory of Stroop processes. A range of problems are discussed that singly and collectively pose grave doubts regarding the validity of a control and conflict monitoring account in the Stroop domain. We show how the key notion of conflict is misconstrued in conflict-monitoring models. Due to space limitations and for sake of wider accessibility, our treatment here cannot be technical.
Collapse
|
19
|
Lin Y, Ding H, Zhang Y. Unisensory and Multisensory Stroop Effects Modulate Gender Differences in Verbal and Nonverbal Emotion Perception. JOURNAL OF SPEECH, LANGUAGE, AND HEARING RESEARCH : JSLHR 2021; 64:4439-4457. [PMID: 34469179 DOI: 10.1044/2021_jslhr-20-00338] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
Purpose This study aimed to examine the Stroop effects of verbal and nonverbal cues and their relative impacts on gender differences in unisensory and multisensory emotion perception. Method Experiment 1 investigated how well 88 normal Chinese adults (43 women and 45 men) could identify emotions conveyed through face, prosody and semantics as three independent channels. Experiments 2 and 3 further explored gender differences during multisensory integration of emotion through a cross-channel (prosody-semantics) and a cross-modal (face-prosody-semantics) Stroop task, respectively, in which 78 participants (41 women and 37 men) were asked to selectively attend to one of the two or three communication channels. Results The integration of accuracy and reaction time data indicated that paralinguistic cues (i.e., face and prosody) of emotions were consistently more salient than linguistic ones (i.e., semantics) throughout the study. Additionally, women demonstrated advantages in processing all three types of emotional signals in the unisensory task, but only preserved their strengths in paralinguistic processing and showed greater Stroop effects of nonverbal cues on verbal ones during multisensory perception. Conclusions These findings demonstrate clear gender differences in verbal and nonverbal emotion perception that are modulated by sensory channels, which have important theoretical and practical implications. Supplemental Material https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.16435599.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Yi Lin
- Speech-Language-Hearing Center, School of Foreign Languages, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China
| | - Hongwei Ding
- Speech-Language-Hearing Center, School of Foreign Languages, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China
| | - Yang Zhang
- Department of Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences & Center for Neurobehavioral Development, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis
| |
Collapse
|
20
|
Shao J, Xue C. Inhibition Effect of Audio-Visual Semantic Interference in Chinese Interface: An ERP Study of Concrete Icons and Chinese Characters. INT J PATTERN RECOGN 2021. [DOI: 10.1142/s0218001421590382] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
Abstract
In this study, event-related potential (ERP) was used to examine whether the brain has an inhibition effect on the interference of audio-visual information in the Chinese interface. Concrete icons (flame and snowflake) or Chinese characters (暖 and 凉) with opposite semantics were used as target carriers, and colors (red and blue) and speeches (热 and 冷) were used as audio-visual intervention stimuli. In the experiment, target carrier and audio-visual intervention were presented in a random combination, and the subjects needed to determine whether the semantics of the two matched quickly. By comparing the overall cognitive performance of two carriers, it was found that the brain had a more significant inhibition effect on audio-visual intervention stimuli with different semantics (SBH/LBH and SRC/LRC) relative to the same semantics (SRH/LRH). The semantic mismatch caused significant N400, indicating that semantic interference in the interface information would trigger the brain’s inhibition effect. Therefore, the more complex the semantic matching of interface information was, the higher the amplitude of N400 became. The results confirmed that the semantic relationship between target carrier and audio-visual intervention was the key factor affecting the cognitive inhibition effect. Moreover, under different intervention stimuli, the ERP’s negative activity caused by Chinese characters in frontal and parietal-occipital regions was more evident than that by concrete icons, indicating that concrete icons had a lower inhibition effect than Chinese characters. Therefore, we considered that this inhibition effect was based on the semantic constraints of the target carrier itself, which might come from the knowledge learning and intuitive experience stored in the human brain.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Junkai Shao
- School of Mechanical Engineering, Southeast University, Nanjing 211189, P. R. China
| | - Chengqi Xue
- School of Mechanical Engineering, Southeast University, Nanjing 211189, P. R. China
| |
Collapse
|
21
|
Freund MC, Bugg JM, Braver TS. A Representational Similarity Analysis of Cognitive Control during Color-Word Stroop. J Neurosci 2021; 41:7388-7402. [PMID: 34162756 PMCID: PMC8412987 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.2956-20.2021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/18/2020] [Revised: 05/23/2021] [Accepted: 06/10/2021] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Progress in understanding the neural bases of cognitive control has been supported by the paradigmatic color-word Stroop task, in which a target response (color name) must be selected over a more automatic, yet potentially incongruent, distractor response (word). For this paradigm, models have postulated complementary coding schemes: dorsomedial frontal cortex (DMFC) is proposed to evaluate the demand for control via incongruency-related coding, whereas dorsolateral PFC (DLPFC) is proposed to implement control via goal and target-related coding. Yet, mapping these theorized schemes to measured neural activity within this task has been challenging. Here, we tested for these coding schemes relatively directly, by decomposing an event-related color-word Stroop task via representational similarity analysis. Three neural coding models were fit to the similarity structure of multivoxel patterns of human fMRI activity, acquired from 65 healthy, young-adult males and females. Incongruency coding was predominant in DMFC, whereas both target and incongruency coding were present with indistinguishable strength in DLPFC. In contrast, distractor information was strongly encoded within early visual cortex. Further, these coding schemes were differentially related to behavior: individuals with stronger DLPFC (and lateral posterior parietal cortex) target coding, but weaker DMFC incongruency coding, exhibited less behavioral Stroop interference. These results highlight the utility of the representational similarity analysis framework for investigating neural mechanisms of cognitive control and point to several promising directions to extend the Stroop paradigm.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT How the human brain enables cognitive control - the ability to override behavioral habits to pursue internal goals - has been a major focus of neuroscience research. This ability has been frequently investigated by using the Stroop color-word naming task. With the Stroop as a test-bed, many theories have proposed specific neuroanatomical dissociations, in which medial and lateral frontal brain regions underlie cognitive control by encoding distinct types of information. Yet providing a direct confirmation of these claims has been challenging. Here, we demonstrate that representational similarity analysis, which estimates and models the similarity structure of brain activity patterns, can successfully establish the hypothesized functional dissociations within the Stroop task. Representational similarity analysis may provide a useful approach for investigating cognitive control mechanisms.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Michael C Freund
- Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri 63130
| | - Julie M Bugg
- Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri 63130
| | - Todd S Braver
- Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri 63130
- Department of Radiology, Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri 63110
- Department of Neuroscience, Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri 63110
| |
Collapse
|
22
|
The loci of Stroop effects: a critical review of methods and evidence for levels of processing contributing to color-word Stroop effects and the implications for the loci of attentional selection. PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH 2021; 86:1029-1053. [PMID: 34389901 PMCID: PMC9090875 DOI: 10.1007/s00426-021-01554-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 34] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/10/2020] [Accepted: 06/27/2021] [Indexed: 12/02/2022]
Abstract
Despite instructions to ignore the irrelevant word in the Stroop task, it robustly influences the time it takes to identify the color, leading to performance decrements (interference) or enhancements (facilitation). The present review addresses two questions: (1) What levels of processing contribute to Stroop effects; and (2) Where does attentional selection occur? The methods that are used in the Stroop literature to measure the candidate varieties of interference and facilitation are critically evaluated and the processing levels that contribute to Stroop effects are discussed. It is concluded that the literature does not provide clear evidence for a distinction between conflicting and facilitating representations at phonological, semantic and response levels (together referred to as informational conflict), because the methods do not currently permit their isolated measurement. In contrast, it is argued that the evidence for task conflict as being distinct from informational conflict is strong and, thus, that there are at least two loci of attentional selection in the Stroop task. Evidence suggests that task conflict occurs earlier, has a different developmental trajectory and is independently controlled which supports the notion of a separate mechanism of attentional selection. The modifying effects of response modes and evidence for Stroop effects at the level of response execution are also discussed. It is argued that multiple studies claiming to have distinguished response and semantic conflict have not done so unambiguously and that models of Stroop task performance need to be modified to more effectively account for the loci of Stroop effects.
Collapse
|
23
|
Hasshim N, Parris BA. The role of contingency and correlation in the Stroop task. Q J Exp Psychol (Hove) 2021; 74:1657-1668. [PMID: 34190618 DOI: 10.1177/17470218211032548] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/15/2022]
Abstract
Facilitation (faster responses to Congruent trials compared with Neutral trials) in the Stroop task has been a difficult effect for models of cognitive control to explain. The current research investigated the role of word-response contingency, word-colour correlation, and proportion congruency in producing Stroop effects. Contingency and correlation refers to the probability of specific word-response and word-colour pairings that are implicitly learnt while performing the task. Pairs that have a higher probability of occurring are responded to faster, a finding that challenges top-down attention control accounts of Stroop task performance. However, studies that try to experimentally control for contingency and correlation typically do so by increasing the proportion of incongruent trials in the task, which cognitive control accounts posit affects interference control via the top-down biasing of attention. The present research focused on whether facilitation is also affected by contingency and correlation while additionally looking at the effect of proportion congruency. This was done in two experiments that compared the typical design of Stroop task experiments (i.e., having equal proportions of Congruent and Incongruent trials but also contingency and correlational biases) to: (a) a design that had unequal congruency proportions but no contingency or correlation bias (Experiment 1) and (b) a design where the correlation is biased but proportion congruency and contingency were not (Experiment 2). Results did not support the hypotheses that contingency or correlation affected facilitation. However, interference was almost halved in the alternative design of Experiment 2, demonstrating an effect of contingency learning in typical measures of Stroop interference.
Collapse
|
24
|
Falzarano F, Siedlecki KL. Differences in cognitive performance between informal caregivers and non-caregivers. NEUROPSYCHOLOGY, DEVELOPMENT, AND COGNITION. SECTION B, AGING, NEUROPSYCHOLOGY AND COGNITION 2021; 28:284-307. [PMID: 32270735 PMCID: PMC7544647 DOI: 10.1080/13825585.2020.1749228] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/31/2019] [Accepted: 03/24/2020] [Indexed: 10/24/2022]
Abstract
Extensive literature exists documenting the relationship between stress and cognition. Caregiving for an individual with Alzheimer's disease can be aunique and chronic stress experience due to the increasing dependency of the care-recipient as the disease progresses. The current study examines the relationship between stress and cognitive performance in 47 dementia caregivers compared to 47 noncaregiver control participants matched on age, gender, and education. Participants completed measures assessing stress (measured via the Perceived Stress Scale) and seven domains of cognition including episodic memory, working memory, executive functioning, attention, visuospatial processing, processing speed, and implicit memory. Results showed that caregivers had poorer performance than non-caregivers on certain measures of episodic memory, working memory, and executive functioning; while no significant differences were observed on measures of attention, visuospatial processing, processing speed, or implicit memory. In addition, when controlling for general stress, caregiver performance on measures of processing speed and visuospatial processing was also poorer than non-caregivers. By controlling for levels of general stress that may not be related to caregiving, these results show that differences in cognitive performance are unlikely to be explained by general stress alone.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
| | - Karen L Siedlecki
- Department of Psychology, Fordham University , Bronx, NY, United States
| |
Collapse
|
25
|
Melara RD, Varela T, Baidya T. Neural and behavioral effects of perceptual load on auditory selective attention. Behav Brain Res 2021; 405:113213. [PMID: 33657438 DOI: 10.1016/j.bbr.2021.113213] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/27/2020] [Revised: 02/01/2021] [Accepted: 02/23/2021] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
Healthy adults performed an auditory version of the flanker task under low versus high perceptual load while behavioral and electrophysiological measures were recorded. Participants experienced less attentional interference under low load than high load, whether analyses were performed between tasks (Garner interference; found in accuracy and RT), between stimuli (flanker congruity; found in accuracy), or between sequences (Gratton effect; found in accuracy). Analysis of event-related potentials to the distractor (flanker), which was physically identical across load conditions, revealed load modulation of tasks effects in the P1 component (peak amplitude and latency), an early perceptual component peaking approximately 75 ms after distractor onset. As in behavioral performance, ERP analyses showed that auditory attentional disruption in P1 was significantly smaller under low perceptual load. Dipole source analysis suggested activation of prefrontal inhibitory control during low load and default mode network during high load. The results are in keeping with the predictions of tectonic theory (Melara & Algom, 2003), but inconsistent with expectations derived from perceptual load theory (Lavie, 1995).
