Task conflict in the Stroop task: When Stroop interference decreases as Stroop facilitation increases in a low task conflict context.

In the present study participants completed two blocks of the Stroop task, one in which the response-stimulus interval (RSI) was 3500 ms and one in which RSI was 200 ms. It was expected that, in line with previous research, the shorter RSI would induce a low Task Conflict context by increasing focus on the color identification goal in the Stroop task and lead to a novel finding of an increase in facilitation and simultaneous decrease in interference. Such a finding would be problematic for models of Stroop effects that predict these indices of performance should be affected in tandem. A crossover interaction is reported supporting these predictions. As predicted, the shorter RSI resulted in incongruent and congruent trial reaction times (RTs) decreasing relative to a static neutral baseline condition; hence interference decreased as facilitation increased. An explanatory model (expanding on the work of Goldfarb and Henik, 2007) is presented that: (1) Shows how under certain conditions the predictions from single mechanism models hold true (i.e., when Task conflict is held constant); (2) Shows how it is possible that interference can be affected by an experimental manipulation that leaves facilitation apparently untouched; and (3) Predicts that facilitation cannot be independently affected by an experimental manipulation

Stroop interference with Sesame Street Characters

The Stroop task is a robust task, making it a useful assessment of automatic processing, it is also associated with reading ability. This limits the utility of the Stroop task to children with a sufficient reading level. Non-word Stroop tasks may be alternatives for non-readers or beginning readers. For example, Prevor and Diamond (2005) showed that Stroop interference could be obtained using pictures (e.g., heart, frog). This study explored using Sesame Street characters to create Stroop interference. Elmo, Kermit, and Cookie Monster were shown in red, green, and blue to first through fourth grade students. RTs for color incongruent trials were close to 100 msec slower than color congruent trials indicating Stroop interference (d = .96). Therefore, this modified version of the Stroop appears to be an acceptable picture-based measure of automatic processing in elementary age students

Inducing a Stroop Effect

We examine the conditions that lead to Stroop interference for a meaningless linguistic label. Tiffany's cognitive model of drug abuse implies that individuals will respond more slowly to drug-related words compared to neutral words in an emotional Stroop task, because the former have many automatic associations (e.g. positive expectancies). To examine this proposal, we trained participants to associate a meaningless label with either one other word or several other words and examined the induced Stroop interference for these meaningless labels. In two experiments, and contrary to expectations from Tiffany's work, we observed greatest Stroop interference for the meaningless label with just one association. These results are discussed in terms of associative learning theory

The Impact f Olfactory Cues on Attention: The Case of Reverse Stroop Interference

Ham and Koch (2019) found that an odorant could influence interference on a modified Stroop task. This study was conducted to examine the impact of olfactory cues on reverse Stroop interference. Across three experiments, participants completed a modified reverseStroop task in which they identified a word (strawberry, lime, lemon) in different color fonts (red, green, yellow). Although the words were fruit names instead of color names, each word had some degree of association with a particular color (e.g., lime and green). In Experiment 1, congruent and incongruent trials were presented without an odorant. No differences were found between congruent and incongruent trials (t(28) = .63, p \u3e .05; d = .12). Experiment 2 consisted of the same task; however, an orange odorant was added to the room. RTs were faster for congruent trials than incongruent trials (t(17) = 4.15, p \u3c .001; d = .98). Lavender odorant was used in Experiment 3 to test whether the RT differences in Experiment 2 were influenced by the presence of a related odorant or any odorant. No differences were found between conditions (t(27) = 1.89, p \u3e .05; d = .36). The results indicate that a task-related odorant can impact word identification in a modified Stroop task

The Impact of Olfactory Cues on Attention: The Case of Stroop Interference

This study explores the relationship between odor imagery, color associations, and visual attention through a Stroop-task based on common odor-color associations. This Stroop-task was designed using three fruits with odor-color associations: lime with green, strawberry with red, and lemon with yellow. Each possible word-color combination was lexically presented in the experimental trials. Three experiments were conducted that used the Stroop-task with different odors present. They suggest that odor imagery can affect visual attention, the inhibition of odor-color associations, and that odor imagery appears to be facilitated in the presence of a related odor

Improved Self-Control Associated with Using Relatively Large Amounts of Glucose: Learning Self-Control Is Metabolically Expensive

The current study examined whether changes in glucose during a self-control task would predict changes in self-control performance later on. Participants attended two experimental sessions, spaced two weeks apart. During each session, they had their glucose measured, completed the Stroop task as a measure of self-control, and then had their glucose measured again. Larger decreases in glucose (from before to after the Stroop task) during the first session predicted larger increases in improvement on the Stroop task during the second session, in the form of increased speed. Learning self-control might benefit from using larger amounts of glucose. Learning self-control is metabolically expensive. These findings raise the possibility that self-control fatigue occurs because metabolic energy is depleted during the learning of self-control

Evidence accumulation in the integrated and primed Stroop tasks.

We report distributional analyses of response times (RT) in two variants of the color-word Stroop task using manual keypress responses. In the classic Stroop task, in which the color and word dimensions are integrated into a single stimulus, the Stroop congruence effect increased across the quantiles. In contrast, in the primed Stroop task, in which the distractor word is presented ahead of colored symbols, the Stroop congruence effect was manifested solely as a distributional shift, remaining constant across the quantiles. The distributional-shift pattern mirrors the semantic-priming effect that has been reported in semantic categorization tasks. The results are interpreted within the framework of evidence accumulation, and implications for the roles of task conflict and informational conflict are discussed

Behavioral and electrophysiological correlates of cognitive control in ex-obese adults

Impaired cognitive control functions have been documented in obesity. It remains unclear whether these functions normalize after weight reduction. We compared ex-obese individuals, who successfully underwent substantial weight loss after bariatric surgery, to normal weight participants on measures of resistance to interference, cognitive flexibility and response inhibition, obtained from the completion of two Stroop tasks, a Switching task and a Go/NoGo task, respectively. To elucidate the underlying brain mechanisms, event-related potentials (ERPs) in the latter two tasks were examined. As compared to controls, patients were more susceptible to the predominant but task-irrelevant stimulus dimension (i.e., they showed a larger verbal Stroop effect), and were slower in responding on trials requiring a task-set change rather than a task-set repetition (i.e., they showed a larger switch cost). The ERP correlates revealed altered anticipatory control mechanisms (switch positivity) and an exaggerated conflict monitoring response (N2). The results suggest that cognitive control is critical even in ex-obese individuals and should be monitored to promote weight loss maintenance

Strong Effort Manipulations Reduce Response Caution:A Preregistered Reinvention of the Ego-Depletion Paradigm

People feel tired or depleted after exerting mental effort. But even preregistered studies often fail to find effects of exerting effort on behavioral performance in the laboratory or elucidate the underlying psychology. We tested a new paradigm in four preregistered within-subjects studies ( N = 686). An initial high-demand task reliably elicited very strong effort phenomenology compared with a low-demand task. Afterward, participants completed a Stroop task. We used drift-diffusion modeling to obtain the boundary (response caution) and drift-rate (information-processing speed) parameters. Bayesian analyses indicated that the high-demand manipulation reduced boundary but not drift rate. Increased effort sensations further predicted reduced boundary. However, our demand manipulation did not affect subsequent inhibition, as assessed with traditional Stroop behavioral measures and additional diffusion-model analyses for conflict tasks. Thus, effort exertion reduced response caution rather than inhibitory control, suggesting that after exerting effort, people disengage and become uninterested in exerting further effort. </p