Spatial proximity as a determinant of context-specific attentional settings

Unconsciously triggered cognitive conflict influences perceptual choice in active and sedentary individuals

Introduction

People who regularly exercise and receive training perform better when actioning unconscious cognitive tasks. The information flow triggered by a single unconscious visual stimulus has been extensively investigated, but it remains unclear whether multiple unconscious visual stimuli interact. This study aimed to explore the relationship between three simultaneous subliminal arrow stimuli (pointing in same or different directions), focusing on how they interact with each other and the subsequent priming effect on the target arrow in active and sedentary groups.

Methods

We used a priming paradigm combining flanker task to test the hypothesis. A total of 42 participants were recruited. Of these, 22 constituted the active group and 20 constituted the sedentary group.

Results

Behavioral data results revealed that the main effects of group and prime-target compatibility were significant. In the neurophysiological data, prime-target compatibility significantly influenced the latency of PP1. The amplitude of TP1 and TN2 mainly influenced the prime-flanker congruency. The prime-flanker congruency and groups interacted when the prime-target showed sufficient compatibility. The prime-flanker congruency, and the prime-target compatibility considerably influenced the TP3 amplitude in the anterior central frontal region (CZ electrode point).

Conclusion

Event-related potentials revealed the interactions between conscious processing and subliminal conflict in the early stages of perceptual and attention processing (target-related P1 potential component). These results suggest that exercise is helpful for coping with unconscious cognitive conflict.

The location-specific proportion congruence effect: Are left/right locations special?

People reactively adjust attentional control based on the history of conflict experiences at different locations resulting in location-specific proportion compatibility (LSPC) effects. Weidler et al. (2022, Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 48[4], 312-330) found that LSPC effects were larger when stimuli were presented on the horizontal axis (i.e., locations to left and right of fixation) compared with the vertical axis (i.e., locations above and below fixation). They proposed and provided initial evidence suggesting left/right locations may represent a special design feature that leads to stronger LSPC effects (i.e., horizontal precedence account). However, their use of horizontally oriented flanker stimuli, which required participants to traverse through the distracting flankers to select the central target selectively in the horizontal axis condition, may have contributed to the horizontal advantage they observed (i.e., gaze path account). The present study tested competing predictions of these two accounts. Experiment 1 used vertically oriented flanker stimuli and compared the findings with Weidler et al. The LSPC effect was larger for vertically oriented stimuli on the vertical axis, and horizontally oriented stimuli on the horizontal axis, supporting the gaze path account. Experiment 2 used flanker stimuli that required participants to traverse through distracting flankers regardless of the axis on which stimuli were presented. The LSPC effect was equivalent between the vertical axis and horizontal axis conditions. These results further supported the gaze path account and suggest that the critical design feature for amplifying LSPC effects is not left/right locations per se, but rather use of stimuli/axis combinations that encourage processing of the distractor dimension.

What is cued by faces in the face-based context-specific proportion congruent manipulation?

In a typical context-specific proportion congruent manipulation, participants are presented with Stroop stimuli in one of two contexts. In one context, stimuli are mostly incongruent. In the other context, stimuli are mostly congruent. Despite task-wide instructions to ignore the word and to name the color in which the word appears, the size of the congruency effect varies as a function of context. Specifically, the size of the congruency effect is reduced for the mostly incongruent relative to the mostly congruent context. The purpose of the current series of experiments is to explore the mechanisms underlying this context-specific proportion congruent (CSPC) effect when faces are used as the context. Existing manipulations have reported a face-based CSPC effect, however the results of these studies are confounded with contingency learning biases leaving an open question as to what processes faces serve to cue. In the four experiments reported here both inducer (contingency-biased) and diagnostic (contingency-unbiased) stimuli were included in a face-based context level manipulation. Across four experiments, a face-based CSPC effect is observed for inducer but not diagnostic stimuli, suggesting that this effect is driven by participants learning context + stimulus associations.