Collapse
|
26
|
Affiliation(s)
- Ami Eidels
- School of Psychology, University of Newcastle, Callaghan, New South Wales, Australia
| |
Collapse
|
27
|
Rodin has it! The role of hands in improving the selectivity of attention. Acta Psychol (Amst) 2020; 210:103160. [PMID: 32823058 DOI: 10.1016/j.actpsy.2020.103160] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/15/2020] [Revised: 07/28/2020] [Accepted: 08/03/2020] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
We report a new discovery on the role of hands in guiding attention, using the classic Stroop effect as our assay. We show that the Stroop effect diminishes, hence selective attention improves, when observers hold their chin, emulating Rodin's famous sculpture, "The Thinker." In two experiments we show that the Rodin posture improves the selectivity of attention as efficiently as holding the hands nearby the visual stimulus (the near-hands effect). Because spatial proximity to the displayed stimulus is neither present nor intended, the presence of the Rodin effect implies that attentional prioritization by the hands is not limited to the space between the hands.
Collapse
|
28
|
Thabtah F, Peebles D, Retzler J, Hathurusingha C. Dementia medical screening using mobile applications: A systematic review with a new mapping model. J Biomed Inform 2020; 111:103573. [PMID: 32961306 DOI: 10.1016/j.jbi.2020.103573] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/21/2020] [Revised: 09/13/2020] [Accepted: 09/14/2020] [Indexed: 12/19/2022]
Abstract
Early detection is the key to successfully tackling dementia, a neurocognitive condition common among the elderly. Therefore, screening using technological platforms such as mobile applications (apps) may provide an important opportunity to speed up the diagnosis process and improve accessibility. Due to the lack of research into dementia diagnosis and screening tools based on mobile apps, this systematic review aims to identify the available mobile-based dementia and mild cognitive impairment (MCI) apps using specific inclusion and exclusion criteria. More importantly, we critically analyse these tools in terms of their comprehensiveness, validity, performance, and the use of artificial intelligence (AI) techniques. The research findings suggest diagnosticians in a clinical setting use dementia screening apps such as ALZ and CognitiveExams since they cover most of the domains for the diagnosis of neurocognitive disorders. Further, apps such as Cognity and ACE-Mobile have great potential as they use machine learning (ML) and AI techniques, thus improving the accuracy of the outcome and the efficiency of the screening process. Lastly, there was overlapping among the dementia screening apps in terms of activities and questions they contain therefore mapping these apps to the designated cognitive domains is a challenging task, which has been done in this research.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Fadi Thabtah
- Digital Technologies, Manukau Institute of Technology, Auckland, New Zealand.
| | - David Peebles
- Department of Psychology, University of Huddersfield, Huddersfield, UK.
| | - Jenny Retzler
- Department of Psychology, University of Huddersfield, Huddersfield, UK.
| | | |
Collapse
|
29
|
Fitousi D. Evaluating the independence of age, sex, and race in judgment of faces. Cognition 2020; 202:104333. [PMID: 32504857 DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2020.104333] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/15/2019] [Revised: 04/17/2020] [Accepted: 05/18/2020] [Indexed: 01/12/2023]
Abstract
Extracting the dimensions of age, sex, race from faces is fundamental for many aspects of social cognition such as person construal, impression formation, and social interaction. While cognitive researchers consider these dimensions to be independent in processing, social psychology researchers have recently demonstrated the emergence of strong interactive patterns between these categories, especially, when social biases are involved. The current study harnessed the classic Garner's speeded classification task (Garner, 1974) and Stroop task (1935) to evaluate the level of independence between age, sex, and race in a systematic and exhaustive fashion, with an eye on the potential influence of social biases. The degree of separability was evaluated in a pairwise fashion, with each experiment testing one pair. In Experiment 1a and 1b, sex and race were tested with strong (Experiment 1b) or weak (Experiment 1a) social bias. Experiment 2 was set to assess the separability of sex and race. And Experiment 3 was aimed at evaluating the separability of age and sex. The results revealed that neither of the pairs of dimensions produced Garner interferences (and are therefore separable dimensions). However, when strong social bias was present, the dimensions did produce redundancy gains and Stroop-like effects, which reflected the presence of abiding social biases. A holistic-to-analytic model is presented to account for these results, according to which, the dimensions are initially processed as integral dimensions, but then become gradually separable.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Daniel Fitousi
- Department of Behavioural Sciences, Ariel University, Israel.
