When awareness gets in the way: Reactivation aversion effects resolve the generality/specificity paradox in sensorimotor interference tasks.

Schlaghecken, Friederike; Maylor, Elizabeth A.

doi:10.1037/xge0000755

Cited by 5 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 167 publications

(254 reference statements)

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“…The present findings extend prior data suggesting distinct boundaries for the CSE, such as tasks sets (Grant et al, 2020;Hazeltine et al, 2011), conflict types (Egner, 2008;Schlaghecken & Maylor, 2020; but see Weissman, 2020), salient contextual features (Braem, Hickey, et al, 2014;Spapé & Hommel, 2008), and S-R mappings (Grant & Weissman, 2019; for a review, see Braem, Abrahamse, et al, 2014). Specifically, our findings show that the typical elimination of the CSE in modality-switch trials of the standard cross-modal prime-probe task (Grant et al, 2020;Hazeltine et al, 2011;Yang et al, 2017) reflects the cumulative effect of crossing two boundaries-one related to task sets and one related to S-R mappings-rather than a single boundary related to task sets.…”

Section: Broader Implicationssupporting

confidence: 87%

The binary structure of event files generalizes to abstract features: A nonhierarchical explanation of task set boundaries for the congruency sequence effect.

Grant¹,

Weissman²

2023

Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cogni

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Current views posit that forming and retrieving memories of ongoing events influences action control. However, the organizational structure of these memories, or event files, remains unclear. The hierarchical coding view posits a hierarchical structure, wherein task sets occupy a high level of the hierarchy. Here, the contents of an event file can be retrieved only if the task set repeats. In contrast, the binary coding view posits a nonhierarchical structure, which consists of a collection of independent, binary bindings between different feature pairs. In this view, repeating an abstract feature from a previous event (e.g., the previous trial’s S-R mapping) triggers the retrieval of the associated feature from the same binding (e.g., the previous trial’s congruency) even if the task set changes. To distinguish between these views, we investigated the nature of task set boundaries for the congruency sequence effect (CSE), an index of adaptive control that reflects event file formation and retrieval. Specifically, we investigated whether or not a CSE appears when the task set changes but the previous trial’s S-R mapping repeats. Three experiments involving a cross-modal prime-probe task yielded a CSE under these conditions and ruled out alternative explanations. These findings show that the typical binary structure of event files generalizes from concrete features (e.g., colors and locations) to abstract features (e.g., S-R mappings and task sets). Therefore, contrary to the hierarchical coding view, they provide a nonhierarchical explanation of task set boundaries for the CSE.

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Section: Broader Implicationssupporting

confidence: 87%

The binary structure of event files generalizes to abstract features: A nonhierarchical explanation of task set boundaries for the congruency sequence effect.

Grant¹,

Weissman²

2023

Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cogni

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“…On a broader level, the carry-over of conflict- and condition-specific temporal characteristics from trial-to-trial may also be relevant for research investigating sequential modulations (e.g., Freitas & Clark, 2015; Wendt et al, 2006) and conflict effect correlations across conflict tasks (e.g., Rey-Mermet et al, 2018). It is possible that control processes appear highly task specific because control acts on when (instead of where) conflict emerges (see also, Rey-Mermet et al, 2019; Schlaghecken & Maylor, 2020).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The role of temporal order of relevant and irrelevant dimensions within conflict tasks.

Mackenzie¹,

Mittelstädt²,

Ulrich³

et al. 2022

Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Perfor

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Conflict tasks are commonly used to investigate control processes under situations of relevant and irrelevant sources of information. In addition to compatibility effects at a mean behavioral level, delta plot analyses of reaction time distributions reveal that the compatibility effect generally increases with time (i.e., positive delta plot slopes) across most conflict-like tasks. Critically, the underlying causes of the increasing delta plot slopes with different types of distractors are still poorly understood. The present study tested whether the relative onset of target-to-distractor processing affects the delta plot slope. Specifically, we manipulated the temporal order of relevant and irrelevant dimensions within an Eriksen flanker task (Experiment [Exp.] 1), an Arrow-Simon task (Exp. 2), and a manual Stroop task (Exp. 3a/3b). The results of the Eriksen flanker task and Arrow-Simon task revealed that the delta plots slopes were less increasing (and instead rather decreasing) when the irrelevant dimension appears first (IR condition) compared to the reversed order (RI condition)-consistent with the idea that the underlying mechanism driving the slope of the delta plot is the temporal overlap of activation between the relevant and irrelevant dimensions. In contrast, for the Stroop task, the delta plots in the RI condition were not more increasing than the ones for the IR condition. Overall, these results suggest that the temporal properties strongly influence delta plot shape, but that the temporal dynamics operating in the flanker task and the Arrow-Simon task differs from the Stroop task, at least under conditions where relevant and irrelevant information is presented sequentially. Public Significance StatementIn many real-world situations, people are required to select and process goal-relevant information in environments overloaded with distracting-and potentially conflicting-sources of information. It is important to uncover the mental control mechanisms that prevent interference allowing successful goaldirected behavior for both practical and theoretical reasons. In the present study, we systematically investigated the temporal processing dynamics with different sources of distracting information. The results indicate that some types of distracting information are similarly processed across time whereas others are not, suggesting the existence of distractor-general and distractor-specific control mechanisms.

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“…Furthermore, the temporal dynamics of activations related to different distractor types may also critically affect modulations of conflict effects across different tasks (i.e., congruency sequence effects; cf. Schlaghecken & Maylor, 2020).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The time-course of distractor-based activation modulates effects of speed-accuracy tradeoffs in conflict tasks

et al. 2021

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The cognitive processes underlying the ability of human performers to trade speed for accuracy is often conceptualized within evidence accumulation models, but it is not yet clear whether and how these models can account for decision-making in the presence of various sources of conflicting information. In the present study, we provide evidence that speed-accuracy tradeoffs (SATs) can have opposing effects on performance across two different conflict tasks. Specifically, in a single preregistered experiment, the mean reaction time (RT) congruency effect in the Simon task increased, whereas the mean RT congruency effect in the Eriksen task decreased, when the focus was put on response speed versus accuracy. Critically, distributional RT analyses revealed distinct delta plot patterns across tasks, thus indicating that the unfolding of distractor-based response activation in time is sufficient to explain the opposing pattern of congruency effects. In addition, a recent evidence accumulation model with the notion of time-varying conflicting information was successfully fitted to the experimental data. These fits revealed task-specific time-courses of distractor-based activation and suggested that time pressure substantially decreases decision boundaries in addition to reducing the duration of non-decision processes and the rate of evidence accumulation. Overall, the present results suggest that time pressure can have multiple effects in decision-making under conflict, but that strategic adjustments of decision boundaries in conjunction with different time-courses of distractor-based activation can produce counteracting effects on task performance with different types of distracting sources of information.

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When awareness gets in the way: Reactivation aversion effects resolve the generality/specificity paradox in sensorimotor interference tasks.

Abstract: Please refer to published version for the most recent bibliographic citation information. If a published version is known of, the repository item page linked to above, will contain details on accessing it.

Cited by 5 publications

References 167 publications

The binary structure of event files generalizes to abstract features: A nonhierarchical explanation of task set boundaries for the congruency sequence effect.

The binary structure of event files generalizes to abstract features: A nonhierarchical explanation of task set boundaries for the congruency sequence effect.

The role of temporal order of relevant and irrelevant dimensions within conflict tasks.

The time-course of distractor-based activation modulates effects of speed-accuracy tradeoffs in conflict tasks

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