How is location defined? Implications for learning and transfer of location-specific control

Much research has explored location-specific proportion compatibility (LSPC) effects (i.e., how the appearance of a stimulus in certain locations can reactively trigger different attentional control settings) to elucidate mechanisms underlying reactive control. Recently, however, failures to reproduce key evidence showing transfer of LSPC effects (originally reported in Crump & Milliken, 2009) have called into question whether control per se supports these effects. Notably, Crump and Milliken (2009), and all studies attempting to reproduce their findings, presented stimuli in two locations, one above and one below fixation. Inspired by research on differences between horizontal and vertical meridians, we examined the consequences of defining location in this way compared with alternatives. Experiments 1 and 2 demonstrated that LSPC effects are robust when location is defined as left versus right and larger than when location is defined as upper versus lower, and additionally demonstrated LSPC effects for two locations within the same coarse spatial category (e.g., left vs. farther left). In Experiment 3, we aimed to reproduce Crump and Milliken's key findings using left and right locations for the first time. Critically, we found transfer of the LSPC effect to diagnostic items across two designs and the first evidence for a robust experiment wide LSPC effect for inducer items. Our findings support theories positing that LSPC effects reflect location-specific attentional control and more generally suggest that choosing a definition of location is not a minor methodological decision but critically impacts learning and transfer of location-specific attentional control. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Evaluating the learning of stimulus-control associations through incidental memory of reinforcement events

Cognitive control describes the ability to use internal goals to strategically guide how we process and respond to our environment. Changes in the environment lead to adaptation in control strategies. This type of control learning can be observed in performance adjustments in response to varying proportions of easy to hard trials over blocks of trials on classic control tasks. Known as the list-wide proportion congruent (LWPC) effect, increased difficulty is met with enhanced attentional control. Recent research has shown that motivational manipulations may enhance the LWPC effect, but the underlying mechanisms are not yet understood. We manipulated Stroop proportion congruency over blocks of trials and, after each trial, provided participants with either performance-contingent feedback ("correct/incorrect") or noncontingent feedback ("response logged") above trial-unique, task-irrelevant images (reinforcement events). The LWPC task was followed by a surprise recognition memory task, which allowed us to test whether attention to feedback (incidental memory for the images) varies as a function of proportion congruency, time, performance contingency, and individual differences. We replicated a robust LWPC effect in a large sample (N = 402) but observed no differences in behavior between feedback groups. Importantly, the memory data revealed better encoding of feedback images from context-defining trials (e.g., congruent trials in a mostly congruent block), especially early in a new context and in congruent conditions. Individual differences in reward and punishment sensitivity were not strongly associated with control-learning effects. These results suggest that statistical learning of contextual demand may have a larger impact on control learning than individual differences in motivation. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Preschoolers are capable of fine-grained implicit cognitive control: Evidence from development of the context-specific proportion congruency effect

Whereas much of the developmental literature has focused on the difficulties of young children in regulating their behavior, an increasing base of evidence suggests that children may be capable of surprisingly flexible engagement of cognitive control when based on implicit experience with the situation. One of the most fine-grained examples of implicit cognitive control in adults is the context-specific proportion congruency (CSPC) effect-the finding that interference in a conflict task is reduced for stimuli that are presented in a context (e.g., a spatial location) where stimuli are generally incongruent. Can such a subtle modulation of control be observed in children? In Experiment 1 (N = 180), we showed that this effect exists in preschoolers for two different types of context manipulation and that its magnitude is at least as large as in older children. In Experiment 2 (N = 40), we confirmed that the effect transfers to unbiased stimuli, indicating that it is not attributable to contingency learning of stimulus-response associations and can be taken to actually reflect cognitive control. These results support the possibility that implicit cognitive control (implemented without explicit intentions and without requiring subject awareness) can be functionally distinct from explicit control and that even very young children can implement fine-grained cognitive control when it is based on implicit cues.

Boundary conditions for the influence of spatial proximity on context-specific attentional settings