| |
Collapse
|
30
|
Thabtah F, Peebles D, Retzler J, Hathurusingha C. A review of dementia screening tools based on Mobile application. HEALTH AND TECHNOLOGY 2020. [DOI: 10.1007/s12553-020-00426-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/19/2022]
|
31
|
Sobel KV, Puri AM, York AK. Visual search inverts the classic Stroop asymmetry. Acta Psychol (Amst) 2020; 205:103054. [PMID: 32151791 DOI: 10.1016/j.actpsy.2020.103054] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/07/2019] [Revised: 02/20/2020] [Accepted: 03/02/2020] [Indexed: 10/24/2022] Open
Abstract
The Stroop effect is typically much larger than the reverse Stroop effect. One explanation for this asymmetry asserts that interference between the attended feature and an incongruent unattended feature depends on which feature is more strongly associated with the processing typically needed to complete the task. Accordingly, because identification of the target's color or the target word (as in the traditional Stroop paradigm) is more strongly associated with verbal processing than visual processing, the target's meaning should interfere with identification of the target's color (Stroop) more than vice versa (reverse Stroop). In contrast, localization is more strongly associated with visual processing, so strength-of-association predicts that the target's color should interfere with localizing the target word (reverse Stroop) more than vice versa (Stroop). Experiments 1 and 2 supported the strength-of-association account: compared to Stroop, the reverse Stroop effect was smaller for an identification task, but larger for a localization task. Because overall responses were slower for the reverse Stroop condition than the Stroop condition in Experiment 2, we entertained two alternative explanations for the reverse Stroop effect being larger than the Stroop effect. Experiments 3 and 4 showed that the larger reverse Stroop effect could not have been due to scaling, and Experiment 5 showed that it could not have been due to covert translation. Taken together, these experiments demonstrate the role of strength of association in generating the classic Stroop asymmetry, and pave the way for future exploration of the reverse Stroop effect using localization tasks.
Collapse
|
32
|
Cognitive control strategies from the perspective of perceptual conflict: An example of stereotyped information and counterstereotyped information. ACTA PSYCHOLOGICA SINICA 2019. [DOI: 10.3724/sp.j.1041.2019.01157] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
|
33
|
Goller F, Kroiss A, Ansorge U. Conflict-Elicited Negative Evaluations of Neutral Stimuli: Testing Overt Responses and Stimulus-Frequency Differences as Critical Side Conditions. Front Psychol 2019; 10:2204. [PMID: 31681065 PMCID: PMC6803755 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02204] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/15/2019] [Accepted: 09/13/2019] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Prior research has shown that a stimulus signaling a conflict (such as an incongruent Stroop stimulus) as a prime can elicit more negative evaluations of an otherwise neutral and unrelated stimulus as a target. Yet, there are many side conditions that could at least partly be responsible for such effects like the frequencies of congruent and conflicting stimuli or overt responses to the conflicting stimuli. Here, we tested the influences of stimulus frequencies and overt responses on the strength of this priming effect. In four experiments, we demonstrate that overt responses in-between prime and target do not delete the conflict-elicited evaluation effect (Experiments 1a vs. 1b), while an overall higher frequency of conflicting trials (Experiment 2a) and an overall lower frequency of congruent trials (Experiment 3) can both abolish the priming effect. In contrast, a higher frequency of specific conflicting conditions was ineffective (Experiment 2b). Together, our results confirm that conflict is indeed the origin of the priming of negative evaluations.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Florian Goller
- Faculty of Psychology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - Alexandra Kroiss
- Department of Linguistics, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - Ulrich Ansorge
- Faculty of Psychology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.,Vienna Cognitive Science Hub, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| |
Collapse
|
34
|
Ferrand L, Ducrot S, Chausse P, Maïonchi-Pino N, O'Connor RJ, Parris BA, Perret P, Riggs KJ, Augustinova M. Stroop interference is a composite phenomenon: Evidence from distinct developmental trajectories of its components. Dev Sci 2019; 23:e12899. [PMID: 31483912 DOI: 10.1111/desc.12899] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/18/2018] [Revised: 07/19/2019] [Accepted: 08/28/2019] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Only one previous developmental study of Stroop task performance (Schiller, 1966) has controlled for differences in processing speed that exist both within and between age groups. Therefore, the question of whether the early developmental change in the magnitude of Stroop interference actually persists after controlling for processing speed needs further investigation; work that is further motivated by the possibility that any remaining differences would be caused by process(es) other than processing speed. Analysis of data from two experiments revealed that, even after controlling for processing speed using z-transformed reaction times, early developmental change persists such that the magnitude of overall Stroop interference is larger in 3rd- and 5th graders as compared to 1st graders. This pattern indicates that the magnitude of overall Stroop interference peaks after 2 or 3 years of reading practice (Schadler & Thissen, 1981). Furthermore, this peak is shown to be due to distinct components of Stroop interference (resulting from specific conflicts) progressively falling into place. Experiment 2 revealed that the change in the magnitude of Stroop interference specifically results from joint contributions of task, semantic and response conflicts in 3rd- and 5th graders as compared to a sole contribution of task conflict in 1st graders. The specific developmental trajectories of different conflicts presented in the present work provide unique evidence for multiple loci of Stroop interference in the processing stream (respectively task, semantic and response conflict) as opposed to a single (i.e. response) locus predicted by historically - favored response competition accounts.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Ludovic Ferrand
- Université Clermont Auvergne, CNRS, LAPSCO, Clermont-Ferrand, France
| | | | - Pierre Chausse
- Université Clermont Auvergne, CNRS, LAPSCO, Clermont-Ferrand, France
| | | | | | | | | | - Kevin J Riggs
- Department of Psychology, University of Hull, Hull, UK
| | | |
Collapse
|
35
|
Abstract
One of the most influential ideas in recent decades in the cognitive psychology literature is conflict monitoring theory. According to this account, each time we experience a conflict (e.g., between a colour word and print colour in the Stroop task), attentional control is upregulated to minimize distraction on subsequent trials. Though influential, evidence purported to support this theoretical model (primarily, proportion congruent and congruency sequence effects) has been frequently criticized. Furious debate has centered on whether or not conflict monitoring does or does not occur and, if so, under which conditions. The present article presents an updated review of this debate. In particular, the article considers new research that either (a) seems particularly damaging for the conflict monitoring view or (b) seems to provide support for the theory. The author argues that new findings of the latter sort are still not compelling, several of which have already-demonstrated confounds and others which are plausibly confounded. Further progress has, to a greater extent than not, provided even stronger support for the position that conflict monitoring is merely an illusion. Instead, the net results can be more coherently understood in terms of (relatively) simpler learning/memory biases unrelated to conflict or attention that confound the key paradigms.
Collapse
|
36
|
Ben-Nathan M, Salti M, Algom D. The many faces of music: Attending to music and delight in the same music are governed by different rules of processing. Acta Psychol (Amst) 2019; 200:102949. [PMID: 31675619 DOI: 10.1016/j.actpsy.2019.102949] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/17/2019] [Revised: 08/25/2019] [Accepted: 10/18/2019] [Indexed: 11/28/2022] Open
Abstract
Music generates manifold experiences in humans, some perceptual and some hedonic. Are these qualia governed by the same principles in processing? In particular, do the loudness and timbre of melodies combine to produce perception and likeability by the same rules of integration? In Experiment 1, we tested selective attention to loudness and timbre by applying Garner's speeded classification paradigm and found both to be perceptually integral dimensions. In Experiment 2, we tested liking for the same music by applying Norman Anderson's functional measurement model and found loudness and timbre to combine by an adding-type rule. In Experiment 3, we applied functional measurement for perception and found loudness and timbre to interact as in Experiment 1. These results show that people cannot or do not attend selectively or perceive separately any one music component, but that they nonetheless can isolate the components when they enjoy (or disenjoy) listening to music. We conclude that perception of the constituent components of a musical piece and the processing of the same components for liking are governed by different rules.
Collapse
|
37
|
Algom D, Chajut E. Reclaiming the Stroop Effect Back From Control to Input-Driven Attention and Perception. Front Psychol 2019; 10:1683. [PMID: 31428008 PMCID: PMC6688540 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01683] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/08/2019] [Accepted: 07/03/2019] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
Abstract
According to a growing consensus, the Stroop effect is understood as a phenomenon of conflict and cognitive control. A tidal wave of recent research alleges that incongruent Stroop stimuli generate conflict, which is then managed and resolved by top-down cognitive control. We argue otherwise: control studies fail to account for major Stroop results obtained over a century-long history of research. We list some of the most compelling developments and show that no control account can serve as a viable explanation for major Stroop phenomena and that there exist more parsimonious explanations for other Stroop related phenomena. Against a wealth of studies and emerging consensus, we posit that data-driven selective attention best accounts for the gamut of existing Stroop results. The case for data-driven attention is not new: a mere twenty-five years ago, the Stroop effect was considered “the gold standard” of attention (MacLeod, 1992). We identify four pitfalls plaguing conflict monitoring and control studies of the Stroop effect and show that the notion of top-down control is gratuitous. Looking at the Stroop effect from a historical perspective, we argue that the recent paradigm change from stimulus-driven selective attention to control is unwarranted. Applying Occam’s razor, the effects marshaled in support of the control view are better explained by a selectivity of attention account. Moreover, many Stroop results, ignored in the control literature, are inconsistent with any control account of the effect.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Daniel Algom
- School of Psychological Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
| | - Eran Chajut
- Department of Education and Psychology, Open University of Israel, Ra'anana, Israel
| |
Collapse
|
38
|
Abstract
Objective: To compare the eye movement patterns of adults with ADHD with those of controls as they perform the Stroop test. Method: Thirty individuals with ADHD (ages 18-31), and 30 controls participated in this study. The hypothesis was that under the incongruent condition, the group with ADHD would focus longer on the distracter than the controls. Results: Participants with ADHD showed a more pronounced Stroop effect than the controls. Eye movements indicated that more time was spent fixating on the target than on the distracter. The most significant differences between the groups were the overall time spent on the target and the number of fixations on the target, rather than on the distracter. Furthermore, the group with ADHD made more transitions between the target and distracter stimuli. Conclusion: These results were interpreted to indicate an inefficient strategy used by the group with ADHD in their attempt to ignore the distracter stimuli.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Eli Vakil
- 1 Department of Psychology and Leslie and Susan Gonda (Goldschmied) Multidisciplinary Brain Research Center, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel
| | - Meital Mass
- 1 Department of Psychology and Leslie and Susan Gonda (Goldschmied) Multidisciplinary Brain Research Center, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel
| | - Rachel Schiff
- 2 School of Education and Haddad Center for Research in Dyslexia and Reading Disorders, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, Israel
| |
Collapse
|
39
|
Gillich IM, Jacobsen T, Tomat M, Wendt M. Independent control processes? Evidence for concurrent distractor inhibition and attentional usage of distractor information. Acta Psychol (Amst) 2019; 198:102879. [PMID: 31301574 DOI: 10.1016/j.actpsy.2019.102879] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/24/2019] [Revised: 05/20/2019] [Accepted: 06/28/2019] [Indexed: 11/27/2022] Open
Abstract
Interference evoked by a distractor presented prior to a target stimulus is reduced when the distractor-target SOA is increased, suggesting inhibition of distractor-related activation. Distractor processing is also assumed to be (strategically) adjusted to the proportions of congruent and incongruent target-distractor combinations, yielding a larger distractor interference effect when the proportion of congruent trials is higher (i.e., Proportion Congruent Effect, PCE). To explore the interplay of proportion congruent-based processing adjustment and the time course of distractor-related activation we varied the proportions of congruent and incongruent trials as well as the distractor-target SOA. To control for item-specific priming we kept distractor-related contingencies (i.e., frequency of individual distractor-target conjunctions) constant for a subset of the stimuli (and used a different subset to manipulate the proportions of congruent and incongruent trials). A PCE occurred, even for the subset of stimuli associated with constant distractor-related contingencies, thus ruling out item-specific contingency learning. Distractor interference was reduced when the SOA was increased, but this reduction did not differ between the proportion congruent conditions, as confirmed by a Bayesian analysis. Our results are consistent with independent processes pertaining to usage of distractor information for biasing response selection and distractor inhibition during the SOA. Alternative interpretations of the independent effects of the PC manipulation and the distractor-target SOA are discussed.