Flexibility of cognitive control is illustrated by the context-specific proportion compatibility (CSPC) effect, the now well-documented pattern showing that compatibility effects are reduced in mostly incompatible relative to mostly compatible locations. The episodic-retrieval account attributes the CSPC effect to location-specific representations that include the attentional settings formed via experience within a given location (e.g., a "focused" attentional setting becomes bound to a location with frequent conflict, whereas a "relaxed" setting becomes bound to one with infrequent conflict). However, Diede and Bugg (Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics, 78, 1255-1266, 2016) demonstrated that the attentional setting associated with a given location can be based on experiences that accumulate across multiple "grouped" locations-namely, those that are proximal to each other, relative to other (distal) locations. This spatial grouping effect supported the relative-proximity hypothesis, which we further tested in the present study. Experiment 1 replicated the spatial grouping effect and showed that it could be disrupted by a horizontal line dividing the otherwise grouped locations. Experiments 2 through 4 suggested that grouping might be a form of "chunking"-that is, the spatial grouping effect did not occur when the proximal locations were few enough in number (two) to represent independently, but it did occur when there were six locations. When there were eight proximal locations (and ten locations overall), the CSPC effect disappeared entirely. These findings suggest important boundary conditions for the relative-proximity hypothesis and inform our understanding of how past experiences with conflict are organized in the form of episodic representations that enable on-the-fly adjustments in cognitive control.

Unconscious influence over executive control: Absence of conflict detection and adaptation

Executive control and its modulation of attentional mechanisms allow us to detect and adapt to conflicting information. According to recent studies, executive control functions may be modulated by unconsciously perceived information, although the available evidence is not consistent. In this study, we used a Flanker Task and employed Chromatic Flicker Fusion, a suppression technique that has been proposed as more adequate to elicit executive control functions, to assess conflict and conflict adaptation effects. Our results showed that, when suppressed, flankers did not evoke conflict related effects on performance. However, in trials where most flankers were incongruent, longer response times in congruent trials were observed, consistent with orienting responses. Our results help to support earlier theories regarding the inherent limitations of unconsciously perceived information, though future studies should further investigate why and under which conditions is the executive control system modulated by unconscious information.

Cognitive effort is modulated outside of the explicit awareness of conflict frequency: Evidence from pupillometry

Classic theories of cognitive control conceptualized controlled processes as slow, strategic, and willful, with automatic processes being fast and effortless. The context-specific proportion compatibility (CSPC) effect, the reduction in the compatibility effect in a context (e.g., location) associated with a high relative to low likelihood of conflict, challenged classic theories by demonstrating fast and flexible control that appears to operate outside of conscious awareness. Two theoretical questions yet to be addressed are whether the CSPC effect is accompanied by context-dependent variation in effort, and whether the exertion of effort depends on explicit awareness of context-specific task demands. To address these questions, pupil diameter was measured during a CSPC paradigm. Stimuli were randomly presented in either a mostly compatible location or a mostly incompatible location. Replicating prior research, the CSPC effect was found. The novel finding was that pupil diameter was greater in the mostly incompatible location compared to the mostly compatible location, despite participants' lack of awareness of context-specific task demands. Additionally, this difference occurred regardless of trial type or a preceding switch in location. These patterns support the view that context (location) dictates selection of optimal attentional settings in the CSPC paradigm, and varying levels of effort and performance accompany these settings. Theoretically, these patterns imply that cognitive control may operate fast, flexibly, and outside of awareness, but not effortlessly. (PsycINFO Database Record

Conflict and disfluency as aversive signals: context-specific processing adjustments are modulated by affective location associations

Context-specific processing adjustments are one signature feature of flexible human action control. However, up to now the precise mechanisms underlying these adjustments are not fully understood. Here it is argued that aversive signals produced by conflict- or disfluency-experience originally motivate such context-specific processing adjustments. We tested whether the efficiency of the aversive conflict signal for control adaptation depends on the affective nature of the context it is presented in. In two experiments, high vs. low proportions of aversive signals (Experiment 1: conflict trials; Experiment 2: disfluent trials) were presented either above or below the screen center. This location manipulation was motivated by existing evidence that verticality is generally associated with affective valence with up being positive and down being negative. From there it was hypothesized that the aversive signals would lose their trigger function for processing adjustments when presented at the lower (i.e., more negative) location. This should then result in a reduced context-specific proportion effect when the high proportion of aversive signals was presented at the lower location. Results fully confirmed the predictions. In both experiments, the location-specific proportion effects were only present when the high proportion of aversive signals occurred at the more positive location above but were reduced (Experiment 1) or even eliminated (Experiment 2) when the high proportion occurred at the more negative location below. This interaction of processing adjustments with affective background contexts can thus be taken as further hint for an affective origin of control adaptations.