Collapse
|
40
|
Geukes S, Vorberg D, Zwitserlood P. Disentangling semantic and response learning effects in color-word contingency learning. PLoS One 2019; 14:e0212714. [PMID: 31059506 PMCID: PMC6502354 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0212714] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/06/2019] [Accepted: 04/09/2019] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
It is easier to indicate the ink color of a color-neutral noun when it is presented in the color in which it has frequently been shown before, relative to print colors in which it has been shown less often. This phenomenon is known as color-word contingency learning. It remains unclear whether participants actually learn semantic (word-color) associations and/or response (word-button) associations. We present a novel variant of the paradigm that can disentangle semantic and response learning, because word-color and word-button associations are manipulated independently. In four experiments, each involving four daily sessions, pseudowords—such as enas, fatu or imot—were probabilistically associated with either a particular color, a particular response-button position, or both. Neutral trials without color-pseudoword association were also included, and participants’ awareness of the contingencies was manipulated. The data showed no influence of explicit contingency awareness, but clear evidence both for response learning and for semantic learning, with effects emerging swiftly. Deeper processing of color information, with color words presented in black instead of color patches to indicate response-button positions, resulted in stronger effects, both for semantic and response learning. Our data add a crucial piece of evidence lacking so far in color-word contingency learning studies: Semantic learning effectively takes place even when associations are learned in an incidental way.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Sebastian Geukes
- Institute of Psychology, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, Münster, Germany
- Otto-Creutzfeldt-Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, Münster, Germany
| | - Dirk Vorberg
- Institute of Psychology, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, Münster, Germany
- Otto-Creutzfeldt-Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, Münster, Germany
| | - Pienie Zwitserlood
- Institute of Psychology, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, Münster, Germany
- Otto-Creutzfeldt-Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, Münster, Germany
- * E-mail:
| |
Collapse
|
41
|
Flanker tasks based on congruency manipulation are biased measures of selective attention in perceptual load studies. Atten Percept Psychophys 2019; 81:1836-1845. [PMID: 30993656 DOI: 10.3758/s13414-019-01730-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Flanker tasks based on a flanker-target congruency manipulation are widely used in perceptual load studies to investigate under what circumstances task-irrelevant flankers may be processed. An implicit assumption underlying the congruency manipulation is that the three types of flankers (congruent, incongruent, and neutral) attract attention homogeneously. However, in the present study, we provide evidence to demonstrate that this assumption is wrong: We discovered that incongruent/congruent flankers attracted more attention than the neutral flanker did. To avoid this attentional bias induced by the flanker-target congruency manipulation, we developed a new flanker paradigm in which the extent of flanker processing was evaluated by comparing the threshold stimulus exposure durations (TSEDs) for successfully performing a target identification task when a task-irrelevant flanker was presented versus when the flanker was absent. The flanker was processed if the TSED was longer when the flanker was present than when it was absent. This new paradigm provides an unbiased measure of selective attention when neutral flankers are used. The present data, obtained with neutral flankers in the new paradigm, were consistent with the dilution theory of selective attention, but inconsistent with the perceptual load theory of selective attention.
Collapse
|
42
|
Hirst RJ, Kicks EC, Allen HA, Cragg L. Cross-modal interference-control is reduced in childhood but maintained in aging: A cohort study of stimulus- and response-interference in cross-modal and unimodal Stroop tasks. J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform 2019; 45:553-572. [PMID: 30945905 PMCID: PMC6484713 DOI: 10.1037/xhp0000608] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Interference-control is the ability to exclude distractions and focus on a specific task or stimulus. However, it is currently unclear whether the same interference-control mechanisms underlie the ability to ignore unimodal and cross-modal distractions. In 2 experiments we assessed whether unimodal and cross-modal interference follow similar trajectories in development and aging and occur at similar processing levels. In Experiment 1, 42 children (6-11 years), 31 younger adults (18-25 years) and 32 older adults (60-84 years) identified color rectangles with either written (unimodal) or spoken (cross-modal) distractor-words. Stimuli could be congruent, incongruent but mapped to the same response (stimulus-incongruent), or incongruent and mapped to different responses (response-incongruent); thus, separating interference occurring at early (sensory) and late (response) processing levels. Unimodal interference was worst in childhood and old age; however, older adults maintained the ability to ignore cross-modal distraction. Unimodal but not cross-modal response-interference also reduced accuracy. In Experiment 2 we compared the effect of audition on vision and vice versa in 52 children (6-11 years), 30 young adults (22-33 years) and 30 older adults (60-84 years). As in Experiment 1, older adults maintained the ability to ignore cross-modal distraction arising from either modality, and neither type of cross-modal distraction limited accuracy in adults. However, cross-modal distraction still reduced accuracy in children and children were more slowed by stimulus-interference compared with adults. We conclude that; unimodal and cross-modal interference follow different life span trajectories and differences in stimulus- and response-interference may increase cross-modal distractibility in childhood. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
| | - Ella C Kicks
- School of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of St. Andrews
| | | | - Lucy Cragg
- School of Psychology, University of Nottingham
| |
Collapse
|
43
|
Zukowski LA, Feld JA, Giuliani CA, Plummer P. Relationships between gait variability and ambulatory activity post stroke. Top Stroke Rehabil 2019; 26:255-260. [PMID: 30909825 DOI: 10.1080/10749357.2019.1591038] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/27/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Fall risk and balance confidence are related to gait variability and ambulatory activity post stroke, yet whether a relationship exists between gait variability and ambulatory activity is unknown. Knowing if gait variability measured under naturalistic conditions is related to ambulatory activity could explain more about the relationship between falls and walking activity post-stroke. OBJECTIVES To examine relationships between spontaneous, daily ambulatory activity and gait variability during single- and dual-task walking, in low- and high-distraction settings in adults post stroke. METHODS Sixteen community-dwelling adults post stroke participated in a cross-sectional study. Spatiotemporal gait parameters were recorded during single- and cognitive-motor dual-task walking in low- and high-distraction settings. Coefficient of variation was calculated for stride length and stride duration. Average walking bout duration, maximum walking bout duration, and total number of steps per day were captured using an activity monitor. Correlations between ambulatory activity measures and gait variability were examined. RESULTS In the high-distraction setting, single-task stride duration variability was negatively related to all three ambulatory activity measures, but the strongest relationship was a negative correlation between dual-task stride duration variability and average walking duration. In the low-distraction setting, single-task stride duration variability was negatively related to maximum walking duration. None of the other variability measures were related to ambulatory activity. CONCLUSIONS The finding that stride duration variability in a high-distraction environment, with or without an additional cognitive task, is related to ambulatory activity in community-dwelling stroke survivors suggests that assessments incorporating attentional demands of real-world walking may be useful additions to clinical practice.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Lisa A Zukowski
- a Division of Physical Therapy, Department of Allied Health Sciences , University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill , Chapel Hill , NC , USA.,b Department of Physical Therapy , High Point University , High Point , NC , USA
| | - Jody A Feld
- c Human Movement Science Curriculum , University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill , Chapel Hill , NC , USA
| | - Carol A Giuliani
- a Division of Physical Therapy, Department of Allied Health Sciences , University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill , Chapel Hill , NC , USA.,c Human Movement Science Curriculum , University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill , Chapel Hill , NC , USA
| | - Prudence Plummer
- a Division of Physical Therapy, Department of Allied Health Sciences , University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill , Chapel Hill , NC , USA.,c Human Movement Science Curriculum , University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill , Chapel Hill , NC , USA
| |
Collapse
|
44
|
Jost K, Wendt M, Luna-Rodriguez A, Löw A, Jacobsen T. The time course of distractor-based response activation with predictable and unpredictable target onset. PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH 2019; 83:297-307. [PMID: 30712104 DOI: 10.1007/s00426-019-01149-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/19/2018] [Accepted: 01/23/2019] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
Abstract
Electrophysiological recording in a temporal flanker task (i.e., distractors preceding the targets) has demonstrated that distractor processing is adjusted to the overall utility of the distractors. Under high utility, that is, distractors are predictive of the target/response, distractors immediately activate the corresponding response (as indicated by the lateralized readiness potential, LRP). This activation has been shown to be markedly postponed when the target predictably occurs delayed. To investigate the occurrence and time course of distractor-related response activation under conditions of unpredictable target onset, we randomly varied the stimulus-onset asynchrony (SOA) between distractors and targets and recorded the distractor-evoked LRP. When the distractor utility was high, an LRP occurred shortly after distractor presentation. In case of a long SOA the time course of this LRP was characterized by a drop back to baseline and a subsequent re-activation that reached a substantial level before target onset. These results suggest that distractor processing is characterized by sophisticated adjustments to experienced utility and temporal constraints of the task as well as by further control processes that regulate premature response activation.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Kerstin Jost
- Department of Psychology, Brandenburg Medical School, Neuruppin, Germany.
| | - Mike Wendt
- Faculty of Human Sciences, Medical School Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany.
| | - Aquiles Luna-Rodriguez
- Experimental Psychology Unit, Helmut-Schmidt-University/University of the Federal Armed Forces Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany
| | - Andreas Löw
- Experimental Psychology Unit, Helmut-Schmidt-University/University of the Federal Armed Forces Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany
| | - Thomas Jacobsen
- Experimental Psychology Unit, Helmut-Schmidt-University/University of the Federal Armed Forces Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany
| |
Collapse
|
45
|
Cortical and subcortical contributions to context-control learning. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2019; 99:33-41. [PMID: 30685484 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2019.01.019] [Citation(s) in RCA: 51] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/15/2018] [Revised: 12/22/2018] [Accepted: 01/21/2019] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
Abstract
"Cognitive control" describes our ability to strategically bias information processing in line with internal goals. Traditionally, research has focused on delineating the sources of top-down biasing, implicating the lateral prefrontal cortex. The past two decades, however, have seen increasing interest in the regulation of control, that is, how learning processes guide the context-sensitive application of top-down biasing. Here, we review and synthesize recent research into the cognitive and neural mechanisms of this type of "context-control learning". We first discuss a fast-growing cognitive psychology literature documenting how specific cognitive control states can become associated with, and subsequently triggered by, contextual cues. We then review neuroimaging studies that speak to the neural substrates of contextual adjustments in control, with a particular focus on recent work that explicitly modeled context-control learning processes. We conclude that these studies suggest an important subcortical extension of the traditional frontal control network, as they indicate a key role for the caudate nucleus in forming associations between contextual cues and appropriate control settings.
Collapse
|
46
|
Knight S, Heinrich A. Visual Inhibition Measures Predict Speech-in-Noise Perception Only in People With Low Levels of Education. Front Psychol 2019; 9:2779. [PMID: 30740080 PMCID: PMC6357928 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02779] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/15/2018] [Accepted: 12/27/2018] [Indexed: 12/04/2022] Open
Abstract
Inhibition-the ability to suppress goal-irrelevant information-is thought to be an important cognitive skill in many situations, including speech-in-noise (SiN) listening. Both inhibition and SiN perception are thought to worsen with age, but attempts to connect age-related declines in these two abilities have produced mixed results even though a clear positive relationship has generally been hypothesized. We suggest that these inconsistencies may occur because listener-based demographic variables such as educational attainment modulate the relationship between inhibition and SiN perception. We tested this hypothesis with a group of 50 older adults (61-86 years, mean: 69.5) with mild-to-moderate age-related hearing loss (8-53 average dB HL, mean: 25.3 dB HL). Participants performed a visual Stroop task and two SiN tasks. In a Stroop task one stimulus dimension is named while a second, more prepotent dimension is ignored. Results show a clear influence of educational attainment on the relationship of visual Stroop scores to SiN performance, but only for those with lower levels of education. These findings highlight for the first time the importance of considering potentially heterogeneous demographic listener variables when analyzing cognitive tasks and their relationship to SiN perception.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Sarah Knight
- Speech, Hearing & Phonetic Sciences, University College London, London, United Kingdom
- Medical Research Council Institute of Hearing Research, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, United Kingdom
| | - Antje Heinrich
- Medical Research Council Institute of Hearing Research, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, United Kingdom
- Manchester Centre for Audiology and Deafness, University of Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom
| |
Collapse
|
47
|
Chiu YC. Automating adaptive control with item-specific learning. PSYCHOLOGY OF LEARNING AND MOTIVATION 2019. [DOI: 10.1016/bs.plm.2019.05.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
|
48
|
Henik A, Bugg JM, Goldfarb L. Inspired by the past and looking to the future of the Stroop effect. Acta Psychol (Amst) 2018; 189:1-3. [PMID: 29961545 DOI: 10.1016/j.actpsy.2018.06.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022] Open
|
49
|
Shichel I, Tzelgov J. Modulation of conflicts in the Stroop effect. Acta Psychol (Amst) 2018; 189:93-102. [PMID: 29078981 DOI: 10.1016/j.actpsy.2017.10.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/06/2016] [Revised: 08/08/2017] [Accepted: 10/17/2017] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
The purpose of the current study was to evaluate the unique contribution of task conflict, semantic conflict and response conflict to the Stroop effect and to test how these conflicts are modulated by manipulating the proportion of neutral trials, known to affect the magnitude of the Stroop effect. In the first experiment, we employed the two-to-one paradigm (De Houwer, 2003) while adding neutral illegible stimuli, and in the second experiment, we employed two colors and four word colors. In both experiments, we created four congruency conditions (neutral, congruent and two kind of incongruent conditions-those that include response conflict and those that do not), which allowed decomposing the Stroop effect into three orthogonal conflicts. In both experiments, we also manipulated the proportion of neutral trials. Task conflict was defined by the contrast between illegible neutrals and color words, semantic conflict by the contrast between congruent and incongruent stimuli, and response conflict by contrasting the two kinds of incongruent stimuli. Our results showed that all conflicts contributed to the Stroop effect. Task conflict and semantic conflict were modulated by the proportion of neutrals but response conflict was not. These findings imply that task conflict and semantic conflict are part of the control loop of the Stroop effect, as conceptualized by Botvinick et al.'s (2001) conflict monitoring model. There is no clear evidence of the response conflict being part of the loop. To complete the picture, we also analyzed the conflicts in the Stroop task using the traditional dependent contrasts approach and found the basic pattern of results was similar. Thus, the main advantage of the orthogonal comparisons approach is the possibility to estimate the unique contribution of the conflicts contributing to the Stroop effect and their modulation of the Stroop phenomenon.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Ido Shichel
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva 84105, Israel; Zlotowski Center for Neuroscience, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva 84105, Israel.
| | - Joseph Tzelgov
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva 84105, Israel; Department of Psychology, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Arugot 79800, Israel; Zlotowski Center for Neuroscience, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva 84105, Israel; Department of Psychology, Achva Academic College, Arugot 79800, Israel
| |
Collapse
|
50
|
Whitehead PS, Brewer GA, Patwary N, Blais C. Contingency learning is reduced for high conflict stimuli. Acta Psychol (Amst) 2018; 189:12-18. [PMID: 27645133 DOI: 10.1016/j.actpsy.2016.09.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/05/2016] [Revised: 08/27/2016] [Accepted: 09/09/2016] [Indexed: 01/27/2023] Open
Abstract
Recent theories have proposed that contingency learning occurs independent of control processes. These parallel processing accounts propose that behavioral effects originally thought to be products of control processes are in fact products solely of contingency learning. This view runs contrary to conflict-mediated Hebbian-learning models that posit control and contingency learning are parts of an interactive system. In this study we replicate the contingency learning effect and modify it to further test the veracity of the parallel processing accounts in comparison to conflict-mediated Hebbian-learning models. This is accomplished by manipulating conflict to test for an interaction, or lack thereof, between conflict and contingency learning. The results are consistent with conflict-mediated Hebbian-learning in that the addition of conflict reduces the magnitude of the contingency learning effect.
Collapse
|